I didn’t see this coming. I expected what we saw in the 1st half, a fist fight in a phone booth. Drake Maye took the game over in the 3rd Quarter with three TD performance.
Good
- Drake Maye was outstanding again this week. He was 18 of 24 passes for 282 yards, 3 TDs and 3 TDs. He ran for 50 yards but was sacked 6 times for 37 yards. Another MVP worthy performance against the Browns #1 Defense coming into this week.
- Maye stat of the week: 200+ Passing Yards, 100+ Passer Rating for 7 consecutive games (Maye, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodger (2x), Patrick Mahomes and Peyton Manning)
- Maye’s Passer Rating in the 2nd half was a perfect passer rating (158.3), going 8 for 8 and 3 TDs.
- It was the coming out party for Treveyon Henderson, he ran 10 times for 75 yards. He fumbled at the 1-yard line. This was his 2nd He never fumbled throughout his college career on 667 snaps.
- Maye stands alone on top in Patriots history when he has passed for 200+ yards, 135+ passer rating and 2+ TD games. This is the 5th time he has accomplished this in a single season. He jumps ahead of Tom Brady who has done it 4 times in multiple seasons.
- Offense ran for 177 yards in total against the Browns #4 Run Defense.
- Defense held the Browns to just 68 yards rushing. They shut down Quinshon Judkins on 9 rushes for just 19 yards and 2.1 YPC. Judkins hurt his shoulder in the 2nd Quarter and missed the remainder of the game. The Patriots’ Defense is not getting enough credit for this. No Runningback has gained 50 yards total through 8 games. I even benched Judkins on my Fantasy team this week because he was going up against the Patriots.
- This from Mike Reiss – Stat of note: The Patriots are the only team since 1950 to go the first 8 games of a season without allowing an opposing RB to reach 50 yards in a game.
- Hawkins interception was a spectacular one-handed catch.
- Robert Spillane had an Interception that he should have taken to the house. He had a great game with 14 Tackles and 2 Tackles for Loss.
- Overall the Defense had 6 PBUs.
- Mack Hollins had 7 catches on 7 targets for 89 yards.
- Kayshon Boutte had another big game with 3 catches and a drop for 75 yards and a beautiful 39-yard TD. On that play he ran a great hesitation route and beat the corner deep, stacking him near the goal line and Maye dropped the pass right in the bucket. Boutte broke his streak of receptions for a 1st down at 11 consecutive. His catch that broke that streak was a 3rd and 23 in which he got 21 setting up a Borregales Field goal before the end of the 1st half to give the Patriots the lead that they never relinquished.
- Myles Garrett had a tremendous game with 5 sacks, despite being double teamed. I think he will be the Defensive MVP again.
- Maliek Collins was held in check with only 1 Tackle and a QB hit. He entered the game as the #1 DT in the league.
- Fannin’s TD was a trick play where he lined up in the backfield. Other than that specific play the Patriots stopped all their trick plays. Once the trick plays were done, the Patriots Defense owned the Browns Offense.
- The secondary had 6 PBUs and 2 INT. They held Gabriel to 60% completion rate, 156 yards passing, and 65.9 QB rating. Brown’s top receiver Jerry Jeudy had zero catches on 2 targets. Gonzalez and Jeudy got into a beef after the game, and they had to be separated. I guess that is what happened when a Pro Bowl DB shuts down a WR.
- Stevenson had at least two big blitz pickups allowing Maye to complete passes.
- Borregales has become very consistent. He was 3 for 3 today and is 12 for 13 for the season.
- Marcus Jones is having an outstanding season. He had 6 tackles with a Tackle for Loss and 2 PBUs.
- Cleveland threw three gimmick plays at the Pats Defense, and the 1st one got them a TD with Fannin lining up in the backfield. After the Patriots stopped the next two, including a half back toss back to Gabriel, they had nothing left to throw at the Patriots Defense and they locked them down until the bad punt in the 4th
- The starters on Offense were introduced individually. Head Coach Mike Vrabel stated after the game that he wanted to get some enthusiasm with the crowd. I thought that it was because they weren’t home for three weeks and wanted to introduce the team to the fans.
- Stephon Diggs scored his 1st TD all season. He was super excited about it and so were his teammates for him. The Defensive team were really giving it to him this week by saying that K’Lavon Chaisson had more TDs than he did.
- Give Josh McDaniels credit for the opening drive of 7 plays and 77 yards to start 2nd
– Maye 6-yard scramble up the middle
– 6-yard Henderson run from split-back gun
– Crack toss lead for 27 yards (Henderson)
– Double pass to Hollins for 19 yards
– Speed option to Stevenson for 4 yards
– Jet sweep to Douglas for 8 yards
– Y delay off the boot/jet motion to Henry (TD)
- Drake Maye was seen pointing to McDaniels on the sideline after the Boutte TD.
- Defense made a big stand after the Drake Maye Interception, holding Cleveland to a long Field Goal that they missed.
Bad
- Still can’t cover the TE, Fannin had 6 catches for 62 yards and a TD. Njoku had 4 receptions for 37 yards and a TD.
- Patriots only had 1 sack in the game and that was in garbage time by Anfernee Jennings
- Will Campbell had a tough game as do most players going against Myles Garrett. I had him for two sacks, one that was a strip sack that the Patriots recovered. In 20 snaps against players not named Garrett, Campbell didn’t give up any pressures.
- Neither Patriot’s TE can block to save their lives. Garrett went through Henry like he was going up against a tackling dummy.
- Turnovers ended as even for the game.
- Chaisson lost containment several times flying up field, allowing the left-handed Gabriel to roll left.
- The Patriots came out flat on Defense again this week and gave up a TD on the 1st They also had some shoddy tackling in this drive. They cleaned that up and were solid in tackling the remainder of the game.
- Failing to cover an onside kick was bad. The way that Cleveland kicked it, the hands team should have anticipated the high third bounce of the ball.
Ugly
- Christian Barmore sat down for the entire 1st Quarter in some type of disciplinary action. Head Coach Mike Vrabel wouldn’t elaborate, “I had to make a decision,” Vrabel said during his postgame press conference at Gillette Stadium. “My job is to protect the team. When there are actions that I don’t feel like are commiserate with what we want to do here, I got to make a decision and we move on.” Barmore would not speak with the media and left immediately after the game. There was an internet rumor that a player said something derogatory to a female cleaning woman in the locker room. Coach Vrabel reportedly overheard this and addressed the entire team the next day before practice. I will add that the rumor named another player other than Barmore and stated that the player was going to be suspended by the team for this game. The player in question was active and played in the game. Perhaps they named the wrong player. The Patriots insider Ted Johnson knows what happened and is dancing all around it, letting Vrabel handle it internally.
- Keion White was a healthy scratch today and is rumored to be on the trade block. White doesn’t seem to be able to grasp this Defensive scheme. I said in my Pre-Season preview that this was a big year for White coming into a contract year. He is a player without a position, looks like Tarzan, but plays like Jane.
- Do we need to look for a new punter? Barringer had an opportunity to pin the Browns deep in their own zone and boomed a 61-yarder into the endzone for a touchback. With 10:46 left in the game, Barringer shanked a punt from the Patriots’ 11-yard line for a net 15 yards at the Patriots’ 26-yard line. This play allowed the Browns to get a meaningless TD on a short field. It was like a turnover.
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Add as a preferred source on Google NewsAbout Mark Morse
Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.
The D is indeed under appreciated on run defense. They have made every opponent one dimensional, and accordingly forced teams to throw or fail. It’s a big reason they are winning along with the offense scoring enough points to compliment that good defense.