Tom Brady and the New England Patriots ran over the Cincinnati Bengals, handing the Bengals their first loss while getting the Patriots' offense back on track.
Sunday night is not historically the Bengals' best time. Neither are the playoffs. Cincinnati looked like a team that could make another early exit in January while the Patriots looked to have corrected their issues in a big 34-10 win for New England at home. Here's what we learned:
1. The death of the Patriots' offense was somewhat exaggerated.
With 14:07 left in the second quarter, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was 7-for-9 with 114 yards and a touchdown. Running back Stevan Ridley had eight carries for 37 yards and a touchdown. Coming off of an embarrassing loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, the Patriots offense was explosive on its first two drives, mixing in passing and running to build up a 14-0 lead (and help Brady reach the 50,000-yard mark, the sixth quarterback ever to do so). The reason? the offensive line provided Brady with time and protection and gave the running game the push it needed to prosper. At half, the Patriots had more than twice the Bengals total yards (256 to 121), with 110 yards on the ground. Ridley and fellow running back Shane Vereen combined efforts to run over the Bengals' extremely tough defensive line. Tight ends Timothy Wright and Rob Gronkowski had the lions share of receiving yards (Gronkowski scoring his 46th touchdown since 2010 in the third quarter), but fullback James Develin played an important role, providing blocking and getting a few catches. All told, the Patriots looked balanced on offense, particularly in the first quarter.
2. Where did the Bengals' offense go?
The Bengals had played almost perfectly in the first three games, but against the Patriots, everything that could go wrong did. Cincinnati turned over the ball three times, the passing offense was non-existent and running back Giovani Bernard was kept in check.
The Bengals were largely mute on offense in the first half, with 121 yards of offense and only a field goal to show for it. They had big opportunities and made big mistakes - tight end Jermaine Gresham had a big drop in the end zone, wide receiver AJ Green had a huge fumble when cornerback Darrelle Revis poked the ball out of his hands. Quarterback Andy Dalton was unsteady all night, throwing over receivers heads to the sideline multiple times. Only in the beginning of the second half were the Bengals able to move on offense, with a big punt return by Adam Jones leading to a Mohamed Sanu catch for a touchdown. But the Patriots then scored twice - once off a Brandon Tate fumble on a kickoff return to make it 34-10. They then scored two field goals following an AJ Green touchdown to make it 40-17.
What was likely more concerning to Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis was just how wide-open the Bengals defense looked. Normally, the Bengals defense is its strength (though it's only ranking 8th in total points allowed this year), but not against an angry Tom Brady. The unit was shelled in the first quarter, and though the Bengals defense calmed down somewhat after withstanding the Patriots' opening barrage, Brady was still able to take time on his throws and get the ball into space. The Bengals were without a number of injured players, including linebacker Vontaze Burfict, and had difficulty getting pressure on Brady or his receivers, and Shane Vereen ran wild around his blockers. All of that led to the Patriots accumulating more than 500 yards of offense with four minutes still left in the game.
3. Penalties, penalties, penalties.
Pass interference. Holding. Unsportsmanlike conduct. The Patriots had 114 yards of penalties, compared to the Bengals 37. The Patriots are known for playing physically at the line of scrimmage, but third-year linebacker Alfonzo Dennard in particular was hit with two big penalties that contributed to a Bengals field goal drive.