Well the offense didn’t look spectacular, but the defense was great, and the Patriots came out on top.  Looking back at our questions from before the game: Thomas started but wasn’t particularly special, Aiken and Tate split time at 3rd WR, and Maroney looked useless as usual running the ball.

Some thoughts:

• Brandon Meriweather played great, flying around, getting those two INTS and a touchdown.
• Tully Banta-Cain also had an impressive game, he had a couple tackles for loss on running backs in the backfield.
• The defense was way more aggressive, blitzing a lot this week, which I liked.
• The offensive line was TERRIBLE.  Brady kept getting pressured and had to scramble, and the O line had way too many penalties.  Vollmer had two holding calls, Mankins had two false starts, and there were a couple other false starts and illegal man downfield calls on the O line.

Looking into the bye week:

• With two weeks of practice, will we see Brandon Tate emerge more as a 3rd WR?
• Will we get any of our players back from injury? (Matt Light, Sammy Morris, Fred Taylor, Julian Edelman)

A few things to look for today:

• With Edelman hurt, the Patriots have activiated 3rd round pick Brandon Tate off of the PUP.  Could he be our #3 WR?
• We’re thin at RB with Taylor and Morris out.  How will Maroney perform with a majority of the carries?
• After being inactive last week, Adalius Thomas is back this week.  Will his inactivation spark him to better play this week?

Could the Patriots be active before the trading deadline today?  I think so… they’ve been making some odd moves.  Cutting Banta-Cain and Alexander but supposedly about to re-sign them.  New deals to make more cap space for someone?  They also cut Joey Galloway and Michael Matthews, leaving two roster spots… possibly for the two players they could activate off PUP (WR Brandon Tate and OT LeVoir) but maybe a trade. Hmm

Wow! What a game.  That is just what this offense needed.  Supposedly Brady spent a few days this week working on his mechanics, and it sure paid off.  He was hitting them at any part of the field, and in a snow storm no less (although they were WIDE open).  The Patriots previous best offensive play was 36 yards, in this game they had a 45 yard run, 2 40 yard passes, and a 38 yard pass.  Ridiculous.  And the defense was great too, giving up -7 passing yards (that’s right, NEGATIVE yards), forcing three turnovers and giving up 0 points. Both rookies Pat Chung and Darius Butler had interceptions.

One crazy thing was the benching of Adalius Thomas.  He hasn’t been playing great lately, maybe it was just to send a message.  They appeared to have Derrick Burgess playing stand up linebacker in his place (instead of just rushing).

Questions that remain to be answered:

• Is the offense back? Or are the Titans just that bad?
• What’s the story with Adalius Thomas?
• Who’s our 3rd receiver?  Brandon Tate is eligible to come off the PUP list this week, is he going to contribute?
• Can our defense stop the run?

Another crazy close game for the Pats, but they pull out the win.  Some random observations:

• This was the first game where Brady looked like himself.  He wasn’t throwing way off, or high, or any of that.
• The defense is scary, but they’ve been coming through when we need them.
• Brandon Meriweather is looking good!
• So is McGowan, surprisingly.
• Finally some pressure on the quarterback!!!!
• And finally some scores in the red zone.
• Belichick certainly made some bold calls, going for it on 4th down twice in the red zone.
• Did all our 3rd down conversions come from Ravens penalties?
• With the Broncos winning, next week we’ll play our fifth straight undefeated team to open the season.  Ridiculous.