Patriots Defense Decides to Show Up, New England Wins In Oakland

In a league that changes from week to week, let alone year to year, in a weird way you have to give the Oakland Raiders credit for never changing in many aspects: they roll through mediocre quarterbacks and head coaches like nobody else, they covet fast wide receivers that are better suited for track events in the Olympics, they are always near the league leaders in penalties and despite their terrible record the last decade, their convicts-I mean fans-still dress up in their finest Halloween costumes and show up at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

Oakland (2-2) is no longer a joke, I'll give them that much, but they basically lucked out in drafting running back Darren McFadden (75 yards rushing, 48 yards receiving). The New England Patriots (3-1) bounced back from last weekend's debacle in Buffalo for a satisfying 31-19 win this afternoon on the West Coast.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (16 of 30, 226 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions) didn't put up nearly as much fantasy points as he had the first three weeks but he also didn't have any turnovers after throwing four interceptions against the Bills.

To call New England wide receiver Wes Welker (9 catches, 158 yards, 1 TD) a one-man band would be kind. He was targetted on nearly half (14) of Brady's 30 attempts and only Chad Ochocinco (2 catches, 26 yards) recorded more than one catch in the win. In other words, please come back soon Aaron Hernandez (who missed his second straight game with a knee injury).

Oakland's latest flavor of the month QB Jason Campbell (25 of 39, 344 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT) is the same average guy he was all those middling years in Washington with the Redskins. Don't let his numbers fool you either, he piled up a ton of yardage and got his only touchdown on a garbage-time drive that cut it to 31-19 with less than a minute remaining in the game.

Campbell had two unforgivable mistakes that the Pats were able to take advantage of. First, he threw an awful interception right to safety Patrick Chung in the end zone during the second quarter. As if that wasn't bad enough, he threw his second pick in the fourth quarter to that noted ballhawk Vince Wilfork (haha second in three games for Big Vince).

The most notable development of this game was New England's dedication to the running game, something they are usually allergic to in most cases. Would you believe me if I told you, they had 30 rushing attempts to go with Brady's 30 passing attempts? Youth and high school football coaches across New England just got massive erections reading that. See, you gotta get a 50/50 run, pass split!

The beneficiaries of the Patriots' running game were rookie running back Stevan Ridley (10 carries, 97 yards, 1 TD) and BenJarvus Green-Ellis (16 carries, 75 yards, 1 TD). Ridley has the size (5-11, 225 pounds), strength and moves that the team has lacked since Corey Dillon retired. No, I'm not saying after four games in his NFL career that he'll come anywhere close to Dillon's career output but Ridley is an obvious talent that they've lacked for years.

That also put to bed (for one week) the common feeling around the NFL that as Raiders linebacker Rolando McClain opined last week "the Patriots are a finesse team." They still love their passes but at least they proved they can run it against a physical team.

New England also got a glimpse of former star defensive lineman Richard Seymour (who was dealt to Oakland two years ago in one of the worst moves in Pats history). Seymour was fired up as evidenced by the way he tossed Brady on New England's opening drive. Other than three solo tackles and three penalties (one that was declined), Seymour wasn't heard from too much.

All week, Patriots fans were scared to death of seeing McFadden and Michael Bush (26 yards rushing; 55 yards receiving) run all over the place. Somehow, the Pats defense was able to put it all together. They hemmed them up by tackling well (usually a big issue) and forcing Campbell to win it which he clearly couldn't do.

Everyone's favorite scumbag kicker Sebastian Janikowski opened the scoring with a 28-yard field goal on Oakland's first drive. Brady and Welker answered as the former found the latter with a 15-yard touchdown strike on New England's first drive, the PAT made it 7-3 for the visitors.

It's safe to say that Welker is 100% recovered from his brutal knee injury of two seasons ago. He looks like the same guy that is basically unstoppable for opposing defenses and he's already found the end zone five times this season.

Bush began the second quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run for the Raiders, the PAT made it 10-7. Green-Ellis responded with a 1-yard TD run of his own. Stephen Gostkowski added the PAT on that score then drilled a 44-yard kick with six seconds left in the half, giving the Pats a 17-10 lead.

Ridley took all the air out of the Coliseum with a beautiful 33-yard scamper to put New England ahead 24-10 early in the third quarter after the PAT. Janikowski had the Raiders' only points of the frame with a 26-yard kick after they stalled in the red zone.

Brady put it out of reach early in the fourth quarter, finding Deion Branch for his only catch of the game-a 1-yard touchdown grab. Gostkowski's PAT gave New England an 18-point advantage (31-13).

Rookie receiver Denarius Moore caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Campbell with 28 seconds left in the contest. It was totally inconsequential to the outside world but it made me happy since I grabbed him off the waiver wire in a fantasy league and gave him a spot start (thanks for reading about my fantasy team).

The only downside to this win is that Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo (knee, MCL) and running back Danny Woodhead (ankle) left with injuries and never returned. Good luck figuring out how long (if at all) those guys will be out. I will say that Mayo's looked more serious as he was carried off by teammates while Woodhead hobbled to the sideline. The last thing the Patriots defense needs is their signal-caller (Mayo) to miss significant time. Woodhead also brings plenty of value in his versatility (catching screens and running between the tackles).

