Good evening, Patriots fans! I hope you’re all having a great weekend. And I also hope that New England’s old-fashioned domination of the Detroit Lions in Foxboro made your weekend even better. From start to finish, there was no stopping this Patriots team and I seriously feel confident that they can keep this up moving forward.
The Lions started with the ball, quickly drove down the field, and added 3 points via a Matt Prater field goal. It took a while for the Patriots to respond but they did with some vintage hurry-up offense and a touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Tim Wright. Detroit looked like they were going to respond with a touchdown of their own but the New England defense stood their ground and held the Lions to another field goal. Danny Amendola helped the Patriots get excellent field position with an 81 yard kick return and LeGarrette Blount ran it in to the end zone a couple plays later. Good to see Blount get right back into the action after being reclaimed by New England a few days ago. The Patriots though, weren’t done yet. Brady drove the Pats downfield again and found a wide open Wright again for the touchdown! It was crazy how the Patriots made scoring touchdowns seem so easy. After Prater missed a 53-yard field goal, New England’s last minute offense skills kicked in and Stephen Gostkowski kicked a field goal as time would expire. At the end of the first half, the Patriots had a solid 24-6 lead.
I’ll be honest, the 2nd half was pretty boring. Good thing I have ground coffee bags from Dunkin Donuts. I needed to brew a fresh pot of hot coffee to keep myself awake. Brady led the Patriots downfield but was picked off inside the red zone, so that was a bummer. Gostkowski and Prater each traded field goals and both defenses were sharp after that (for the most part). Detroit drove down but Matthew Stafford’s run on 4th and 10 inside Patriots territory was just short (props to him for an awesome attempt though). Logan Ryan helped the Patriots pad their defensive stats by picking off Stafford on a later Lions drive. The Patriots took advantage of that, with Gostkowski initially hitting another field goal. Not so fast…a penalty on the Lions gave the Patriots a first down. Blount took full advantage of that opportunity and powered his way into the end zone to seal the deal! Here’s a fun fact…Tom Brady made his NFL debut today 14 years ago against the Detroit Lions. But New England lost that game 34-9. Today? Brady and company reversed the table. Your final score: Detroit Lions 9, New England Patriots 34!
Another routine day at the office for the Patriots we know. Sure, the Lions had (and actually still have) a great defense. They’re still a talented team but today, the Patriots just shut them down. I’m pretty upset that Jonas Gray didn’t get to play at all today despite his remarkable game last week in Indy. I guess that’s what happens when you oversleep when playing for coach Belichick. No problem though because Blount and Shane Vereen picked up the slack at RB today and were just fine. Gray will certainly play next week. Also kudos to the Patriots defense for keeping the Lions out of the end zone all game long! Clutch defense by Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner on Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate played a big role. Next week, the Patriots will travel to Antarctica to take on a very dangerous Packers team. That will be a tough test but given the way our Patriots are playing, there’s no reason to be too stressed out. Until then Patriots fans, rest easy! We’re on to Green Bay! Follow me and the blog on twitter and let’s go Patriots!
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