New England Patriots Game Grades: Good Marks All Around

Man, it feels so much better grading this week’s game versus last week’s abomination.

The New England Patriots came out inspired, angry, and ready to kick some butt against the Bengals, and they proved that they are not even close to done.

And this week’s game grades reflect their excellent performance.

Passing Offense: A-

You could tell from the opening kick that Tom Brady was pissed off, and he was going to have a Tom Brady-like night. He was precise all game long, utilizing his two tight ends to do most of the damage. Rob Gronkowski and Tim Wright had an awesome game, as they combined for 11 catches, 185 yards, and two touchdowns. They abused Cincinnati’s linebackers from start to finish, in a way that was oddly reminiscent to the Patriots’ offense of 2011.

However, as great as Brady and the tight ends were, the offensive line was better. Arguably the most scrutinized group in all of football came through in a big way on Sunday night, as they dominated a quality Bengals’ defensive front.

Brady dropped back 35 times, and he had plenty of time to throw the football on every single one of those drop-backs. The only sack he took was on a play where he simply held on to the ball for too long, and it was not the fault of the offensive line.

When Brady has time to throw, good things happen. Hopefully the Patriots have found the right offensive line combination for good.

Rushing Offense: A

Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen combined to run for 203 yards, on 36 carries on Sunday, as the Pats racked up 220 yards on the ground as a team.

Again, a lot of the credit has to be given to the offensive line, because they dominated in this department as well. They got incredible push off the ball, they opened up giant holes for the two backs, and they continually advanced to the second level to spring Ridley and Vereen for big gains. I said coming into this game that the Patriots had to establish the run game early in order to have a good day on offense, and that is exactly what they did.

If New England can go off for over 200 yards on the ground against a defense like Cincinnati’s, they can do it against anyone. I think we will see more and more of this as the season progresses.

Pass Defense: B+

You see what happens when you deploy this defense in an aggressive manner?

They dominate.

Bill Belichick finally allowed Darrelle Revis to play out on an island, and by taking away the Bengals’ top weapon in A.J. Green, New England completely destroyed Andy Dalton‘s passing offense. He had to hold onto the ball for longer than he wanted, and wherever he looked, there was tight man coverage from the Pats.

This defense has the ability to play lock-down man coverage for 60 minutes, and while they didn’t do that against Cincinnati, they gave us a taste of how good they can be.

One issue that I did see was the lack of pass rush from the front four. Granted, Chandler Jones was limited with a shoulder injury, but the Pats hardly touched Dalton all night. Chris Jones did have a nice sack in the second half, but they are going to need much more from the pass rush going forward.

Run Defense: B-

Cincinnati got behind early, so they didn’t run the ball nearly as much as they would have liked. The Patriots did a decent job in containing Giovani Bernard, holding him to 62 yards on 13 carries, but they really didn’t have too many chances to do so.

With Dont’a Hightower out, the Pats were bound to struggle a bit in this area, and that was evidenced as they gave up 4.4 yards per carry. A decent outing for the run defense, but not the best.

Special Teams: A

Stephen Gostkowski drilled five field goals for the Pats in this one, as he continues to show he is one of, if not the best kicker in the game. Brandon Bolden also forced a fumble on a third quarter kickoff, which Kyle Arrington promptly scooped up, and scored the easy touchdown.

This was the back-breaker for the Bengals, and it just does to show you that you must perform in all three phases of the game to win in this league.