ATLANTA – With their toughest game of the season in the books, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and rookie wide receiver Kembrell Thompkins continued to solidify their new found connection.
Thompkins gathering the most targets out of New England’s receivers with 11, and added another touchdown to go along with 100-plus yards. This matchup was a test for this banged-up Patriots squad filled with young receivers and tons of questions, but Brady and his rag-tag group answered the call in their 30-23 victory over the Falcons.
Once again, the running game was up and down, this time led by bulky back Legarette Blount who racked up a 47-yard TD and a total of 64 yards rushing. Brady finally seems to be finding some comfort and trust with his receivers especially in Thompkins and Julian Edelman, Dobson has yet to find his stride with Brady, but with what we have seen with Thompkins one would think it is only with due time that they will both connect soon.
A much larger story to come out of this game late Sunday night was the loss of DT Vince WIlfork, the 10-year-veteran who has spent his entire career with the Patriots went down on Sunday with an apparent ACL injury ending his year.
Taking out his rookie year, Wilfork has only missed a total of six games in his tenure in New England, being a pivotal point in the success of this team at nose tackle. Never being the player who racked up a ton of sacks, he never surpassed racking up more than four sacks within a season but he did have career numbers last year with six pass deflections, three forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries.
Although his numbers were down in solo tackles Wilfork never saw the numbers that were just listed before. Everyone knows it and Belichick and Brady have voiced this very much, you cannot just find any person on the street or the free agent market that will replace a Vince Wilfork.
Yet another bump in the road for this Patriots team, it doesn’t seem as though the football gods will be shedding any light on this year’s squad and there will only be more tests ahead with the impending arrival of All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski and Danny Amendola.
See you in Cincinnati!
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