Patriots vs Eagles

What looked like a tough game at the beginning of the season has become an almost gimme for the Patriots. The so called "dream team" has been a huge dissapointment for all eagles fans and players. Adding to the problem the eagles starting quarterback Michael VIck was ruled out forte game weakening the already weak chances the Eagles had. At the beginning of the first quarter Philidelphia looked the Eagles of old coming out firing and putting on ten points not even ten minutes in to the game. The Patriots were able to fire back at the end of the first quarter with a touchdown from Ben-Jarvis-Green-Ellis bringing the score to 10-7 at the end of the first. With momentum on their side from the late 1st quarter touchdown the Patriots came out firing in the second running away with the game with two more touchdowns from Wes Welker and Green-Ellis. The Eagles were able to answer with a field goal but Stephen Gostowski came back with a field goal of his own to make the score 24-13 at the end of the first half. The second half proved to bew more of same from the Patriots adding on a touchdown in the third and another in the fourth to secure their eigth win of the season.

Chiefs vs Patriots

Coming off of a dissapointing loss at the hands of the Denver Broncos, the Kansas City Chiefs hoped to make a statement in their week 11 matchup with the Patriots. This, however, did not happen. With the first well under the way the Chiefs managed to hold off the Patriots offense and put up the first score of the game with a 26 yard field goal taking the lead 3-0. This score managed to remain intact for the rest of the first quarter. As the second quarter began Tom Brady and the Patriots offense marched down the field like we have seen so many times this year, ending with the games first touchdown, a 52 yard pass from Tom Brady to Rob Gronkowski. This touchdown turned out to be only the begining for the Patriots. The defense was able to shut down the Chiefs for the rest of the quarter while the offense put up a field goal ending the first half with a 10-3 lead. Although the Chiefs were able to stay within reach of the game in the first half, the were not able to succeed in the doing the same in the second. It was all Patriots for the rest of the game putting up 17 more points in the third quarter( two touchdown and a field goal). The Patriots tacked on one more touchdown in the fourth quarter to complete a dominating victory over the Chiefs

New England Patriots vs New York Jets

The Patriots vs Jets is without a doubt the strongest rivalry in the NFL right now. The hype leading up to this game is huge as always but there has been a lack of trash talk even with a Jets coach (Rex Ryan) who seems to talk trash more than he actually coaches. As the game kicked off and the first quarter progressed the Patriots sent a message with their defense giving up zero points while Gostkowski added on two field goals to end the quarter with the Patriots leading 6-0. The Jets came back immediately in the second quarter with a forced safety early to get on the board 6-2. The Jets offense were able to tack on a two yard touchdown run from Mark Sanchez to take the lead 6-9. Running the two minute drill that he has become famous for Tom Brady marched the Patriots down the field. Then with only 9 seconds left in the quarter Brady hit Rob Gronkowski in the end zone taking the lead as the second quarter ended, 16-9. The Third quarter had the Patriots picking up right where they left off adding on ten more point with a Brady touchdown and Gostowski field goal. The defense also showed more of the same shutting down the Jets in the quarter for the second time in the game. At the start of the fourth quarter the Patriots had a commanding 23-9 lead. Going in to desperation the Jets were able to add on one more touchdown cutting the Patriots lead to only 7 points. Responding well, the offense came right back adding on another touchdown making it a two possesion game.Then with their backs against the wall and the fourth quarter running out Mark Sanchez cracked underneathe th pressure and threw a pick six to Ninkovich securing the win for the Patriots increasing their record to 6-3.

