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Every Wednesday during the NFL season, Kru’s Control will offer readers a pre-port. A pre-port is a first cousin to a pre-diction, but it’s not just a guess about the score of Sunday’s Patriots game, it is a full-length report about the game—before it ever happens—as if it had already happened. Think of having a time traveler come back each week to let you know the story of the game several days before the game is ever played.
The good news is that yesterday’s 37-6 beatdown of the Cincinnati Bengals showed us that, given a weak enough opponent, the Patriots are still capable of looking like an NFL powerhouse. The bad news is that taking on the Bengals is kind of like the Red Sox showing us that they can beat Northeastern in spring training.
Lots of good performances to applaud. Sony Michel finally looked like a first round pick, breaking off consecutive runs of 23 and 37 yards in the third quarter, and twice bulling in from inside the three. Finally breaking the 100 yard barrier, his 124 yard performance was even complemented by two third down pass receptions.
Tom Brady, still under more pressure than we would like to see, seemed to be one step ahead of the Bengals defense. Whenever the Bengals blitzed he was able to find outlet receivers James White and Matt Lacosse in the flat, or hit Julian Edelman on short crossing patterns. Mohamed Sanu hauled in a 47 yard bomb after a great double move, and rookies Jakobi Meyers and N’Keal Henry even joined in on the fun, with three receptions each. On this day when TB12 reminded us why he’s known as the GOAT, he threw for 347 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions.
The defense befuddled Andy Dalton and the Cincinnati brain trust. They never figured out where or when the blitz was coming and couldn’t come up with a way to keep their quarterback upright. The overwhelmed Cincinnati offensive line couldn’t handle Adam Butler and Danny Shelton on the inside or Chase Winovich and Kyle Van Noy when they came wide. Five sacks, one of which caused an Andy Dalton fumble, made for a relatively easy day at the office for the Patriots defensive crew.
But what would a Sunday be without some cause for concern. Both McCourty brothers hobbled off the field at different points in the first half, Jason with an apparent leg injury, Devin after a blow to the head. But both of the twins were in the starting lineup for the second half, the former McCourty running freely and the latter McCourty having appeased the sideline concussion gods that his head was still on straight. The two brothers sat on the sideline for much of the fourth quarter, but it seemed more precautionary than injury-related during garbage time.
That Jarrett Stidham got into the game could either signify very good news or very bad. But on this Sunday in chilly Cincinnati it was time for Tom Brady to take a well-deserved rest with just over five minutes left in the game. Stidham showed he could still handle the snap from under center, that he remembered how to hand off to Brandon Bolden, and that he hadn’t lost the ability to find Jakobi Meyers, going a perfect one for one when dropping back.
Having a bye week in the form of a game against the lowly Cincinnati Bengals is always nice between tough games. Next week it won’t be quite as easy on the offensive side facing a tough Bills defense. But for this one day in the Holiday Season, visions of sugar plums danced in our heads. The magic had returned.
