Â
The Result
The Patriots beat the pesky Cleveland Browns at home to improve to 5-0, while the Browns drop to 2-3.Â
New England was bouyed by 4 Browns turnovers that led to 21 Patriots points. Junior Seau had a pair of interceptions including one in the end zone on the Browns first drive. Asante Samuel added his third pick of the season and Randall Gay forced a fumble, recovered it and returned it for the games final touchdown in the last minute of play.Â
Wile they improve to 5-0 this was by far their worst perfomance of the year, at times sputtering offensively and playing soft defense. Even the special teams who have been so good had an off day with some lazy kick off coverage, a poor decision that ended up with a kick off going out of bounds for a 30 yard gain on the flag and poor punting.Â
The brightside is that this team and the staff are smart enough to work on the difficulties they are having and correct the for the next week.Â
Scoring Plays
- Cleveland          0     0    3     14   - 17
- New England    10    10    0     14   -  34
1st Quarter
- NE – Gostkowski 20 yard FG – 3-0 Patriots
- NE – Brady 34 yard TD pass to Stallworth – kick good – 10-0 Patriots
2nd Quarter
- NE – Gostkowski 25 yard FG – 13-0 Patriots
- NE – Brady to Watson yard 7 TD pass – kick good – 20-0 PatriotsÂ
3rd Quarter
- CLE – Dawson 42 yard FG – 20-3 Patriots
4th Quarter
- CLE – Anderson 21 yard TD pass to Carter – kick good – 20-10 Patriots
- NE – Brady 25 yard TD pass to Watson – kick good – 27-10 Patriots
- CLE – Anderson 15 yard TD pass to Winslow – kick good – 27-17 Patriots
- NE – Gay 17 yard fumble return – kick good – 34-17 Patriots
Offensive Player of the Game
Ben Watson had 6 catches for 107 yards and two TD catches. He also ran for 11 yards on a reverse.
Defensive Player of the Game
Junior Seau had 6 tackles and 2 interceptions.
Turning Point(s) of the Game
Four Cleveland turnovers lead to 21 New England points including a defensive touchdown in the last minute.
Offensive Leaders/Notes
In addition to Watson, Tom Brady was 22 of 38 for 265 yards and 3 TD’s, Sammy Morris had 102 yards on 21 carries.Â
With 1st and goal inside the five on the first drive the offense sputtered settling for a Stephen Gostkowski FG. It was one of three drives that died in the red zone leading to two field goals and once turning the ball over on downs.
Offense had several three and out drives and looked kind of scattered most of the day.
Scoring drive in first quarter (3rd drive of the day) was only 1 play for 34 yards to Stallworth.
Offense was pitiful in 3rd quarter with several missed passes on either bad routes or wrong reads and a couple of rushes for no gain.
The offense was just 2 of 12 on third down.
Brady overthrew a wide-open Randy Moss during the drive after the Winslow TD. They followed that up with a holding penalty. Brady then hit Watson for a huge first down on 2nd and 20. This led to the Patriots turning the ball over on downs inside the red zone in the last minute.
Defensive Leaders/Notes
Besides Seau, Tedy Bruschi had 7 tackles and 2 sacks, Vince Wilfork had 6 tackles and 1 sack and Eugene Wilson, Adalius Thomas and Ellis Hobbs had 6 tackles a piece.
Cleveland’s offense chewed up the Pats on the first drive making Derek Anderson look like Dan Marino until he made a bad choice on 3rd down and got picked by Junior Seau after Asante Samuel tipped the ball.
After a 3 and out by the offense on the first play Asante Samuel gets his 3rd INT of the year again on a tipped pass this one by Adalius Thomas.
Junior Seau gets a second INT as Mike Vrabel creamed Anderson.
Defense held Kellen Winslow without a catch until the 10-minute mark of the 3rd quarter.
Tedy Bruschi made two huge sacks today. But the second one was wasted one play later on a face mask call to Harrison while on coverage of Winslow.
Rodney Harrison made a vicious leaping hit on Winslow to break up a pass in the 3rd quarter.
The defense in the 3rd quarter was less than stellar. Allowing too many rushing yards and easy passing yards. With the exception of Harrison’s hit and Bruschi’s sack there was nothing to write home about.
Heavy pressure on Anderson led to a Vince Wilfork sack and a near miss on another in the 4th quarter.
