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MINNEAPOLIS - In the fourth quarter, the fans at TCF Bank Stadium started chanting "Teddy! Teddy! Teddy!" Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer wouldn't bite.
One of these days, Zimmer might have to. Matt Cassel, very familiar around these parts as Tom Brady's long time former understudy, threw four picks and made Viking Nation pine for Teddy Bridgewater, their top draft pick from Louisville. The Patriot defense bedeviled Cassel all game long after recovering from a bad first series, and the Patriots coasted to a 30-7 win on Sunday to even their 2014 record at 1-1.
The Patriots so dominated Cassel and the Viking offense that it didn't matter that other phases of the game sputtered at times, and that most of the Patriot points came off of Viking turnovers. The Patriots incurred 15 penalties, the most in the Bill Belichick era. Stephen Gostkowski was a perfect three for three in field goals, but that was more about unfinished drives rather than clutch kicking. Julian Edelman had a nice day, but no other Patriot receiver was of any consequence and Stevan Ridley turned out to be the big offensive juggernaut.
The defense rendered any "problems", if you want to refer to that as such, pretty much moot. Cassel didn't look much like the quarterback he was when he led the Patriots to an 11-5 record in 2008. Matt Asiata, the replacement for the sidelined Adrian Peterson, who was arrested in Texas last week on child abuse charges, was nothing at all like his All-Pro teammate after the first offensive series for the Vikings.
Wipe out that first series for Minnesota. Three long gains, which were later reduced to fluke status thanks to terrific adjustments, got the Vikings an early 7-0 lead. Kyle Rudolph beat Deontae Skinner, a practice squad linebacker, on a crossing pattern for 16 yards. Another tight end, Rhett Ellison, beat Jerod Mayo on a 24-yard pass play in the left flat. On the next play, the Patriot defense, particularly Patrick Chung, bit on a fake end around to Cordarelle Patterson, leaving Asiata wide open in the right flat. Cassel hit him and he took it in for a 25-yard touchdown.
That would be it for the Vikings offensively. On the next series, facing second down and 16 at his own 15, Cassel tried to lob a deep ball to Jarius Wright into double coverage. Devin McCourty made the pick and nearly returned it to the house, turning out of bounds at the pylon where he might have run it in the end zone. Two plays later, Ridley pounded it in from the one to tie the score at 7.
Two drives later, a holding penalty on Darrelle Revis negated a sack of Cassel. Revis made up for it five plays later by picking off perhaps the worst throw on the afternoon for Cassel. Cassel was trying to hit Greg Jennings in the right flat, but the pass went right to Revis for his first pick as a Patriot. Brady cashed in that pick with a seven-play, 61-yard drive punctuated with a nine-yard fade pass to Edelman, who beat Captain Munnerlyn in the corner of the end zone to give the Patriots a 17-7 lead.
 Chandler Jones blocked a field goal attempt and returned it for a touchdown Sunday at Minneapolis. (USA TODAY Images) |
The second half was again underwhelming for the Patriot offense, but it didn't matter at all. On their first offensive possession of the second half, Cassel drove the Vikings 22 yards in six plays. He then tried to hit Patterson over the middle, but Logan Ryan undercut the pattern and made the pick at the Vikings 45. The Patriots only went four and out, but Gostkowski drilled a 47-yard field goal to make it 27-7 Patriots. On their next offensive possession, the Patriots enjoyed a ten-play drive which was marred with penalties, including three on two plays by Nate Solder, and a 27-yard field goal by Gostkowski completed the scoring as the game went into the fourth quarter.
There was one more pick, as Cassel tried to drill Asiata with a right flat pass. The pass deflected off his helmet and the ball fell into the arms of rookie Dominique Easley. Fans at this time were booing Cassel and calling for Bridgewater to come into the game, which he never did.
Brady was downcast in his postgame press conference. He commented that "we have a lot of work to do", and that "I wish that we could go out there and play like we are capable of." Despite finishing with a decent passer rating of 102.3, you came away with the impression that this game could have and should have been far worse than 30-7. Rob Gronkowski did have four catches for 32 yards, but that is still far below what Gronk is capable of.
The Patriots used the run to control the clock and the game offensively. Ridley finished with 101 yards rushing, and Shane Vereen averaged over six yards per carry. Again, Brady didn't need to have a spectacular day. He was downcast because he believes the offense can do better, he is right. But in a game like this, the defense was terrific and Cassel was lousy.
Without Peterson in the backfield for the Vikings, the Minnesota rushing attack was a non-factor. They rushed for 54 yards and a 2.8 average as a team. Cassel finished with only a 39.1 passer rating thanks mainly to the four interceptions.
With the win, Belichick earned his 200th victory as a head coach. He spent a great deal of time in his postgame press conference giving praise to his former players who helped him reach that coaching milestone. It was a sharp departure from the usual laconic style Belichick is famous for. The Patriots have now won 12 straight games versus the NFC North, and this was their second straight win in a college stadium (the Patriots beat the Bears in 2002 at the University of Illinois while Soldier Field was being renovated).
The Patriots will play their home opener next week against Oakland. The defense will get to test their newfound confidence against rookie quarterback Derek Carr. Belichick usually does well against rookie quarterbacks, and the Raiders have a lot of rebuilding left to do alongside trying to find the quarterback of their dreams.
Meanwhile, the Vikings are left with some time to deal with Peterson. Baltimore seemed unaffected by the Ray Rice situation on Thursday night. Maybe Zimmer should give John Harbaugh a call.
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