FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Sharing a few thoughts at halftime as the New England Patriots lead the Cincinnati Bengals, 20-3:
More emotion, more passion, more fight. Before getting into any football X's and O's, the Patriots had to right their biggest wrong from last Monday night. They didn't step into the boxing ring with their gloves on at Arrowhead Stadium against the Chiefs, but they came ready to fight tonight. In a sense, it was almost too much spunk with some of the personal foul penalties, but this is what they needed. We relayed all week that the players were disgusted with their performance Monday and would be an angry team tonight. The intensity level is high.
Keeping it simple on offense. One thing that stood out was how the Patriots didn't use many three-receiver sets, keeping it simple/basic with either two-tight end packages or two-back groupings. They established an early running game (8 of the 10 plays on the opening drive were runs) by working against the Bengals' base defense. In a sense, the two-TE package with Rob Gronkowski and Tim Wright is almost like a 3-WR package, as we saw Wright get more involved in the offense, as his touchdown catch came out of a three-TE grouping with Gronkowski and Michael Hoomanawanui. Also, instead of rotating their running backs liberally, they stayed with Stevan Ridley early and had success with that approach.
Brady chant contributes to electric atmosphere. The "Brady! Brady! Brady!" chant that erupted at various times over the first half was part of what is one of the more raucous crowds in recent memory. The Patriots gave them reason to cheer, scoring on their opening drive and putting the Bengals -- who had only trailed for 48 seconds all season -- into an early hole.
What a difference a week makes on offense. The Patriots ran 50 offensive snaps in their game against the Chiefs last Monday. They have 44 tonight in the first half (including penalties).
Gronkowski snap tracker. Gronkowski played 34 of 44 snaps in the first half.
Same offensive line and it settles things down. No more changes on the offensive line, as the Patriots settled on their top five and stayed with it -- left tackle Nate Solder, left guard Dan Connolly, center Bryan Stork, right guard Ryan Wendell and right tackle Sebastian Vollmer. Best game of the season so far for the offensive line.
Bengals forced into compromising positions. The Bengals had trailed for just 48 seconds all season entering this game, but by jumping on them early, the Patriots put them into situations they haven't been accustomed to. It showed. Some might look at it and say "here's the Andy Dalton we remember from the playoffs" but the view from here is that the Patriots deserve the credit for forcing the issue. Just as the Chiefs deserved credit last week for making the Patriots look bad.
Bengals get ball to open second half. The Bengals had won the opening toss and elected to defer, so they get the ball to open the second half.
