Defense saves the Pats

Nick Stewart

Oct 17, 2011 at 4:12am ET

First off, let me say sorry for the lateness of this post. I thought I clicked 'Publish', but apparently I didn't. Anyways...

This game had all the markings of an early 2000s game where the defense had to bail out the offense. If you told me that I'd be saying this before the game, I'd tell you your crazy. There still needs to be a lot done with defense though. Tackling was poor and long balls where still killing us.

The offense seemed out of rhythm at times and Tom Brady was out of rhythm the second half until the game winning drive.

Beasts:

• Kyle Arrington




• Relatively our best corner right now, Arrington showed up by intercepting Tony Romo's pass in the first quarter




• Brandon Spikes




• Spikes was all over the field and was doing great with the blitzes




• Andre Carter




• Carter is developing, well turning into, the pass rusher we want. With two sacks on Romo, Carter is finally getting it. Now if only Haynesworth can get it....

• Ochocinco




• When you run the wrong route after 6 weeks of being here, your a bum




• Mathew Slater




• Slater lost a fumble off of a return. I could understand if the ball was stripped out like a Ray Lewis strip but it was punched out and Slater's poor ball security allowed for that

• Did Phil Costa bring on the wrath of Vince Wilfork upon himself?




• Yes




• Will the Patriots be able to stop Jason Witten?




• 4 catches for 48 yards




• Does Dez Bryant torch the Patriots secondary?




• With only 78 yards on the day, I'd say no




• Will Mark Anderson get another sack today?




• No, but Andre Carter and Kyle Love did




• Does the offensive line allow any sacks?




• They allowed 3

• Kyle Arrington continues to show why he got paid


• Whats wrong with Logan Mankins?


• Brandon Spikes is looking really good


• Big plays are still killing us


• We need to tackle better


• The Pats are still Straight Out of Foxborro

Other:

• After every game I start a post game discussion on the Patriots subreddit on Reddit.com. The current one is here so go ahead and check it out for some other thoughts