The Result
The New England Patriots took one of the NFL’s top rated defense’s and made them look like a Pop Warner team as they routed the Washington Redskins 52-7 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA on Sunday afternoon.
The all-American boy Tom Brady threw for 3 TD’s passes and ran for a pair of scores in the win. One of Brady’s TD tosses went to Mike Vrabel, a linebacker playing tight end, in the second quarter. It was Vrabel’s 10th career catch, all 10 have been for touchdowns.
The defense chipped in as well, yielding only a late TD to Washington after forcing 4 turnovers by rookie quarterback Jason Campbell (3 fumbles and 1 INT).
This was the Patriots first win over Washington since 1972.
Scoring Plays
| Washington | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| New England | 7 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 52 |
1st Quarter
- NE – Brady 3 yard run – kick good – 7-0 Patriots
2nd Quarter
- NE – Brady 2 yard pass to Vrabel – kick good – 14-0 Patriots
- NE – Gostkowski 36 yard FG – 17-0 Patriots
- NE – Brady 6 yard pass to Moss – kick good – 24-0 Patriots
3rd Quarter
- NE – Brady 2 yard run – kick good – 31-0 Patriots
- NE – Colvin 11 yard fumble return – kick good – 38-0 Patriots
4th Quarter
- NE – Brady 2 yard pass to Welker – kick good – 45-0 Patriots
- NE – Cassel 16 yard run – kick good – 52-0 Patriots
- WAS – Campbell 15 yard pass to Cooley – kick good – 52-7 Patriots
Offensive Player of the Game
Laurence Maroney had 14 carries for 75 yards on the ground and caught 2 passes for another 37 yards.
Defensive Player of the Game
Mike Vrabel had 13 tackles, 3 sacks and 3 forced fumbles plus for good measure he even caught a touchdown pass.
Turning Point(s) of the Game
Patriots once again score on their opening drive putting the Redskins in an early 7-0 hole.
Patriots force Redskins QB Jason Campbell to fumble in the second quarter and end up with a FG to increase the lead to 17-0.
Offensive Leaders/Notes
In addition to Maroney, Wes Welker had 9 catches for 89 yards and a TD and Tom Brady was 29 of 38 for 306 yards and 3 TD passes plus he ran 4 times for 14 yards and 2 TD’s.
RB Laurence Maroney went 11 yards on the Pats first play. Then went 14 yards on the second play. He ran well all game and even caught passes for large gain out of the backfield.
Patriots moved the ball very effectively on the first drive with a nice mix of pass and run going 90 yards for a score.
Tom Brady ran out of the pocket on third and goal from the 5 and got into the end zone. As he broke free Randy Moss became open on the end line but it was too late to thrown. It was his first rushing TD of the season and once again the Pats scored on their opening drive of the game.
The Patriots just continue to operate at will on the Redskins D in the second quarter.
Patriots LB Mike Vrabel was once again left wide open in the end zone resulting in his 10th career TD catch.
Moss couldn’t pull down a 3rd and six pass forcing the pats to kick a FG.
Brady fumbled on the first play after the Samuel INT
Patriots get their 3rd TD of the game after they recovered the second Campbell fumble Brady threw 9 yards to Moss. It set a new career high for Brady with 29 TD passes.
Patriots had 19 first downs in the first half.
Maroney went 9 yards after reversing direction as he was nearly wrapped up at the line of scrimmage.
TE Marcellus Rivers dropped a pass in the end zone on 1st and goal from the 2.
Brady went with a keeper from the 2 on 3rd and goal for his second run of the game.
Brady went 35 yards to Randy Moss down the sideline in the 4th quarter.
Once again the offensive line did a great job of protecting Brady and opening holes for the running backs.
In the red zone in the fourth quarter the Pats had two motion penalties one by Moss which is inexcusable for a WR.
Brady goes two yards to Wes Welker for his 30th TD pass of the year and third of the game. He now has at least 3 TD passes in all 8 games.
Matt Cassel replaced Brady with 9 minutes left in the game.
Cassel hit Jabar Gaffney for a 21-yard gain on 4th and 2 from the 37.
