Yes, Tom Brady had a point to prove, and he proved it.
But Sunday’s 43-17 demolition of the Bengals had more to do with their offense getting back to basics than a future Hall of Fame quarterback avenging some perceived slights.
They ran the ball well. They lined up in two-tight end sets and played power football.
It wasn’t necessarily the kind of dramatic passing game statement the Brady mythologists might portray, though he hit two deep balls early when he was all fired up.
He still doesn’t have sufficient deep threats, but he has two tight ends and he’s using them. Apparently healthy, Rob Gronkowski played a load of snaps and had 100 yards on six catches. Coupled with Tim Wright’s five for 85, those two had 63 percent of New England’s passing yardage.
And there was balance to the offense, with Shane Vereen and Stevan Ridley combining for 203 yards on the ground.
So yes, Brady was good. You don’t cross the 50,000-passing yard barrier the way he did in the first half without being good. But it was more than just Brady.
Here are five more things we learned during Sunday Night Football:
1. The Bengals, are, as it turns out, who we thought they were.
They blanched again in prime time, continuing an amazing trend.
If you go back to 2005 (even before Andy Dalton started hacking up furballs in pressure situations), the Bengals are now 1-11 in prime time road games. Coupled with Dalton’s 0-3 playoff record, it’s a long string of failure on big stages.
At a certain point, it stops being a coincidence.
They didn’t lose this game because it was dark or there were more television cameras, however. They lost it because they did more bad than good on the field.
Things such as tight end Jermaine Gresham dropping an easy touchdown pass had much more to do with the loss than NBC or the league’s schedule-makers.
2. Speaking of things that are not a coincidence, Brady did not get younger this week.
His protection improved, which, as it turns out, makes it easier to look like a good quarterback. He was sacked just once, and wasn’t pressured much by a defense which had been good at it previously.
When any quarterback has a clean pocket, he has a much greater chance of success. When it’s a star of Brady’s magnitude, greater still.
But it’s not as if a magic wand was waved which made him better. The Patriots simply blocked a good defense better than they had in previous weeks, which makes all the difference.
3.The Patriots good work on offense can’t completely cover the fact they’re thinning out quickly on defense, and they didn’t have a huge margin of error there to begin with.
Cornerback Darrelle Revis left the game in the third quarter with a hamstring strain, after spending most of the night locking down A.J. Green. He was able to return to the game in the fourth.
They also lost defensive back Devin McCourty (ribs) and defensive lineman Dominique Easley (shoulder) during the course of the game.
They’re thin in both areas, as they seemed to be easing defensive end Chandler Jones back in on passing downs only after he injured his shoulder last week against the Chiefs.
They were also playing without linebacker Dont’a Hightower (knee), making their performance against a previously dynamic offense that much more impressive.
4.The Bengals gave up 33 points in their first three games combined.
Clearly, they have a good defense. But they looked vulnerable across the middle Sunday night without injured starter Vontaze Burfict, which will make for an interesting matchup next week.
The Panthers make no secrets about their passing game, it runs through tight end Greg Olsen, given their lack of sufficient deep threats.
If the Bengals’ linebackers don’t cover better than they did against Gronkowski and Wright, it could make for a long day. Granted, the Panthers can’t run it the way the Patriots did, but there are still some problems at hand.
5. The Patriots were clearly emotional about this game. Maybe a little too much so.
Yes, they needed to prove they could still play, and that Brady wasn’t washed up. But they also committed a number of too-aggressive penalties as a result of their emotions.
Even though the Bengals wilted like this was a playoff game, this was not the playoffs. It’s October, and there are a lot of games to play without pretending they’ve been disrespected.