New England Patriots vs Pittsburgh Steelers

Week 8 game between the Patriots and the Steelers was one of the most hyped games of the season so far. In the middle of all the hype was the two quarterbacks was Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady with people wanting to see who would reign superior in this matchup of two elite quarterbacks. With the Steelers recieving first they made short work of the inexperienced Patriots defense scoring the first touchdown of the game thanks to a 5 yard pass to Rashad Mendenhall. The Patriots were shutdown by the Steelers defense ending the first quarter with a score of 7-0. The Steelers struck first again with a a 33 yard field goal increasing their lead to 10-0. The Patriots were able to come back thanks to an interception by Devin McCourtey in Pittburgh territory. Tom Brady was able to hook up with Deion Branch to bring the Patriots within 3 points of the Steelers. Unfortunatley it was all Steelers from there ending the first quarter leading 17-10. The second half was more of the same. The Steelers were able to dominate the Patriots offense holding them to no points in the second quarter while adding on a field goal by their offense. As time ran down on the fourth quarter the Patriots went in to desperation mode. An early field goal put the Steelers up by 13 points making it a two possesion game. With only two minutes left Brady was able to drive the Patriots down the field for another touchdown but it proved to be to little to late as the Steelers were able to recover an onside kick attempt and let the clock run down ending in a 23-17 victory.

Bye Week

As the NFL schedule falls each team receives a bye week and it was the Patriots turn. Coming off of a long and tough game against the Cowboys, the Patriots, need it more than ever. This is going to give the team much needed rest and time to prepare for their toughest game of the season next week against the Pittsburgh Steelers. It is going to be a clash of the top offense in the league against the legendary Dick LaBeau led defense of the Steelers. Coming in to the week the Steelers are only allowing only 17 points per game and only 270 yards per game coming in 2nd and 3rd in those categories.

As the papers have shown all week this is going to come down to a matchup between two of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL, Roethlishberger and Brady. Both are multiple super bowl champs and both are highly praised for their skill sets. Coming in to this game more pressure falls upon Roethlisberger to show up because Brady is portrayed as Gods Gift to football(which he is) and is widely considered the best quarterback in the NFL. Look for the Steeler offense to come out strong with a couple of deep balls from the big arm of Big Ben.

New England Patriots vs Dallas Cowboys

In this week 6 matchup the visiting Cowboys had something to prove as they try to show that they can contend with the NFL's elite teams. The 1st quarter showed the best of the two defenses allowing the opposing offenses to only a field goal. As the game progressed the offenses slowly started to come together. The Patriots added on another field goal and a Brady touchdown to Welker bringing the lead to 13-3 before Dallas added on a touchdown of their own. At the end of the 2nd quarter the score was 13-10 Patriots. The 3rd quarter was more of the same with both defenses playing great but the Cowboys were able to tack on a FG tieing the game up. With the game tied going in to the 4th the pressure was on both teams to perform. The Cowboys were able to control the football for more half of the quarter, taking the lead 16-13 with a little more than 5:00 on the clock. Dallas was able to force a Patriots 3 and out forcing them to punt with just under 4 minutes left. With their backs up against a wall the defense knew they had to perform forcing the Cowboys to give the ball back to Tom Brady for a late fourth quarter drive. Brady, being the quarterback he is, marched the Patriots almost 80 yards with about 2:30 on the clock throwing an 8 yard pass to Aaron Hernandez with only 22 seconds left securing a win for the Patriots.

This week's game was able to show something very positive out of both sides of the ball. On the defensive side of the ball, the struggling defensive unit who was the last ranked defense going in to the week showed toughness and athleticism. Giving their best performance so far this season against a Cowboys offense littered with all-stars. With the defense playing great the legendary Tom Brady led Patriots should have been able to put away this game early, but that was not the case. With Tom Brady throwing for 2 interceptions and the receivers having slight problems with shaking their man the game stayed close through out the entire game. Eventually the Patriots came out on top with an amazing final minute drive. This showed some serious ressiliance from this offense which is an attribute that has won them 3 super bowls in the past 10 years.

New England Patriots vs. New York Jets

In this week 5 matchup between the Jets and Patriots everyone expected the game to be dictated by two big name quarterbacks in Tom Brady and Mark Sanchez but it was the run game that ultimately gave the Patriots the win 30-21. This is not to say that Tom Brady did not have another great performance throwing for 321 yards on 24 passes and a touchdown pass but this game was all about Ben-Jarvis Green-Ellis. The "law firm" as his teammates and fans alike call him rushed for a career high 136 yards and two scores, coming through on 3rd down conversions and a pair of tough red zone carries. On the other side of the field it was not so pretty. The Jets "golden boy" Mark Sanchez threw for 166 yards and again showed that he has no idea how to quarterback a modern NFL football team showing no guts or leadership ability.

