New England Patriots: Five Takeaways From 43-17 Win Over Cincinnati Bengals

Sep 21, 2014; Orchard Park, NY, USA; A general view of a penalty flag thrown by a official during a game between the Buffalo Bills and the San Diego Chargers at Ralph Wilson Stadium. San Diego beats Buffalo 22 to 10. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

4. Penalties creep up again

Generally, teams that commit 12 penalties for a total of 114 yards don’t win games. Let alone win games by 26 points. But that just goes to prove how on fire the Patriots were on Sunday night, because they managed to pull off that victory while committing a foul every other play.

Yes, some of it was because of some horrible officiating, but most of it was because the Patriots just made too many stupid decisions. For instance, Jamie Collins blowing up Brandon Tate on a punt return in the first half after he signaled for a fair catch? Utterly idiotic.

If New England wants to compete for a Super Bowl in the postseason, they are going to have to cut down on these dumb penalties. They are just shooting themselves in the foot by giving up tons of field position yardage, and even killing a few drives because of bad holding calls early in the series.

I really hope they can correct this issue, because it is getting out of hand.