Declining? Not This Guy - Observations From Patriots vs Lions
 Tom Brady and LaGarrette Blount had plenty to celebrate about in the Patriots 34-9 win over Detroit. |
In another impressive performance in all three phases of the game, the New England Patriots routed another divisional leader on Sunday easily beating the Detroit Lions 34-9 on Sunday in Foxboro.
With the win, the Patriots improved to 9-2 and remain the top seed in the AFC and travel to Green Bay to take on a red-hot Packers team next Sunday. The loss dropped the Lions to 7-4 and out of the top position in the NFC North, as Green Bay held on to nip the Vikings and now own first place at 8-3.
But this was a day that belonged to the Patriots, even after a getting off to a somewhat slow start for the offense, the Lions top-rated defense held them to three and outs on the Pats first two possessions. But Brady and the offense showed how versatile this unit is and can be. A week after rushing 44 times for 250 yards against the Colts and facing the #1 rushing defense in the NFL, Brady passed 53 times, completing 38 for 349 yards and 2 touchdowns to pace the offense.
Brady was on top of his game, the Lions front four is able to put great pressure on opponents' QBs but never sacked Brady and in the pivotal first half, Brady shredded an excellent Detroit defense. By the time the teams went off at half-time New England was firmly in control of this one at 24-6. Only a lack of time at the end of the second quarter stopped the Patriots from scoring 4 straight touchdowns. Consider this.... in their past three games against division leaders Denver, Indianapolis and Detroit, the Patriots offense has scored 43, 42 and 34 points while slowing down all of the high flying offenses of their opponents.
Here are some other observations from Sunday's game:
Declining? Not this guy: Once again Brady faced on the top tier teams in the league and this time, facing the #1 statistical defense in terms of yards and points and had a huge game. As we mentioned above, Brady had a big statistical game completing 38-of 53 for 349 yards and 2 TDs to go along with 1 interception. Rather than try to beat Detroit at their own game, Brady utilized the short passing game and negated the fearsome pass rush of the Lions.
It worked to perfection, Brady spread the ball around with nine receptions for Brandon LaFell, 11 for Julian Edelman, seven catches for Rob Gronkowski, six for Shane Vereen and five for TE Tim Wright who caught both touchdown passes from Brady. In the red-zone, the Patriots used Gronk as a decoy, with the Lions giving him all the attention, Brady twice made great plays by staring down Gronkowski and allowing the defense to collapse all around him and then finding Wright all alone for easy scores.
Brady forced a throw on the first drive of the second half to Gronkowski that former Pat safety James Ihedigbo picked off deep in Lions territory at the six yard line. But the Lions got away with a possible pass interference on Gronk that went uncalled. But on a first down pass, perhaps that was one that shouldn't have been forced in there.
Gray Sits, Blount Shines: Only a guy who plays for Bill Belichick and the Patriots can rush for 200 yards and four TDs on Sunday, be on the cover of Sports Illustrated on Monday and then not play a snap the following Sunday. One certainly can feel for Jonas Gray who was on top of the world on Monday and then overslept on Friday and was sent home unable to practice with the team and then was benched against the Lions.
Of course where else but New England and with Belichick can a player like LaGarrette Blount leave the field early on Monday Night Football with the Steelers, get released on Tuesday, get signed by the Patriots on Thursday and practice with an OL's jersey number and then carry 11 times for 78 yards and 2 touchdowns against the top rush defense in the league on Sunday.
But that is exactly what happened. Blount returned to where he had a very solid 2013 and played a key role in Sunday's victory. Detroit entered the game allowing 68 yards per game on the ground. Blount bettered that and averaged a nice 6.5 yard average to boot. A nice welcome back to New England game for the 250 lb battering ram.
Special Teams Shine Again: In our pre-game Razor's Edge piece, we talked about the importance of STs in this game. Well the Patriots units had another stellar game. With the Patriots backed up deep in their own end, a bad snap from Danny Aiken skipped the ball to punter Ryan Allen who boomed the punt 66 yards that completely flipped field position.
Danny Amendola later had a fantastic return of 81 yards on a kickoff return that set up Brady and the Patriots with a short field and a subsequent touchdown. Amendola ran up the middle and then broke to the right sideline where he rolled all the way to the Detroit 22 yard line.
Julian Edelman had an even more impressive 78 punt return for a touchdown wiped out by a block in the back by Pat Chung. The play was close but correctly called as Chung tried to get in front of the Lions coverage gunner. Overall it was another very impressive day for the Pats, STs units.
Revis, Browner Secondary Rise Once More To the Challenge: Facing another potent passing attack, the Patriots secondary had a tough matchup as the Lions boast Golden Tate, Calvin Johnson and a trio of talented tight ends. But led by Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner, the New England secondary was more than up to the challenge.
Revis and Browner frustrated the Lions WRs and although Tate had a big first quarter, wasn't a big factor after that and the Patriots kept Detroit out of the end zone in an impressive display. Throwing to Tate and Johnson, QB Matthew Stafford could only complete 8 of 21 passes. Revis in particular was again outstanding, providing great coverage and breaking up four passes.
On the day, Matthew Stafford had one of his worst if not the worst statistical day of his career, completing only 18 of 46 passes for 264 yards, 0 touchdowns and one interception for a QB rating of only 49.5. The Lions were only 5 of 17 on third down. Revis Island.....alive and well and with Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay offense on tap for next Sunday, it will be needed.
Offensive Line Answers the Bell: Facing Ndamukong Suh and fierce Detroit front four, the interior of the Patriots offensive line was facing a tough matchup. And the interior trio of C Bryan Stork, and Guards Dan Connolly and Ryan Wendell did a fantastic job of giving Brady a great deal of time to throw. Brady helped his own cause with many of the throws coming on quick timing patterns but overall this unit did a great job of keeping Suh from being the disruptive influence in the passing game that he has become.
But the OL deserves a ton of credit, earlier in the season, this unit was in shambles, now they're asserting their will on others even rushing for nearly 25 percent more than what Detroit had been allowing. And while passing 53 times, it was a great effort. The balance displayed makes the Patriots offense a very tough one to defend.
Players of the Game: Revis for the defense, and Tim Wright with two big touchdowns for the offense.
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