One day after the Patriots’ 23-20 overtime win over the Ravens, coach Bill Belichick praised the play of rookie outside linebacker Jermaine Cunningham.
Cunningham, who has emerged as a starter in the 3-4 alignment and one of the team’s top pass rushers in sub packages, finished with six tackles, one sack and a forced fumble.
“I thought Jermaine played very aggressively. He certainly had some good plays, some big plays,” Belichick said. “He had a good pass rush there, got a holding [penalty] on [Michael] Oher. Made some plays in the running game. He still has a long way to go, but he’s working hard and I thought he did play very aggressively, which is what we need at that position.”
Belichick added that five-year veteran Rob Ninkovich, on the opposite side, also played well.
“I thought our outside linebackers did a pretty good job of keeping [Ray] Rice from busting a lot of plays outside, which he’s been known to do,” Belichick said. “Then our inside defenders did a good enough job trying to keep him contained. He’s a really hard guy to shut down. They’re a good running team.”