Things should pick up another notch next Sunday as the New York Jets (2-2) limp into Gillette Stadium. Rex Ryan and his team were rocked tonight in Baltimore (34-17) but you know they'll get up for next weekend's early AFC East showdown. New York's defense is still very solid but their offense is off to a particularly slow start with quarterback Mark "Cantchise" Sanchez looking as overmatched as ever thanks to a terrible offensive line.

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Another Season, Another Bunch Of New Records Already For The Patriots

There are very few things you can count on in life like the greatness of Tom Brady.

Sure it makes you sound like a Patriots honk but sometimes you just have to sit back and say "wow, I'm damn lucky to have seen this guy play in his prime."

The 2011 season started for Brady and the New England Patriots tonight at Sun Life Stadium against the Miami Dolphins and it was a memorable one. Brady set a Monday Night Football and franchise record with 517 yards passing (32 for 48, 4 TDs, 1 INT) as the Pats pulled away in the second half for a 38-24 win.

Miami (0-1) hung around for a while as quarterback Chad Henne (30 for 49, 416 yards passing, 2 TDs, 1 INT; 59 yards rushing) had the best game of his career. Typical to being Chad Henne, it still wasn't good enough although to be fair, it was mostly his defense's fault.

In a lot of ways, this was the perfect opener for Bill Belichick. The Patriots (1-0) went on the road and picked up a divisional win against a team that usually gives them problems at home. New England's offense was almost flawless but on the other side of the ball, their defense was way too vulnerable to a pretty average Dolphins offense.

No surprise, with the fifth-most passing yards in NFL history, a bunch of Patriots receivers had monster games. Wes Welker led the way with eight catches for 160 yards, Aaron Hernandez had seven catches for 103 yards, Deion Branch had seven catches for 93 yards and Rob Gronkowski had seven catches for 86 yards. Things were so silly that Matthew Slater made his first NFL catch and it was for 46 yards!

It was interesting to note that Branch still appears to be Brady's most reliable guy not named Welker in the receiving corps. Chad Ochocinco had a very quiet Patriots debut, he only had one catch for 14 yards. He needs to pick it up as the season progresses.

Brandon Marshall led the Dolphins with seven catches for 139 yards. Davone Bess had five catches for 92 yards and Anthony Fasano added five catches for 82 yards.

What will probably go down as the highlight of Miami's season was their very first drive of 2011. They held the ball for over seven minutes and Henne scored on a 9-yard quarterback draw (has to be the first of his life). Typical of the Dolphins after a big celebration, it was all downhill from there.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis and New England answered on their first drive as they went right down the field and the Law Firm punched it in with a 4-yard run.

It was tied at 7 after the first quarter and the Patriots went ahead 14-7 with the only touchdown of the second quarter: a 10-yard pass from Brady to Gronk.

On the first drive of the second half, Dolphins defensive end Jared Odrick intercepted a deflected pass by Brady (intended for Julian Edelman on a bubble screen) and returned it 39 yards into the red zone. To Miami's credit, they tied it up at 14 as Brian Hartline hauled in a 10-yard touchdown pass from Henne. That's when New England seemed to pick up the intensity a notch. Welker scored his first touchdown of the game (a 2-yard grab) to give them a 21-14 lead.

For once, the Pats' defense stepped up and held the Dolphins to a 20-yard field goal by Dan Carpenter (cutting it to 21-17) in a subsequent red zone chance.

By that time, Brady's no-huddle attack had the Dolphins completely warn out. They couldn't catch their breath and as a result, they couldn't stop anything that Brady and Co. did. After getting stopped at the 1-yard line following a 30-yard catch and run, Hernandez got another crack at it as Brady went right back to him on the next play for a 1-yard touchdown pass. New England led 28-17 after three quarters.

Stephen Gostkowski missed a 48-yard kick (his first attempt of the season) at the end of the first half but he atoned for it with a 20-yard kick early in the fourth quarter. The highlight of the contest by far was New England's last score: a 99-yard bomb from Brady to Welker. Brady was in the shotgun (in the end zone) when he took the snap and Welker had one-on-one coverage. After throwing it, Miami's safety on that side took a bad angle and whiffed (hi Big Bang Clock), that allowed Welker to catch it and all he needed was one minor stiff arm to create separation.

For fantasy football fans, Reggie Bush (56 yards receiving, 38 yards rushing) made sure his night wasn't completely forgettable as he tacked on a 2-yard touchdown catch in garbage time. Danny Woodhead led the Pats with 14 carries for 69 yards.

Kyle Arrington picked off Henne on the last play of the game, a fitting reminder that this was still Henne. Devin McCourty (11 tackles, 10 solo, 1 tackle for loss, 2 passes deflected) had a busy night since he was matched up with Marshall. Patrick Chung (9 tackles), Mark Anderson and Andre Carter all recorded sacks while Myron Pryor and Vince Wilfork shared one. New England will need to get much more pressure when the games are still close.

The one major injury (that we know of so far) for New England is center Dan Koppen went down with an ankle injury in the first half. He was on crutches on the sidelines and based on the look of the play, I'm saying he has a broken ankle. Dan Connolly played center with Koppen out; he did a fine job but that's something to worry about moving forward since Koppen is one of the NFL's best.

The Patriots come home to face the San Diego Chargers (1-0) on Sunday (4:15 p.m.) at Gillette Stadium. My best guess is that it will be a shootout since Philip Rivers and the Chargers can put up points with the best of them. Let's see what changes Belichick and his assistant coaches can implement to this leaky defense; the offense already appears to be in midseason form.

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