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FOXBOROUGH – It’s been a long time since Rte. 1 was packed at 9 a.m. and it’s been equally as long since Gillette Stadium was alive as it was on Sunday.
After a slow start in the first half, New England scored 23 points in the second half, cruising to a fairly dominant 32-13 win over Cleveland.
The Patriots now sit at 6-2 and winners of five straight, maintaining its top spot in the AFC East and second overall seeding in the AFC right around the halfway point of the season.
The Browns (2-6) do have one of the worst offenses in the league, but the defense was still impressive, giving up just 213 total yards and 12 first downs. Meanwhile, Drake Maye went 18-24 for 282 yards and three touchdowns. He did throw his first interception since the Pittsburgh game, but was solid throughout the day. TreyVeon Henderson had 77 yards rushing on 10 attempts. Mack Hollins (7/89) and Kayshon Boutte (3/75) led the receivers, with Boutte, Hunter Henry and Stefon Diggs all catching touchdowns. Diggs’ TD was his first as a Patriot.
“I’m mostly proud of the totality of the team,” said Mike Vrabel. “I know there’s so much more to improve, but we got stops in the second half, and we scored touchdowns. That’s what the difference in the game was.”
Leading 9-7 at the half thanks to a 42-yard Andy Borregales field goal to end the second quarter, the Pats forced an immediate three-and-out to start the third quarter and scored seven plays later. The drive was arguably the best Josh McDaniels has had as a play caller (this season), featuring some runs by Henderson, a pitch to Stevenson which turned into a throwback to Maye and a completion to Hollins and an end around for Pop Douglas. That run from Pop set up a seven-yard TD to Henry to make it 16-7.
“Just classic Coach McDaniels drive,” Maye said of his OC. “He’s just dialing it up multiple times and getting guys open and really making it easy for me. He’s done it his whole life, and I feel like he was put on this earth to be an offensive coordinator. It was fun to be in the headset with him.”
Three plays later, Robert Spillane picked off a Dillon Gabriel pass and ran it back 32 yards to the Cleveland six. Three plays after that, Maye hit Diggs on a quick one-yard slant and suddenly, New England was up 23-7.
The Browns converted a 4th-&-1 deep in their own territory on the ensuing drive, but one play later Jaylinn Hawkins made a phenomenal leaping grab on a deep ball for an interception at the Pats’ 19. A 28-yard run for Maye after a Browns’ defensive holding moved New England to the Cleveland 39. That’s when Maye hit Boutte with a dime to the left corner of the end zone in the final minute of the third, making it 30-7.
After the run by Maye, ‘MVP! MVP! MVP!’ chants rained down. They got even louder after the touchdown pass. Unfortunately, Maye never heard them because he was being roasted by his teammates in the huddle for an ugly slide on the 28-yard gain.
“No, I didn’t hear it. The guys were making fun of me about my slide back in the huddle on the long run, so I didn’t hear it,” Maye said with a laugh. “But, the fans have been awesome all season. It’s been really cool really to see the difference from last year to this year. Man, it’s been a journey. They’ve been through it, and the fans have been through it the last couple years. So it’s just credit to them. We did the intros today for the first time, so we didn’t know how that would go. That was pretty cool.
“I know the fans have been awesome. Like I said, I think they’re the best fans in the league, and they continue to show out every week.”
Early in the fourth, a shanked punt by Bryce Baringer gave Cleveland the ball at the Patriots’ 26. The Browns captialized with an 11-yard TD catch by David Njoku. New England responded with a lengthy march down inside the Browns’ five-yard line, but Henderson coughed up the ball at the one.
The Pats still got two points out of it three snaps later. Gabriel was called for intentional grounding in the end zone for a safety. From there, Cleveland actually recovered an onside ‘free kick,’ but turned it over on downs, allowing Maye to kneel out the final two minutes.
It felt a lot like the old days in Foxborough early on Sunday morning, right through the end of the game.
Tailgates were firing early, there was a buzz in the stadium before kickoff and Mike Vrabel even decided to bring back individual player introductions for the first time since the Pats changed the evolution of intros in Super Bowl XXXVI.
“Just feel like these guys put a lot into it and would like to recognize him individually,” Vrabel said when asked about it. “Hopefully our fans can embrace that and get excited for them. It’s something that I felt like we wanted to do, create some energy early and get them to recognize the players’ efforts, and allow these fans to support us, which they did. It was getting loud on third down.
“We’ve got to continue to play hard for them so that they cheer for us.”
Gillette will be rocking again next week when the Falcons roll into town. It’s a golden opportunity to make it six straight for the suddenly surging Patriots.