Everybody breath. Crisis averted. After one of the worst losses in the Brady-Belichick tenure, the Patriots bounced back for a blowout win against the Cincinnati Bengals. Shalise Manza Young of the Boston Globe recapped the team's impressive Sunday night win.
Boston.com posted a slideslow of some of the best photo's from the win. Check them out here and relive what was a great night at Gillette Stadium.
After hitting rock bottom in Kansas City, there was only one way the Patriots could go -- up. Many of the players were much improved from last week and now find themselves on Mike Reiss' "Up" list. In an article on ESPN Boston.com, Reiss highlighted Tom Brady, Chris Jones, Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen, and Tim Wright as players who very impressive in the Patriots 43-17 win.
"On the night he eclipsed the 50,000-yard mark for his career, which came after a week in which some in the media were questioning if he was past his prime, Brady was serenaded with chants of "Brady! Brady! Brady!" by the energized crowd," wrote Reiss.
In a similar article on NESN.com, Doug Kyed highlighted his five biggest stars of the game which included Tom Brady, Stevan Ridley, and Tim Wright. Kyed says that Wright's emergence in the passing game means that he may be ready to become a serious weapon in the Patriots' offense.
"It took Wright five games to get up to speed in the Patriots' offense, but he could be a serious weapon in a two-tight end offense," believes Kyed. "Gronkowski took half the season to catch on during his rookie year in 2010, so Wright's slow acclimation is nothing to be concerned about."
With Tim Wright and Brandon LaFell beginning to make an impact in the offense, Matt Chatham believes it's time to review the "Brady has no weapons" theory. In an article on his website, Football by Football, Chatham says that it's not that the Patriots haven't tried to surround Brady with weapons, it's just that they haven't had as much success as other teams. In fact, he believes there isn't a big difference between the Patriots approach and the Broncos approach.
The supporting cast around Brady had their best game of the season and for the team to be successful, they're going to need to play with the same sense of urgency. In an article in the Boston Herald, Ron Borges explains that Tom Brady was never the problem -- it was the players around him. He believes that if the offensive line can continue keep Brady upright and the running games can continue to be successful, then the Patriots offense will return to its usual high level each week.
"He was delivering the ball quickly to receivers who were actually open, part of that very likely the result of the early success running the ball. He was who he thought he was, even if you didn't think he was that guy any more," writes Borges. "In other words, don't worry about Tom Brady because even if he's not everything he used to be, he's still far more than enough to beat anybody the NFL can put in front of him."
Tom Brady celebrated the win with a Facebook post in which he thanked the fans and said the night was one he'll never forget. In typical Patriots' fashion, he concluded the post saying, "We're on to Buffalo..."
