Welcome back to Gillette Stadium TB12
Playing in his first game in Foxboro since Roger Goodell abused his Article 46 powers, Tom Brady completed 29 out of 35 passes for 376 yards as the New England Patriots defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 35-17. Brady threw three touchdown passes and went over 5,000 pass completions in his illustrious career. TB12 led the Patriots to scoring drives on each of their final four possessions. He finished the day with a 140.0 passer rating, completing 83% of his passes with no turnovers.
The Bengals came out of the second half with an 80-yard touchdown drive to take the lead 14-10. Cincy forced a punt after just four plays and things were looking good for the visitors. The tide quickly turned as Trey Flowers stuffed Jeremy Hill for no gain and then Cedric Ogbuehi was called for holding after being beat by Rob Ninkovich. That penalty negated what would have been a 15-yard completion to AJ Green for a first down, and backed Cincinnati up to the 8-yard line.
On the next play Dont’a Hightower sacked Andy Dalton in the end zone for a safety and close the score to 14-12. That was the turning point of the game, as New England dominated the rest of the way. The Patriots scored on each of their next four possessions while the defense held Cincinnati to two punts and a field goal. Hightower was a beast all game. At one point he looked as if he would be unable to continue after being hit by a teammate on a tackle. On the very next play the defensive captain was in on a crucial sack.
Marvin Lewis was unable to come up with a game plan to slow down Rob Gronkowski. In spite of dealing with a flu this week Gronk had his way with the Cincinnati defenders, catching seven of the nine passes thrown his way for 162 yards – an incredible 23.1 yards per catch – and a touchdown. Gronk simply ran past Pro Bowl linebacker Vontaze Burfict, and over corner Adam Jones.
The officiating was inconsistent with questionable decisions (perhaps make-up calls) on both teams. We’ll save that for another day and savor this victory for now. Tomorrow it is on to Pittsburgh.
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