Cassel runs 16 yards for a TD. It was his first rushing TD in the NFL.
Matt Gutierrez replaced Cassel at QB with 3 minutes left in the game.
The offense had a season high 486 yards.
Defensive Leaders/Notes
In addition to Vrabel, fellow linebacker Tedy Bruschi had 10 tackles.
On the first play from scrimmage Patriots LB Rosevelt Colvin nearly intercepted Washington QB Jason Campbell.
Redskins converted their first time in a 3rd down. They were stopped on their second 3rd down conversion attempt and forced to punt.
DL Richard Seymour made his first appearance on the Redskins second possession.
Patriots CB Asante Samuel has twice jumped Redskins receiver routes and nearly had picks on the first two Washington drives.
Patriots had good coverage downfield on an attempted wide receiver pass Antwaan Randle El.
Patriots force Campbell to fumble when Vrabel, sacks him and strips the ball and Ty Warren recovers it on the Washington 21.
Asante Samuel gets his 4th INT of the year late in the second quarter on a bad decision by Campbell trying to go downfield.
Campbell fumbled for a second time. Once again he got sacked and stripped by Vrabel and Warren recovered giving the Pats the ball near mid field.
Vrabel forces his 3rd fumble by sacking Campbell and Colvin goes 11 yards for the score.
Stop Redskins on 4th and 4 on the 12.
Defense playing soft had trouble with the hurry up offense late in the 4th quarter. Gave up a TD with 3 minutes left to lose the shut out.
Special Teams Leaders/Notes
Stephen Gostkowski was 7/7 on PAT’s and 1/1 on FGA’s.
Ellis Hobbs had a good return to start the second half but it was brought back on a hold by Larry Izzo.
Poor kick off out of bounds by Gostkowski after the Colvin score gives Washington the ball at the 40.
Washington tries an onside kick and Patriots recover it.
With a little over a minute left to play the Patriots punt and pin the Redskins at their 2-yard line.
Coaching Decisions
Washington goes for it in 4th and 4 in the red zone trailing 38-0 and comes up short
New England goes for it on 4th and 1 from the 11 leading 38-0 and makes it.
New England goes for it on 4th and 2 from the 37 leading 45-0 and goes 21 yards to Gaffney.
Injuries
- WAS – Carlos Rogers knee injury, will not return – 1st qtr
- WAS – Clinton Portis hand injury, he did return – 2nd qtr
- WAS – Rocky McIntosh unknown injury, unknown on return – 3rd qtr
The Officials
Larry Nemmers was the referee. He has 23 years experience as a NFL official. There were no calls of significance.
Game Notes
Patriots DL Richard Seymour, a 5-time all pro, has been activated for the game. TE Ben Watson is in active due to the injury he suffered a few weeks ago in Dallas. Sammy Morris also missed the game due to injury.
Redskins are without CB Fred “the love boat” Smoot who is injured.
Patriots have the best 3rd down defense in the NFL.
The Patriots have scored on their first drive in all 8 games. (5 TD’s, 3 FG’s).
Patriots have scored 34 or more points in the last nine games dating back to last season. That’s a new NFL record.
The Patriots won their 8th straight game by 17 points or more. A NFL record.
Brady joined Peyton Manning today as the only QB’s in NFL history to beat 31 teams.
New England has scored in 30 of the 32 quarters they’ve played this year.
This was the first time in NFL history two coaches have faced each other after having won 3 or more Super Bowls.
The Patriots scored a season high 52 points. It was the first 50+ point performance since 1984.
This is the worse loss ever suffered by a Joe Gibbs coached team.
Patriots had 17 points off of 4 Redskins turnovers.
Post Game Press Conferences
Listen to what Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady had to say about today’s game.
Press conferences via patriots.com
Things To Work On For Next Week
Beating the snot out of Indianapolis on the road.
Next Week’s Opponent
The Patriots travel to Indianapolis to face the undefeated, defending Super Bowl Champion Colts at 4:15 p.m. at the RCA Dome. CBS TV and the Patriots Rock Radio Network will have all the coverage. It’s the match up of good (Colts) and evil (Patriots) and it should be a doozey.
