CLEVELAND, OH — The Patriots may have fooled the Browns by starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe on Sunday, but unfortunately their plan backfired, and the result was a 19-11 loss.
Bledsoe had been listed as “questionable” coming into Sunday’s game, but after reportedly throwing in the locker room before the game he felt like he was throwing the ball with enough accuracy to be effective and ended up starting the game.
“I think in looking at him before the game that he was good enough to play,” said Belichick. “Again I’m sure he was less than 100%. I’m not saying his throwing was perfect by any means, but he was able to throw the ball and had pretty good velocity on it.”
Bledsoe played the entire game and finished 21-of-35 for 212-yards and a touchdown. He was, however, involved in four turnovers including three fumbles and one interception, two of which were lost inside Cleveland’s 10 yard line. Both Belichick and Bledsoe said after the game that the injured thumb was not a factor, but it was obvious that there was a problem and that Bledsoe was definitely not 100%.
“I don’t think that the injury was really a big a factor in the turnovers,” said Belichick. “There was a couple he wasn’t even involved in.”
“I don’t feel good about [the team] playing like that at all. That’s not the way we need to play, that’s not the way we want to play, and we won’t do very well playing like that, that’s obvious.”
The Patriots went into the locker room at half time down 13-3 after Browns quarterback Doug Pederson found Aaron Shea on a 9-yard touchdown pass to give Cleveland a 10-point edge. The touchdown was their first in nearly 15 quarters.
After Cleveland converted two more field goals, New England cut the lead to eight after Bledsoe went to the two-minute offense and took them on a 12-play, 73-yard drive that culminated in a 2 yard touchdown pass to tight end Rod Rutledge. The Patriots converted the two-point conversion, but after both teams exchanged punts New England simply ran out of time.
Bledsoe says he feels like he’s healthy enough to play, and that fans can continue to expect to see him in the line-up.
“I feel like I’m healthy enough to play and play effectively,” said Bledsoe. “So unless something further happens you can expect to see me on the field.”
The loss drops New England to 2-8 on the season, and the victory for the Browns surpassed their win total of last season when they went 2-14. Belichick was disappointed in how his team played but credited Cleveland’s effort.
“It was a game today that we didn’t play well in,” said Belichick. “Cleveland did a good job. Turnovers were a big factor in the game and led to a lot of points. Some of the opportunities that we had we didn’t take advantage of, and they hit some field goals and got enough points to win the game.”
“I’m just disappointed in the way overall we executed. We just didn’t play the type of football we need to play against a team like Cleveland that’s sound and didn’t make a lot of mistakes and executed a good solid game plan.”
New England will now return home to face the Cincinnati Bengals in Foxboro next Sunday.
GAME NOTES: New England still remains the only team in the NFL without a 100-yard rusher or 300-yard passer this season………Max Lane will be evaluated when the team returns to Foxboro, he hurt his knee during Sunday’s loss…….Rookie running back J.R. Redmond injured his ribs, he’ll also be evaluated…….Second-year quarterback Michael Bishop was inactive for Sunday’s game, and for the first time this season, rookie quarterback Tom Brady was the third-string quarterback. Said Belichick, “We just thought that given what we were at the quarterback situation, if it got down to that, Tom has looked a little better at running the offense, and that’s what we would need to do, so he would have been the third guy.”
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
