Forty passes. 406 yards. Three touchdowns. Rob Gronkowski running wild, Martellus Bennett going off, LeGarrette Blount finishing drives; on this day we saw everything we thought we’d see from Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.
Though the Pats’ 30-7 third-quarter lead was blunted slightly by a Charlie Whitehurst touchdown pass, the 33-13 final score hardly muffles the message the Pats sent to the rest of the league: Yep, we’re still pretty good at this.
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The Browns, 10.5-point home underdogs, capitulated almost immediately. With Cody Kessler at quarterback, the Browns went three-and-out on their opening drive, and then Gronk Gronked:
For exactly one drive, it looked like Kessler and the Browns might at least make it interesting; they answered with a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that tied the game at seven.
Then Brady and the Pats ripped off 23 consecutive points, including three scores for Martellus Bennett and an ugly-looking Kessler safety:
The Pats defense, which looked completely lifeless against the Bills in Week 4, forced that safety, two sacks, a pick, a fumble and held the Browns to an average of just 4.4 yards per offensive play. They knocked Kessler out of the game, then knocked Whitehurst out of the game, and wideout Terrelle Pryor was lucky to fill in for only a handful of snaps, lest he feel the Pats’ fury too.
The Pats will stay at least one game ahead of the rest of the AFC East, and hit their stride just as they hit a brutal three-week stretch: Their next three opponents are the Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Buffalo Bills (who just shut them out at home in Week 4).
Even if they drop a game or two in that stretch, though, the Pats will then get a bye week to recover before a very friendly run of games that should position them well for a run at the AFC’s top seed.
If the Pats keep playing like this, though, they may not drop any more games at all.
