That's Why They Play the Game

As everyone in America knows by now, the Patriots are a team on a mission this season. With a complete all-around effort, the Patriots cruised by the Cincinnati Bengals 38-24. If not for Chad Ocho Cinco showing up in the second half, and the Patriots secondary moving the corners back and dropping into a softer zone, the score would have been much uglier.

When I say that this was an all-around effort, I mean it in every possible way. From what I saw, Tom Brady barely had a finger laid on him the entire game, and the offensive line seemed to manhandle whatever the Bengals D had to bring. The running backs by committee had driving lanes to maneuver through. Fred Taylor received the bulk of the carries at 14, while Kevin Faulk and Ben Jarvis-Green Ellis combined for eight carries and 45 yards on the ground. With Laurence Maroney now with McDaniels in Denver, expect to see Ellis receive around five-to-ten carries per game.

The Bengals defense didn't just look lost, they looked as lost as Rex Ryan at a salad bar. On Welker's second TD (Jacoby Ellsbury should take some advice from No. 83) the Patriots split Welker, Alge Crumpler, and Rob Gronkowski out wide to the left side in a bunched formation. Anyone watching could tell you Welker was going to get a screen pass. For some reason, the Bengals only lined up two players to cover three. Naturally, Welker scored, and naturally the Patriots won the game.

Speaking of Gronkowski, he is quickly becoming a fan favorite. At 6'6 265, with a giant pair of mittens as hands and a ferocious blocker, he is making Pats fans forget about Ben Watson. Not that that was hard to do.

The question that everyone, including myself, had about the Pats this season was of course the defense. During the first half, the Patriots D looked unflappable, getting penetration up front, and creating havoc by moving guys around pre-snap.

Gary Guyton had a beautiful pick-six and Mike Wright's pressure paved the way for Rob Ninkovich to strip Cedric Benson of the ball for a fumble recovery.

Patrick Chung showed us why he was worthy of the early second-round pick the Pats spent on him last draft - as well as sending Mike Vrabel/Matt Cassel to the Chiefs for that pick - recording 16 tackles (nearly half of his total from last season). He closed on the ball with ferocity and seemed to be making plays all over the field.

I was a little surprised to see so little of Brandon Spikes and in seeing Brandon Meriweather not in the starting lineup. They seemed to rotate out Spikes in favor of Guyton during obvious passing situations and vice versa when it came to the obvious run situations. From what I have read, Belichick and the coaching staff view James Sanders, and Chung and Meriweather as being on equal footing. Meriweather still came in and provided seven tackles, while covering centerfield, as the Pats went into their softer zone.

Devin McCourty and Darius Butler looked great against the self-love affair that is Ocho and TO. They were asked to man-up on the two, and came away victorious. I was especially impressed with Butler, who's reads looked faster and more decisive than last season.

Now......Bring on the Jets and their new Meadowlands Stadium. Haha.