Randall Gay forced a fumble, recovered it and returned it for 19 yard TD in the last minute.
Special Teams Leaders/Notes
First kick off they failed to wrap up Joshua Cribbs shy of the 30 and he squirmed free for an extra 7 or 8 yards.
The kick off coverage improved as the game moved along.
Poor kick off to start the second half, Gostkowski kicked the ball out of bounds and the Browns got the ball at the 40 leading to a score.
Punting was horrendous. Time to start looking for someone who won’t shank a kick.
Coaching Decisions
Rodney Harrison made his debut on the Browns first drive when they got in the red zone.
Bill Belichick challenged a catch in the 4th quarter by Braylon Edwards. The play stood and the Patriots are now 0 for 4 in challenges this season.
Romeo Crennel challenged the 4th quarter pass to Winslow that led to a fumble recovery for a TD. The play stood.
Injuries
They dropped like flies today, all game long for both teams.
- Jamaal Lewis (CLE) right foot, did not return – 1st Qtr
- Leigh Boden (CLE) unknown injury, returned – 1st Qtr
- Kevin Faulk (NE) twisted his ankle or knee on a run, did not return – 2nd Qtr
- Asante Samuel (NE) unknown injury, returned – 2nd Qtr
- Joe Jurevicious (CLE) knee injury, did not return – 2nd Qtr
- Adalius Thomas (NE) leg injury helped from field, returned – 2nd Qtr
- Gavin Holley (CLE) ankle walked off field, did not return – 2nd Qtr
- Mel Mitchell (NE) unknown injury, unknown on return – 2nd Qtr
- Rodney Poole (CLE) – unknown injury, unknown on return – 3rd Qtr
- Derek Wright (CLE) – unknown injury, unknown on return – 4th Qtr
The Officials
Walt Coleman was today’s referee. On his first penalty call he faced the wrong way instead of at the press box he had his back to it. I’ve never seen that happen before that was a classic.
On the Browns first drive when Wright got the ball to the Patriots 1, the officials missed a holding on an offensive lineman right where he went through the hole. Then on the same play missed two grabs by Vickers on Wilson’s facemask while he was blocking for Wright.
The officials made a really nice read on the Winslow fumble in the fourth quarter. They allowed the play to continue and in the end they got it correct.
Game Notes
Patriots RB Laurence Maroney was inactive for the game due to a groin injury for the second week in a row. Center Dan Koppen was also inactive due to an ankle injury he suffered last week in Cincinnati.
Randy Moss had a false start on the second play of the game. No excuse for that from a WR. Later in the half Cleveland’s Braylon Edwards did the same thing.
Patriots scored on their first drive as they have done every game this season. (2 TD’s, 3 FG’s)
The Patriots punted more than once in a game for the first time this season.
Stephen Neal returned this week after missing last weeks game at Cincinnati with a shoulder injury.
The Giants played at home at 1 p.m. against the Jets and were blacked out in most of New England except for part of Fairfield County, because of the Patriots playing at home. CBS had the TV rights, not FOX, with the Jets as the road team. Per the NFL TV rules in interconference games the road conference has the rights to the game.
The two picks by Seau give him 17 in his Hall of Fame career.
The third quarter was the first quarter all year the Patriots had not scored in. It was only the second quarter they’ve been held scoreless since they were shut out by Miami 21-0 in December, 2006. They had scored in 37 consecutive quarters until the 3rd.
Tom Brady has now thrown 16 TD’s this year and only 2 INT’s.
Post Game Press Conferences
For the post game comments of Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady go to this link.
Press conferences are via Patriots.com
Things To Work On For Next Week
Run defense and tighter pass coverage, red zone efficiency, especially running plays and auditions for a new punter.
Next Week’s Opponent
The Patriots travel to Irving TX to face the Dallas Cowboys. Game time is 4 p.m. at Texas Stadium and will be carried regionally by CBS and along the Patriots Rock Radio Network.
Rest of the AFC East Results
- Houston dumps Miami, 22-19
- NY Giants rally past NY Jets, 35-24
Other AFC Games of Note
- Pittsburgh shuts out Seattle, 21-0
- Tennessee overcomes 5 turnovers to beat Atlanta, 20-13
- Jacksonville contains Kansas City, 17-7
- Indianapolis routs Tampa Bay, 33-14Â
