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On the surface, New England fans and the Patriots themselves should be thrilled with a ninth straight win, clinching the 28th 10-win season in Patriots history.
The 26-20 victory over a poor Bengals team puts the Pats at 10-2 overall, atop the AFC once again with five games remaining. But, injuries to rookie offensive linemen Jared Wilson and Will Campbell – both were carted off – there’s now some major concern for that unit given how much better its been this season.
The Patriots were also missing Jahlani Tavai who was back home tending to a family matter. Morgan Moses and Khyiris Tonga were also banged up during the course of the win.
“That’s what happens in this league,” Vrabel said of the Bengals making things interesting, particularly thanks to 107 rushing yards from Chase Brown. “You need everybody and you go through the season, you go on the road and it’s tough.
“Everybody wants to talk about numbers and records, that doesn’t mean sh*t.”
Drake Maye certainly wasn’t at his best, going 22-35 for 294 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Rhamondre Stevenson returned, but it was TreVeyon Henderson leading the backs with 66 yards on 18 carries. Hunter Henry had a huge day with 115 yards on seven catches and a touchdown. Stefon Diggs , Mack Hollins, Pop Douglas and Kayshon Boutte combined for just eight catches on the day, although Diggs’ second catch was a massive one on third down late in the game.
“That’s what this leaves about. Battling adversity, shoot, I gave them one early in the game. Just battling back that next drive, just trying to have that next play mentality. That’s what coach is preaching all the time,” said Maye. “Battling back from good plays, battling back from bad plays. Proud of our defense. They stepped up big time.
“It’s next man up. We had a lot of guys come in and play, make plays and help us out. So, I was proud of them. Good to get a win and good to get that 10th win.”
Goal-to-go offense was a huge problem on the day too. If not for Andy Borregales’ drilling four field goals – including a 52-yarder that pushed the lead to 23-13 with 5:55 left in the game – things could have been much different.
At one point in the third quarter, the Pats had a chance to score from the Cincy one-yard line six times, but couldn’t get in, ultimately turning it over on downs. Later on in the fourth quarter, the Patriots had 1st-&-goal from the four and still couldn’t get in, settling for the 19-yard field goal from Borregales that made it a 10-point game.
“You’ve got to score with your man…whatever you call. It’ll be a good learning opportunity for us in a lot of phases,” Vrabel said of the red zone struggles continuing. “Just how important and how critical the week of practice is and being ready to go, because you never know when your opportunity is going to come.
“Making sure that everybody’s on the same page…a lot of moving parts today.”
The Patriots trailed 10-0 in the second before Maye found Henry for a 28-yard touchdown pass. With 7:42 left in the half, Marcus Jones had a 33-yard pick-six off Joe Flacco, pushing the lead to 14-10. Borregales kicked a 41-yard field goal with 28 seconds left, seemingly sending the Pats to the locker room with a seven-point lead.
But, Cincy found a way to get 37 yards in three plays and Evan McPherson drilled a 63-yard field goal to make it 17-10 at the half. Borregales made it 20-13 and booted the 52-yader to go up 10 in the fourth, but Mitchell Tinsley caught a 17-yard TD with 4:40 left to cut it to six.
On the ensuing drive, Maye hit Diggs on 3rd-&-11 for 14-yards to extend the drive, eventually leading to another kick by Borregales.
Cincinnati converted a 4th-&-8 on its final drive, eventually moving down to the Patriots’ 26. On 4th-&-10 with 23 seconds left, Marcus Jones had a pass breakup one play after Carlton Davis III did, closing out the bowling shoe ugly-win.
The Patriots reclaimed the top spot in the AFC for now and that means no one in the league is going to weep for them if the injury situation is as dire as it looks, particularly up front.
“Injuries, we talk about it, are a part of the game,” he said. “We were able to share some time with Jahlani (on FaceTime) back home, so that was cool. And again, we’ll look to rejoin him here shortly. So, I think that was the biggest thing. We’ll get those guys back from injury however they…our staff will do a great job, the players will work hard.
“So, you’ve got to be ready to go. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us, I’m pretty sure of that.”