Aggressive Patriots Beat Bengals, Flags Enroute to Big 43-17 Win
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Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski celebrate during the Patriots 43-17 rout of the Bengals. (USA Today photo)[/caption]
The New England Patriots responded in a big way on Sunday Night Football as they played an aggressive, physical game and beat up a very good Cincinnati Bengals team 43-17 in Foxborough.
The New England maligned offensive line played much better on Sunday, protecting QB Tom Brady against a very good pass rush in Cincinnati. They also opened up some good running lanes as the Patriots got the balance they’ve been searching for rushing for 220 yards and passed for 292 while rolling up 43 points.
The 43 points were more than Cincinnati (3-1) had allowed in their previous three games combined. They had come in on a roll but laid an egg in prime-time much like New England had just six days before.
The win pushes the Patriots (3-2) to a tie with the Buffalo Bills atop the AFC East. The two teams play in Orchard Park next Sunday, and Buffalo overcame a slow start and beat the Detroit Lions 17-14 on Sunday.
More importantly, this win was one where the players circled the wagons and responded to a barrage of criticism leveled at them from all points as comments by Brady, Darrelle Revis and Rob Gronkowski showed that the team put a much higher bar on this one than a normal regular season game. The next hurdle will be to duplicate that kind of effort moving forward.
Here are some observations from the game:
Ridley Gives Team Workhorse Effort: Stevan Ridley, who was barely used (5 carries) in the loss in Kansas City, was definitely the workhorse that the Patriots needed on Sunday. Facing a defense missing perhaps their best run stuffer in Vontaze Burfict, the Patriots ran for 220 yards with Ridley carrying 27 times for 113 yards and a touchdown.
Ridley was grinding out the tough yards in the middle of the defense and had a big 43 yard run to cap off his evening, the longest of his career. While he perhaps still isn’t in the Patriots long-term plans, he showed why he’s still a huge piece of the puzzle for 2014.
The balance that the team is always looking for was in evidence on Sunday, besides Ridley’s 113 yards, Shane Vereen provided a nice spark coming in and carrying nine times for 90 yards. The balance made the play action passing game much more effective.
Offensive Line Play Much Improved: The Patriots stopped the revolving door in the OL and found a group of five consisting of Nate Solder, Dan Connolly, Bryan Stork, Ryan Wendell and Sebastian Vollmer and stuck with it. The results were much, much better as the protection afforded Brady was a far cry from the morass that we’ve witnessed thru the first four weeks of the season.
In a startling turn of events, the Patriots ran only 50 offensive plays in the loss at KC, they ran 44 in just the first half. With an effective ground game, it allowed Brady to look beyond the first read and get into a rhythm. It wasn’t perfect but it was by far the best the team has looked thus far this season against a quality opponent.
Brady Rebounds In A Big Way: Amazing what #12 can do when he still has time to throw and Sunday night was a prime example against a very good pass defense. Brady came out fired up and the game had the atmosphere of a playoff game as he was into this one from the first snap.
Brady easily had his best game of the season, completing 23 of 35 passes for 292 yards and 2 touchdowns. While it wasn’t perfect by any means, some throws were off the mark, overall Brady seemed much more like the Brady we’ve seen in Foxboro for many years. Flat-footed and comfortable in the pocket, he was able to survey not just his initial but most times, his second and third reads.
In the first four games, the Patriots went three and out in their first possession, not on Sunday. Mixing it up, Brady found Brandon LaFell, Tim Wright, two of the new players that haven’t been utilized much and ran the ball himself three times before handing off to Stevan Ridley for a touchdown.
Brady’s fiery demeanor and focus was infectious and it carried over to the rest of the team as the Pats rolled up over 500 yards of offense.
Two-Tight Ends A Familiar Sight: The Patriots dusted off the two tight end formation that hadn’t been seen much since Aaron Hernandez was on the team. One major criticism has been that the coaches haven’t used Tim Wright much this season. That changed, at least for this Sunday.
Rob Gronkowski played a season high 64 snaps and responded with a very Gronk-like performance. In his best showing in 2014, Gronkowski hauled in 6 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown. Wright, playing just 19 snaps made the most of them catching five Brady tosses for 85 yards and a touchdown.
Wright made his presence known on that pivotal first drive as he wiggled free and caught a 30 yard pass moving the Patriots deep inside Cincinnati territory. Wright is a guy that can fit that AH role very well and he and Gronkowski will be a tandem for opponents to watch moving forward. They sparked the passing game in a big way on Sunday.
Aggressive Defense Pays Dividends: The Patriots for the first time utilized Darrelle Revis in the manner that we’ve become accustomed to watching him play. No soft zones on Sunday night, the team was playing an aggressive, in-your-face with the secondary that was nice to watch.
Revis didn’t even go to the huddle between plays just waiting for the Bengals best wide receiver to come to the line and shadowed him all night long. And he looked like the Revis we’ve come to expect turning in a great performance and for the most part, making the talented Green a non-factor.
It was no surprise that when Revis had to leave the field while dealing with an injury that Bengals QB Andy Dalton immediately went deep to Green for a touchdown over Logan Ryan on the first play. That was the kind of effect Revis had on the defense.
While the pass rush wasn’t much of a factor on Sunday, one needs to remember that the Cincinnati OL hadn’t given up a sack all season, although Chris Jones did notch one in the fourth quarter. This was the defense we’ve waited all season to see, with Brandon Browner back from suspension, it will be interesting to see how they play from here on but overall, the unit gets high marks.
Flags, Flags and More Flags: The Patriots game wasn’t a completely positive affair as the officiating crew of Jerome Boger flagged the team for a total of 12 times for 114 yards. While many of the penalties were of the ticky-tack variety, it is something to monitor to go forward as the team will have to tighten those up.
It is good to see the aggressive approach of the defense, however the two personal fouls called on Jamie Collins (fair catch punt return hit) and Rob Gronkowski (after the play) were completely uncalled for and showed a team that was letting the moment get away from them. This will be a coaching point for sure this week as the team prepares for the trip to Buffalo.
Injuries to Monitor: Revis left briefly with a hamstring issue, Devin McCourty injured his ribs and didn’t return and rookie Dominique Easley injured a shoulder and also didn’t return. These are some of the bigger ones to watch as the week goes on.
It was a big team win but in true BB fashion, that’s past, “we’re moving on to Buffalo.”
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