Patriots Have The Wright Stuff—Shut Down Detroit 34-9

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Matt LaPan, Go Local Sports Reporter

 

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November football at Gillette Stadium is usually a sloppy, cold day of football. That was not the case as the Patriots welcomed the Detroit Lions to Foxboro in mid-50’s temperatures and bright skies. The weather would not matter, however, as the Patriots made the Lions day a gloomy one — throttling them 34-9.

The Lions started the game with the ball, and got off to a quick start behind a good opening drive from Golden Tate. Tate beat Darrelle Revis on one of the first plays from scrimmage, but the Patriots defense held strong and the Lions were forced to settle for a 48-yard Matt Prater field goal to take an early 3-0 lead.

The Patriots offense took the field and could do nothing against the league’s top-ranked defense, going 3-&-out on their first two drives to start the game. This was the first time all season that the Patriots went 3-&-out to start the game.

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The Lions appeared to be in great position after forcing their second 3-&-out, pinning the Patriots inside their own 10 yard line. Ryan Allen, however, had different ideas. Allen took a skipping snap and booted it 65 yards to completely flip field position. The Patriots immediately forced a 3-&-out on the Lions, thanks to a Rob Ninkovich sack, and got the ball back.

This time Tom Brady and the offense drove the ball down the field in nine plays and punched it into the end zone on a four-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Wright. The Patriots threw the ball on eight of the nine plays on the drive with Wright grabbing his 5th touchdown of the season.

It appeared the Lions would answer the drive, but the Patriots defense had a great goal-line stand. The Lions had 1st & goal inside the Patriots five yard line but failed on three consecutive attempts for the end zone. The Patriots got pass deflections from Darrelle Revis (on Calvin Johnson) and Patrick Chung (on Joseph Fauria) to keep the Lions out of the end zone. They settled for another Prater field goal to being the score to 7-6, Patriots.

The Patriots special teams answered on the ensuing kickoff as Danny Amendola took the kick 81 yards to give the Patriots great field position. Just two plays later the Patriots plunged the ball into the end zone with the returning LeGarrette Blount running the ball in from three yards out to bring the lead to 14-6, Patriots.

After shutting down the Detroit offense again, the Patriots offense went on another long drive, capped with another Wright touchdown. The Patriots got a big contribution from Rob Gronkowski on the drive as he pulled in his first catch of the game. The touchdown gave Wright his first multi-touchdown game of his career and moved him to six on the season. 

The Lions got the ball back and were clearly trying to run time down before the half, allowing 16 seconds to run off the clock before the 2-minute warning. Despite a great drive from Theo Riddick, the Lions were kept off the scoreboard as Matt Prater missed a field goal and gave the Patriots the ball back.

The Patriots got the ball back with just over a minute left and continued to dominate the Lions daunted defense. Rob Gronkowski has two huge catches over the middle to set-up a 35-yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal to give the Patriots a 24-6 lead going into the half. The kick moved Gostkowski into 2nd place on the Patriots’ all-time scoring list, just behind Adam Vinatieri. The 24-point performance from the Patriots offense matched the season-high for points allowed by the Lions.

The Patriots came out in the 2nd half and continued to move the ball. This drive featured two catches from Tim Wright, bringing the Patriots inside the Lions 10 yard line. That is where Tom Brady made his first mistake. Brady was looking for Rob Gronkowski but the route was under-cut by former Patriots safety James Ihedigbo for an interception.

After both teams traded failing drives, the Patriots offense was able to join some momentum. The Patriots used Blount and Shane Vereen to spark a drive. Their runs nearly gave the Patriots a few big plays, but Brady overthrew both Brandon LaFell and Julian Edelman on deep pass plays. The drive eventually stalled, but Stephen Gostkowski added another field goal, this time from 43 yards, to give the Patriots the 27-6 lead.

After a failed Lions drive, the Patriots nearly broke the game open on special teams as Julian Edelman returned a punt 74 yards for a touchdown — the play was called back on a block in the back by Patrick Chung, however. 

Detroit was able to finally get on the board again at the start of the 4th quarter, but it was only a 49-yard Prater field goal. The third Prater field goal made the score 27-9, Patriots. From there, the Patriots defense kept Matt Stafford and the Lions off the scoreboard while adding a LeGarrette Blount touchdown to win the game 34-9.

The Patriots huge win came behind the leadership of Tom Brady. Brady went 38-of-53 for 349 yards and two touchdowns — one completion shy of tying his career-high. While LeGarrette Blount piled up 78 yards rushing and two touchdowns, the majority of the damage was done through the air for the Patriots.

Tim Wright led the way with a five-catch game for 36 yards and two touchdown. Julian Edelman and Brandon Lafell also had great games against the Lions defense, grabbing 11 and nine receptions respectively. LaFell had 98 yards while Edelman had 89. The Patriots also got big contributions from Rob Gronkowski (five catches) and Shane Vereen (eight catches) in the aerial display.

The Patriots defense was also extremely impressive, not allowing the high-powered Lions offense to get into the end zone. The defense got one sack each from Rob Ninkovich and Akeem Ayers, an interception from Logan Ryan and four passes defensed by Darrelle Revis. They held the Lions to 91 yards rushing and just 5-of-17 on 3rd down attempts. The Patriots also held Matt Stafford to 39% completions, his lowest career mark. 

The Patriots will be back in action next Sunday when they Travel to Lambeau Field to take on the NFC North-leading Green Bay Packers. It will be the fourth consecutive game where the Patriots will play against a division leader.

The Patriots win happened exactly 14 years to the day of Tom Brady’s first career game which was won by the Lions 34-9 — a fitting way to close out the performance from Brady and the Patriots.

 

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