On Sunday afternoon against the Oakland Raiders, the Patriots offense matched their season average in first downs. In every other way that counts, they were decidedly above average.
Quarterback Tom Brady threw for 339 yards and three touchdowns and the New England defense continued their renaissance tour with another strong outing as the Patriots collectively took the Oakland Raiders behind the woodshed for a nationally televised stomping before a bi-partisan crowd in Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, the 33-8 final score telling the entire story.
Well, almost.
The performance was classic Patriots: Brady shuffling around in the pocket to avoid pressure before finding his third or fourth read, running back Dion Lewis leading the team in touches and breaking ankles, and the defense giving up yard after yard after yard, but always making a play to deny their opponent in the red zone.
In fact, the New England defense solidified their spot among the top scoring defenses in the league, their 12.3 points per game average over the Patriots' six -game winning streak being the best mark in the National Football league over that time, legitimizing an amazing turnaround from the first four games of the season when they were the worst scoring defense in the league...
...while also lending credence to the apparent fact that the offense has rediscovered their scoring touch, topping thirty points for the second week in a row after entering their bye week on a four-game skid in which they averaged just 21 points per game.
Brady and the offense have been next to impossible to stop since the break, following up a win over their arch-nemesis Denver Broncos in which they scored on seven of ten possessions by scoring on seven of nine possessions against the Raiders, balancing their mode of operations between the aforementioned move-the-chains, traditionally methodical scheme and a suddenly potent quick-strike, vertical attack.
Both were on full display against the hapless Raiders' defense on Sunday.
Brady took his time in the leading the Patriots down the field for a touchdown on their first possession of the game, a 15-play, 87-yard job that took up half of the first quarter and sucked the will right out of the Oakland defense, then channeled his inner Daryl Lamonica "mad bomber" mode in connecting with Brandin Cooks for 52 yards to set up a second quarter score...
...following that up with a perfect 64-yard strike to Cooks to start the third quarter, this time the speed merchant easily outrunning double coverage to paydirt, effectively putting the game out of reach with nearly a full half of football left to play.
On the day, Cooks caught six balls for 149 yards and the touchdown for his best statistical day as a Patriot while Lewis handled the heavy lifting, running right into the heart of the Raiders' front seven for six yards a pop while also snagging four balls in the pattern for another twenty-eight.
Kicker Stephen Gostkowski even got in on the long-range, high-wire act by nailing a 62-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, breaking his own franchise record of 58 yards, then adding kicks of 51, 40 and 29 to slowly bury the Raiders.
Lewis and receiver Danny Amendola also caught scoring passes from Brady, Lewis taking a ball in the right flat and pirouetting to the inside and juking through heavy traffic for the first score of the game while Amendola got loose at the back of the end zone for the second score of the game.
Conversely, Oakland's Derek Carr suffered through a miserable afternoon of watching his throws bounce off of his receivers like so many pinballs, completing just 28 of his 49 offerings for 237 yards, the fourth straight game in which the Patriots' defense has held the opposing quarterback under 300 passing yards.
The one down side to the defense's day was their continued sieve-like run defense, as Marshawn Lynch rumbled for almost seven-yards per carry before Oakland fell behind by three scores and was forced to abandon the running game and turn to the unpredictable passing game to try and catch up in a hurry - and they did manage to move the ball, but drops, a Duron Harmon interception and a Marquis Flowers forced fumble ended each drive...
...only a sole garbage-time touchdown saving the Raiders from being shutout. In fact, if one were to eliminate the garbage-time scores against the Patriots' defense during the team's six-game winning streak, they would find that New England has yielded just eight points per game with the contest still in doubt.
That, combined with Brady's mastery of the offense has New England sitting pretty at 8-2, tied for the best record in the conference and extending their lead in the AFC East to three games over their fading division rivals - and while five of their last six games of the season come against division foes, including two a piece against both Buffalo and Miami, the Patriots seem destined for their ninth consecutive division title and are favorites to play in their seventh straight conference title game.
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