Patriots Silence The Doubters - Dominate Bengals 43-17
Monday, October 06, 2014
The Patriots were at the end of a week that was embroiled in more anger, questions and second-guessing that had ever been seen in the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era. Following a disastrous performance on Monday Night Football, the Patriots welcomed the lone remaining undefeated team in the NFL, the Cincinnati Bengals, to Gillette Stadium.
The Patriots would silence the critics, for now, with an impressive 43-17 win over the Bengals.
In preparation of the Bengals strong defensive line, the Patriots started a new combination along the offensive line with former center Ryan Wendell in at right guard with Bryan Stork at center.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWould the Patriots respond to the talk throughout the week? On their first drive, they appeared to start to silence the critics with an impressive 10-play, 80-yard drive to open the game with a Stevan Ridley touchdown. The drive featured multiple runs and crisp passes by Tom Brady and was capped perfectly by NBC commentator Chris Collinsworth when he claimed New England was "an angry team" who was "sick of it" when hearing the critics during the week.
The Bengals responded with a good drive of their own, moving the ball with ease due to complex positional groupings and pre-snap movement. The Patriots defense, however was able to seal the drive before Cincinnati kicker Mike Nugent missed a 52-yard field goal due to a brisk wind in his face.
The Patriots came right back down the field and showed that their offense was growing with a six-play, 58-yard touchdown drive. The drive saw Tom Brady go over 50,000 career yards on 27-yard completion to Rob Gronkowski. On the very next play, Brady found Tim Wright for a 17-yard touchdown to make the score 14-0. The touchdown was the first of the season for Wright, on just his 6th reception of the season.
With the lead, the crowd at Gillette Stadium did their part to help, forcing Cincinnati into multiple problems lining up and a couple of false start penalties. The Bengals were able to get some momentum, as they mounted their first scoring drive of the game thanks to multiple penalties from the Patriots. on the 10-play, 57 yard drive, the Patriots were called for three penalties on the drive that helped the Bengals convert a 23-yard field goal. The Bengals did miss a golden opportunity to score, however, as Andy Dalton found his tight end Jermaine Gresham wide opened in the end zone, but the ball bounced off his hands, forcing the Bengals to kick the field goal. The score made it 14-3 Patriots.
The Patriots mounted two more scoring drives before the half, both ending in Stephen Gostkowski field goals. They entered the half with a 20-3 lead. New England had great success behind their new starting offensive line, prompting Bengals coach Marvin Lewis to tell the NBC crew at the half, "[Tom] Brady's getting rid of the ball so fast that we don't have any time to get pressure on him."
The 2nd half got under way with the Bengals forcing a Patriots punt. The drive saw more Patriots penalties, which was a common theme on the night. The Bengals capitalized on the Ryan Allen punt when Adam Jones returned the punt 47 yards to give the Bengals the ball on the New England 37 yard line to start their drive. Dalton and company did not waste any time, finding Mohamed Sanu streaking over the middle past Alfonzo Dennard for a 37-yard touchdown making it 20-10, Patriots.
The Patriots seemed in trouble on their ensuing drive, as they wound up with a 3rd & 16 on the Bengals 35 yard line following a holding penalty on rookie Bryan Stork. The Patriots ran a draw to Shane Vereen that went for 19 yards and a first down. While the Patriots seemed to be only attempting to move the ball closer for a field goal attempt, the Bengals defense lost Vereen in the shuffle. This prompted Chris Collinsworth to call the defensive play of the Bengals "horrendous".
Just two plays later, Brady found a wide opened Rob Gronkowski over the middle of the field for a touchdown. The 16-yard touchdown connection was the 45th career touchdown pass from Brady to Gronkowski, tying former Patriots Drew Bledsoe and Ben Coates for the 2nd most touchdown between a quarterback and tight end, trailing only Phillip Rivers and Antonio Gates [65]. The score helped the Patriots extend the lead to 27-10.
On the ensuing kickoff the Patriots special teams made the play that blew the game open for New England as Brandon Bolden forced a fumble by Cincinnati returner -- and former Patriot -- Brandon Tate. The fumble bounced around before being scooped-up by Kyle Arrington who ran into the end zone to make it 34-10 Patriots.
On the Bengals next drive, the collective breath of Patriots nation was taken away on a 15 yard pass form Dalton to Jeremy Hill. The play was not overly impressive, but Darrelle Revis was injured on the play and forced to go into the Patriots locker room. The play after Revis was removed from the game, Dalton found A.J. Green for a 17-yard touchdown over Logan Ryan, who had come in to replace Revis.
Revis did return to the game later.
The Patriots were able to get three more Gostkowski field goals while shutting down the Bengals en route to a 43-17 win.
The Patriots were led by Tom Brady on the night, having his best week of the season and finishing 23-35 for 292 yards and two touchdowns. Brady's favorite target was Rob Gronkowski, who finished with six receptions for 100 yards and a touchdown. Tim Wright was involved in the offense more than he had been all season, finishing with five catches for 85 yards and a touchdown.
The Patriots rushing attack was at its best, finishing with 220 yards rushing and an average of 4.8yards per rush. Stevan Ridley led the way with 113 yards on 27 carries with one touchdown. Shane Vereen was not far behind, rushing for 90 yards on nine attempts while catching three balls for 18 yards.
Defensively, the Patriots production was spread out across the board. Jerod Mayo, Kyle Arrington and Patrick Chung led an attack that only allowed 17 1st downs, while the Patriots piled up 30 of their own. Darrelle Revis helped shut down A.J. Green, who finished with a respectable five catches for 81 yards and a touchdown, but 17 yards and his lone touchdown came with Revis off the field.
Stephen Gostkowski continued his fantastic season for the Patriots, going 5-5 on field goals with a long of 48 yards. He also went 4-4 on PAT's, giving him a total of 19 points on the night.
The Patriots will go back on the road to take on the Buffalo Bills next Sunday at 1 PM.
