New England Patriots

Patriots Report Card: Week 8 vs. Chicago

By Jeremy Gottlieb

7 minutes to read

Well then.

The Patriots steamrolled the Chicago Bears on Sunday, running away to a 51-23 win that was barely that close. It seemed a fair bet that they’d beat the reeling Bears, but a 2007-style blowout was a pretty delightful surprise. Tom Brady put his all-world brilliance on display to the tune of a 30-for-35, 354 yard, five touchdown performance, the most accurate passing day of his career, further putting to rest any doubts about his place on the list of the game’s best QBs.

Having Rob Gronkowski at 100 percent and in optimal form helped immensely as did a defensive effort spearheaded by Darrelle Revis and an aggressive, opportunistic secondary. All together it added up to one great big laugher so with that, let’s keep chuckling as we get into this week’s report card.

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OVERALL GRADE: AOFFENSE

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– Apologies in advance for all the gushing that’s about to unfold. If you’re the emotionally repressed type, consider yourself warned – the floodgates are opening.

There really is no other appropriate response. Outside of not being able to punch the ball into the end zone from a couple yards out at the end of the first quarter, some drops by Julian Edelman and a few early issues with rookie center Bryan Stork (three penalties, a botched snap), this was a flawless, sparkling display of efficiency, explosiveness, power and finesse from a group that has turned its season around since the Monday night blowout in Kansas City. The Pats have now scored 158 points in their last four games to become the highest scoring outfit in the NFL.

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Starting with Brady, whose last 16 regular season games fit right in with the greatest seasons of his career (4,578 yards, 34 TDs, seven picks), the afternoon was a masterpiece. Three of Brady’s five incompletions were drops. He made every throw – fade routes, deep balls, backside in cuts off of play action (he and Brandon LaFell put on a clinic with that particular play) and a little Crazy Legs stuff on a completion to Gronk at the goal line. It helped immensely that the Pats’ best O-line combo (Nate Solder-Dan Connolly-Stork-Ryan Wendell-Sebastian Vollmer) was back intact, holding the Bears to just two pressures all day, according to Pro Football Focus.

The trio of Gronk, LaFell and Tim Wright, as has been well publicized, caught all 26 of the passes Brady threw to them for 317 of his yards and each of his five scores. All were absolute beasts, with Gronk’s return to the peak of cyborg-like powers (nine catches, 149 yards, three TDs, total and complete domination and devastation) the most pleasant development at all.

Not to take anything away from Lafell, who has been building up to Sunday’s career day (11-124, TD) for weeks and represents such a versatile weapon thanks to his size and ability to gain yards after the catch. And Wright, another big, rangy target, is an ideal red zone weapon, as evidenced by his two TDs from the 1 in the past three weeks.

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There was nothing wrong with the running game either. Jonas Gray got his chance and… ahem, ran with it (see what I did there?), ripping off 86 yards on 17 attempts. Probably not quite enough evidence yet that he’s capable of handling a Stevan Ridley-type workload but he took a big step on Sunday. Of course, when this is what you see in front of you, the task at hand becomes far easier.

The Pats have been trending toward an explosion like this ever since the Sunday night trouncing of the Bengals a few weeks ago. It’s a good spot to be in, especially considering this week’s opponent. Dunno if you’ve heard, but it’s Peyton Manning and the Broncos. Should be a decent game. GRADE: A

DEFENSE – Not to be outdone, the defense got to work in this game and in some ways, was even more impressive than the offense. Playing against an opposing offense as loaded with weapons as any in the league without both Jerod Mayo and Chandler Jones, the Pats held the Bears to seven points, nine first downs and 4.4 yards per play in the first half, and added a touchdown for good measure. And while we can’t dismiss how complicit Bears’ quarterback Jay Cutler was in his own team’s demise, the Pats came in with a nifty game plan and executed it.

