Noise Cancelers: Patriots Will Shut Everybody Up With a Win Over the Bengals

Vince Wilfork seems to have a lot of confidence for a guy that got burned – again – in the running game last Monday in Kansas City.

Wilfork and the New England defense allowed 443 total yards to the Chiefs during their 41-14 loss, including 207 yards on the ground, via Jamaal Charles and Knile Davis. The defensive gag job put the Patriots in an immediate hole from where their inept offense couldn’t even begin to find claw its way back. Still, that sort of exposure on the defensive side of the ball, where the Patriots had seemingly begun to find some semblance of stride heading into Kansas City, doesn’t faze the New England veteran tackle.

“We will get better,” Wilfork said, as the Patriots prepared to host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. “I have full confidence in this team. We have a lot of great guys around this locker room that have played a lot of football and know what it takes to win.”

He’s right.

Ignore the noise, as Bill Belichick likes to preach to his team? Good luck this week, when the Patriots have been absolutely buried in all facets of the media. Tom Brady is bitching to anyone who will listen, even as the chorus chanting that his twilight is upon us grows every week. Aaron Dobson may or may not have said bad words to Josh McDaniels. Belichick’s general manager skills are once again being picked apart like zits on a teenaged face.

Crossroads? Sunday is a veritable judgment day for the New England Patriots.

But Belichick’s teams have always mastered being able to shut everybody up at the most opportune time. They’ll do it again on Sunday.

The picks

Our roundup of nationwide picks for Sunday’s Bengals-Patriots game.

ESPN.com staff: Twelve out of 13 pick the Bengals.

Greg Cote, Miami Herald: Patriots 23, Bengals 20. “NFL decided to go ahead with Week 5 despite the Dolphins being off. The temerity! Tough call for our GOTW panel, with much support for Cards at Broncos, but this one gets the nod as the expected more competitive game and also because of the drama and pathos surrounding Tom Brady. It merits the prime-time stage. Brady is 60 yards Sunday from being the sixth man to 50,000, but his career obituary is now being drafted as the Bill Belichick/Brady era supposedly ebbs. Hmm. Not so sure about all of these easy storylines. Too soon? Betting line swung wildly from Pats opening as favored by three to Bengals favored by 1. I get it. Makes sense if only because unbeaten ’Gals are coming off a bye and Pats off a short week after being embarrassed in KC on Monday night. Little doubt Cincy is a better all-around team right now. But I’m not quitting yet on Pats, or on Brady. New England enjoys one of league’s strongest home-field advantages — can’t recall last time Pats were a home ’dog — and Belichick rarely loses two games in a row.”

Pete Prisco, CBSSports.com: Bengals 23, Patriots 20. “I’m picking the Bengals, but what happened to the Patriots on Monday night vs. the Chiefs makes me a little leery to do so. I think New England bounces back and plays well. Tom Brady is far from done. He just needs the people around him to play better. It’s tight, but the Bengals are a better team now and find a way.”

CBSSports.com staff: All Bengals (Cincinnati by 1 ½).

Yahoo sports: All Bengals.

USA Today staff: Four out of seven pick the Bengals.

Foxsports.com staff: Four out of seven pick the Bengals.

Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk: Patriots 30, Bengals 27. “For the Patriots, it’s the last, best chance to show that they remain viable contenders. For the Bengals, it’s the first, best chance to put the rest of the league on notice that they are ready not just to get back to the playoffs but to win a postseason game. While New England’s flaws remain significant and potentially fatal to a playoff berth, if they can’t get it together for a nationally-televised prime-time game against a team trying to become what the Pats have been, they never will.”

Michael David Smith, Pro Football Talk: Bengals 20, Patriots 10. “The Bengals’ pass defense is excellent, and the Patriots’ pass offense is lousy. (It sounds strange to say about a Tom Brady-led team, but it’s true.) The Patriots won’t be able to move the ball and the Bengals will win a defensive struggle.”

Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News: Bengals 23, Patriots 20. “The Patriots aren’t supposed to lose games like this. The Bengals are supposed to win games likes this. It’s Tom Brady, he of three Super Bowl rings and place in Canton. It’s Andy Dalton, he of three playoff trips and no playoff wins. But this isn’t about Brady vs. Dalton. It’s about the Patriots’ major offensive line struggles around Brady against the swarming Bengals defense. It helps to be back home at Gillette, but Cincy’s front seven will still be stingy. While Brady is trying to find consistent big playmakers beyond Rob Gronkowski, Dalton can trust in and lean on A.J. Green and Giovani Bernard. In most circumstances, off a tough loss, it would be easy to just trust Bill Belichick and Brady to make things right in a hurry. The Bengals, however, are just the better and more talented team overall, and it’s overdue for Dalton and Marvin Lewis to deliver a win like this.”

Elliot Harrison, NFL.com: Bengals 28, Patriots 20. “This should be one of the week’s top-flight matchups. New England will not play as poorly as it did in Kansas City on Monday night. (This isn’t 1992.) That said, the Patriots’ run defense is going to have to step up, starting with the defensive line; Vince Wilfork can’t be playing every snap against a Bengals ground game that will be used time and again. Giovani Bernard will get at least 20 touches, while Jeremy Hill should continue flat dealin’. Speaking of flat, will Cincinnati come out that way on the road following a bye? Perhaps. Even so, New England is dealing with a short week after that debacle in Arrowhead. If the Pats lose this game — and I think it will be close — it is definitely time to bench the best player in franchise history for a guy who threw a meaningless touchdown pass in garbage time against the Chiefs.”

NFL.com staff: Three out of five like the Pats.

Neil Greenburg, Washington Post: Win probability: Cincinnati 64.3 percent. “The game charters at Pro Football Focus have the Patriots rated as the worst pass defense, so bet on Bengals’ defensive ends Wallace Gilberry and Carlos Dunlap (five sacks, four hits and 14 hurries combined) harassing Tom Brady — and maybe Jimmy Garoppolo — all game.”

Boston Globe staff: Split (Cincinnati by 1).

It says here: Patriots 27, Bengals 14. If not Sunday, then when?