And he was a surprisingly good pass blocker. That led White to smile on an otherwise somber day based on the injury news with Lewis.
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“You definitely have to play a flawless game against them, especially at [Gillette]”, Redskins left tackle Trent Williams said after the Patriots cruised to 8-0 with a 27-10 win. A favorite of the coaching staff for his versatility and work ethic, Bolden rushed once for 12 yards and added three catches for 27 yards, including an 18-yard touchdown, the first scoring reception of his career. Duron Harmon has improved to the point they can put him back there as the single high safety, allowing Devin McCourty to freelance a little bit more, not tip his hand, and bait quarterbacks more than he could in the past. Washington managed only a second-quarter field goal before Cousins hit Jordan Reed for a 3-yard touchdown with 25 seconds left.
Health might be an issue for the team from here on out, after the team suffered two major blows, a running back and an offensive linemen.
Obviously, the running game wasn’t going to be the determining factor in the Patriots quest to repeat as champs. David Andrews has earned the opportunity to stay at center. But Brady didn’t like the look he got from the defense, so he called time.
Andrews always seemed to be out front leading the charge on screen passes, as well. “A lot of times he’s playing it from the edge, but there are certainly other times when he’s played it from a 3-technique [lined up on the outside shoulder of a guard] and much closer to the ball”.
Both plays were deep passes to backs out of the backfield. A bright spot in their latest defeat was the play of RBs Lamar Miller (141 total yards) and rookie Jay Ajayi (5 carries, 41 yards). “We pray for him and the rest of us backs have to step up”.
“Another grind-it-out win against a good team”, ESPN’s Herm Edwards said of Minnesota.
Tom Brady completed 26 of 39 passes for 299 yards and two touchdowns, including an 8-yard TD to Edelman on the opening drive. He was soon out of the game with a head injury. “We know this team is a great football team and they’ve earned it for a long time”.
The Giants will have to play better to beat the defending Super Bowl champions. Washington had six legitimate drops on offense, by six players. Ryan Grant’s failure to secure the onside kick after the first New England score might have been the earliest nail in any coffin we have seen, though I suppose games are never really over that soon. LaFell had a nice game on Sunday, catching five balls for 102 yards. Chung’s 1-on-1 coverage this year has been shockingly good.
– In a stat-happy world of advanced analytics and fantasy football geeks, it’s time to stop punishing quarterbacks for interceptions that clearly are the receiver’s fault. Defensively, the Patriots yield 249.3 yards in passing and 96.7 yards in rushing. “I thought they handled the assignments and, overall, the adjustments with a few of those running plays pretty well”.
Notes: Patriots DE Chandler Jones had a sack, giving him 9.5 for the season…. Dominique Easley had a couple of nice pressures up the middle and is starting to really blossom into an impact interior pass rusher.
-G Tre’ Jackson (knee) missed his first game of the season Sunday.
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Officially, Branch only had one solo tackle and one assist, but that doesn’t properly account for his impact.