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For the most part, the Pats ignored Bears’ star running back Matt Forte, letting him take what he could get (19-114, 6 catches, 54 yards, TD), and devoted their focus to wide receivers Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery and tight end Martellus Bennett. Jeffery and Bennett ended up with some solid numbers but almost all of it came after the Pats led 45-7 and began to back off. Revis and Brandon Browner, who are on this team for matchups with receivers like the Bears’ trio, lived up to all of the preseason hype.

If Browner is as physical and disruptive moving forward as he was in this game (he allowed just two yards after the catch on the three receptions he gave up, as per PFF), his weekly flag or two will be easily swept under the rug. Bennett’s touchdown catch, on which he and Browner became completely intertwined and wound up tumbling to the turf arms wrapped around each other was both an incredible play by Bennett and a lousy call on Browner. But even though he drew the flag there, it was so fun to watch Browner, who was clearly not quite ready to play in his season debut last week against the Jets, play his game his way. The Pats may finally have themselves someone who can cover big, fast pass catching tight ends.

Revis, who was feted big time by FOX analyst/ex-star defensive back John Lynch all day, deserved the praise. He gave up just two receptions all game, and one of them was on a screen pass. It wasn’t a case of him locking up with the opponent’s best receiver and then locking him down. He and Browner were both placed on one side for most of the game, Revis on the left and Browner on the right, so that he could lock down whoever came near him. It doesn’t hurt that Revis’s reputation as the best there is allows him a little leeway with the officials (just as Browner’s reputation clearly works against him at times), but make no mistake, he’s still outstanding and he proved it again. Maybe he should oversleep and miss practice every week.

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There are still some issues here. It makes sense to continue to be concerned about the run defense. Jamie Collins was better in that regard but was roasted in coverage more than once and also got popped for pass interference. But given the losses this unit has suffered, it’s tough to come away from this game not feeling at least relieved. And all of the new blood, from Akeem Ayers (sack, QB hit, multiple pressures), to rookies Dominique Easley (sack, drew a holding penalty, looked good all up and down the line) and Zach Moore (sack, forced fumble that turned into Rob Ninkovich’s TD) handled their assignments and acquitted themselves well.

Denver’s QB is just a little better than Chicago’s so all of these folks will have their work cut out on Sunday but the dress rehearsal was definitely encouraging. GRADE: A-

SPECIAL TEAMS/COACHING – Edelman might have had a subpar day on offense, but his 42-yard punt return near the end of the second quarter was as big a reason for the Pats’ 57-second lightning strike that essentially ended the game. Three of the core special teams guys – Matthew Slater, Brandon Bolden and Don Jones – all made big plays in coverage. And Stephen Gostkowski kicked three more field goals. A banner afternoon in this phase of the game.

Same deal for the coaching staff. Other than the play-calling on those failed goal line chances, the Pats had the Bears’ shoddy defense outgunned and outflanked all day. When your quarterback is basically pitching a perfect game and your tight end is an unstoppable tidal wave of awesomeness, it’s not terribly difficult to praise the game plan. But credit to Josh McDaniels for getting the run game going early on, allowing all the play action – which Brady and LaFell lived on – to work so effectively. The decision to place the defensive onus on the secondary took a lot of pressure off the suspect run defense and all the youngsters/new guys.

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And when the Pats got the ball to open the second half having just hung 21 points on the scoreboard to increase their lead to 38-7, they floored it, with Brady rifling off six straight passes, the last one resulting in Gronk’s robo-TD. It all looked even better thanks to what was on the opposite sideline. If the people in charge of the Bears think they’re ever winning anything with the coaching staff they currently employ, they may need to lay off the pipe a little bit.

The Pats are clicking. They’ve responded to the Monday night mess in incredibly impressive fashion from top to bottom. Once again, they are a legit contender. And that will make this Sunday even more fun than it’s already sure to be. Right, Aqib?

GRADES: SPECIAL TEAMS: A, COACHING: A

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