Patriots Beat Bengals In Opener, 16-10

The Patriots got here into Sunday’s opener desirous to run the ball to shrink the sport so as to ice Joe Burrow’s offense, and that is what they did to the Bengals in New England’s 16-10 victory at Paycor Stadium.

After the Patriots put sufficient strain on Burrow to drive three quick passes and a three-and-out-and-punt with three minutes left, the Pats and working again Rhamondre Stevenson by no means let the Bengals get the ball again.

Earlier than a crowd of 66,214, Stevenson rushed for 125 yards on 20 carries, the Patriots rushed for 170 of their 290 whole yards, and the Bengals might muster simply 224 whole yards.

Burrow completed 21 of 29 for 164 yards. Ja’Marr Chase was his main receiver with six catches for 62 yards.

After amassing 117 yards on their first 5 drives, Burrow led a 90-yard landing drive to chop the result in 13-7 with 1:10 left within the third quarter. His working recreation got here alive with 41 of the yards as Zack Moss slashed for 16 earlier than scoring his first Bengals landing behind tight finish Drew Pattern’s pancake block from 5 yards out.

The offense started to purr with working again Chase Brown going for eight behind massive proper sort out Trent Brown and Burrow discovering Ja’Marr Chase for 2 catches beneath the zone.

However working behind a stitched-together offensive ljne that included previous buddy and Saturday follow squad call-up Michael Jordan, Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett averted the relentless rushes of Professional Bowl sacker Trey Hendrickson all day.

That is how Brissett answered the landing after the Bengals put him by way of three straight three-and-outs to begin the second half.

On third-and-two he escaped Hendrickson and ran for six yards after which discovered two of his tight ends for large performs, a 15-yarder to Austin Hooper after which a nine-yarder to Hunter Henry on third-and-four arrange Joey Slye’s area purpose that made it 16-7.

The Bengals then acquired a area purpose of their very own when Burow discovered Chase down the center for 28 yards on the Bengals’ longest play of the sport. Evan McPherson delivered a 51-yarder with 6:14 left that made it 16-10.

Particular groups had been a boom-and-bust Sunday. In his NFL debut, Bengals rookie punter Ryan Rehkow drilled a team-record 80-yard punt.

However because the Bengals acquired prepared for his or her first possession of the second half down, 10-0, Pats lengthy snapper Joe Cardona acquired his helmet on the ball throughout Charlie Jones’ punt return and compelled a fumble on the Bengals 24 lower than two minutes into the second half.

It was the Bengals’ second misplaced fumble of the sport after a season they led the NFL shedding two all yr.

However the Bengals protection did what it needed to do and compelled a three-and-out to permit solely a area purpose.

A crushing flip of occasions surprised the Bengals in a 15-second span late within the second quarter.

After three three-and-outs to begin the season, Burrow acquired the primary one when he scrambled out of the pocket on third-and-six from his 39 and hit extensive receiver Andrei Iosivas on a 12-yard come-back.

A display screen to working again Zack Moss went for 12 extra and on third-and-five from the Pats 21, Burrow discovered Chase pivoting on cornerback Christian Gonzalez for seven yards.

Burrow then appeared to throw a lovely landing move on second-and-11 when he lofted it over 6-1 security Kyle Dugger for his new 6-6 weapon, tight finish Mike Gesicki. Gesicki caught it within the air, however misplaced the deal with as he went to the bottom.

Then on the following play, Burrow appeared to throw one other landing to a different tight finish when he hit Tanner Hudson on a quick-hitter over the center and Hudson was strolling in for the landing when on the 2-yard line he prolonged the ball and Dugger knocked it out and cornerback Marcus Jones scooped it up on the purpose line and ran it to his 18 with 5:09 left within the half.

The Pats saved pounding the working recreation, by no means gave the ball again, and took a 10-0 lead on a chip-shot area purpose on the gun. Stevenson went proper for 16 yards on the primary snap of the drive after which went left for 17 extra a number of snaps later as New England piled up 177 yards of offense within the half, 96 of them on the bottom.

And one other shut play within the different finish zone virtually blew up the Pats’ field-goal drive. From the Bengals 12, Brissett lofted a nasty ball to tight finish Hunter Henry, and security Geno Stone, the defending AFC champion interceptions chief, was in a position to get fingers on the ball. However as they rolled to the bottom, Henry knocked it out of Stone’s fingers.