Pats Pulpit
Ahead of this year’s training camp, New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel explained that he was looking at his team’s performances in three categories. There is the good, the bad, and, as he called it, the s—t that gets you beat.
For the Patriots, Sunday’s 32-13 win over the Cleveland Browns brought more good than bad. Even though the team did not play a complete game, it eventually managed to outlast its opponent to win its fifth straight game.
That said, if the coach wants to look at the Patriots through the three categories he established, who are we to disagree? So, let’s break down the Week 8 game in exactly that manner.
Even though starting fast on defense was one of the Patriots’ themes of the week, they did not manage to accomplish it against the Browns. After taking a 3-0 lead on the game’s first series, the unit of acting coordinator Zak Kuhr promptly gave up a six-play, 70-yard touchdown drive that did not see much resistance on New England’s part.
However, just as quickly as the Browns found the end zone their offense started to fade again. Part of it was their own limitations as a unit led by a rookie quarterback making his fourth NFL start, but New England also deserves credit: the home team largely shut down the opposing run game — lead back Quinshon Judkins finished with merely 19 yards on nine carries — and in the second half registered a pair of interceptions.
“When their gimmick plays ran out, I thought we played pretty good defense,” was head coach Mike Vrabel’s blunt assessment after the game.
“We knew we had to come out there and beat their script,” added outside linebacker Anfernee Jennings. “We knew they had a good opening script and wanted to get out there and beat it. The second drive we got things settled down and started playing our brand of defense.”
The numbers show that the Patriots did. Sure, the Browns are no offensive power house, entering the game ranked 30th in expected points added per play, but credit where it is due: the defense shook off another sluggish start to basically shut down the opponent for the rest of the afternoon. In short, it did its job.
Going up against arguably its toughest test yet, the Patriots offense did not play to its full potential in the first half. Part of it was the unit’s inability to extend drives: it managed to move the chains on only two of eight third downs, resulting in an output of just nine total points courtesy of kicker Andy Borregales.
Things improved in the second half, in large part because third downs were largely avoided, but New England still ended the game with a success rate of just 27.3% overall while going 3-for-11. For comparison, Drake Maye and company converted 41.5% of their third downs over the first seven weeks...