From what this game showed this was without a doubt the best game the patriots have played. They were spectacular on offense per usual breaking the NFL record for consecutive 30+ point games in a row and the defense looked the strongest they have looked thus far. The offensive unit was also able to showcase the only thing that they have been lacking this season and that is a run game. With Ben-Jarvis Green-Ellis rushing for 136 yards against a very strong Jets defense showing teams that for the first time in a long time the Patriots are not COMPLETELY one dimensional, causing big problems for opposing teams in the future.

New England Patriots vs. Oakland Raiders

In this weeks matchup the Patriots traveled to the west coast to play the 2-1 Oakland Raiders. The Raiders were coming off of a convincing win against the 2-1 New York Jets winning 34-24. The Patriots, needing a win to stay tied for the AFC East came out with a purpose holding a 7-3 lead at end of 1st quarter from a TD pass from Brady to Welker. As the 2nd quarter began the Raiders struck first with a 1yd TD run from M.Berry, taking the lead 10-7. The Raiders lead was short lived however with the Patriots putting up ten points before the end of the half thanks to a rush TD from Ben Jarvis Green-Ellis and A 44 yard field goal from Gostowski. That set the scene for the rest of the game with the Patriots dominating putting up two more touchdowns ending with a final score of 31-19.

This week showed some resilience and toughness from the Patriots defense going up against the #1 rushing offense in the NFL holding them to under 160 yards rushing. This is something that needs to be carried over to week 5 against the Jets. Although this game was not flawless, with a rare less than spectacular performance from Tom Brady throwing for only 226 yards with a 52 % completion rate, the pats went out there and did what they had to do to take home the W.

Bills vs Patriots

In the third week of the NFL season two of the top teams in the AFC clashed with the Patriots traveling to Buffalo. The Patriots came out swinging getting up to a 21-0 lead in the second quarter with touchdowns from Wes Welker and Rob Gronkowski. The Bills came storming back with 17 unanswered points thanks to a 42 yard field goal from kicker Ryan Lindell and two touchdown passes from Ryan Fitzpatrick. At the end of third quarter the score was 27-17. The fourth quarter was all Bills. Scoring 17 points compared to the Patriots 7. The final score of the game was 34-31 with the Buffalo Bills winning at home.

This game showcased every weakness that the patriots have on their team. The offense was still able to put up points but they were not able to capitalize on their opportunities with Tom Brady throwing four interceptions. This game also showed just how incredibly bad the Patriots defense is. They are now ranked last in almost every single defensive statitistic. This team needs to get it's defense together and regain what won them three super bowls in a decade, tough and blu collared defense.

Week 1
The first week of the season showcased two AFC east rivals in Miami. Coming off of a disappointing season the Dolphins came out swinging scoring on the first drive. However, Brady and the Patriots offense would show why they have been the most dominate offense this league has seen in the past twenty years. With strong performances from Woodhead (69 yards on 14 carries) and the rookie Nate Solder, Brady was able to throw for a MNF record 517 yards on 32 completions with 4 TDs. With Brady on his A game and the rest of the offense playing great football the Patriots were able to pull off the 38-24 victory.

Though the offense looked nearly perfect for the Pats, the defense played far from perfect. Letting Chad Henne through for over 400 yards should not be done by the Buffalo Bills never mind the Belicheck led Patriots. The defensive line was not able to put any consistent pressure on Henne and the secondary looked slows and scared. With the exception of Patrick Chung I did not see a single player on the Patriots defense land any sort of intimidating or hard hit. This defense needs to get themselves together quickly if they expect to be successful this season because there are many teams will be better than the dolphins in every offense aspect, including the San Diego Chargers coming to town on Sunday.