Mike Dussault

Everyone’s favorite stat today is the fact that Rob Ryan’s defense in Cleveland last year was the last one to hold the Patriots under 30 points (cough in the regular season) as if Rob knows “the secret” for shutting down TFB and pals.

I’d just like to remind everyone of the two boneheaded plays by Rob Gronkowski that killed two of the Pats possessions in the first half.

First, he signaled a fair catch on the kickoff after the Browns had made it 3-0 and then looked around for someone else to catch it. The Browns recovered and scored two plays later to go up 10-0.

Then there was his fumble on the two yard line as the first half was ending that took definite points off the board.  A touchdown would’ve made it 17-14 at the half and perhaps made it a different game.

I’m not saying the Browns didn’t play well or that Ryan didn’t have a good gameplan.  They forced the Pats to punt five times. But it’s worth pointing out how the Pats put themselves behind the eight ball early and often in this game.

It also helped the Peyton Hillis was on fire that day and that kept Brady off the field with a time of possession advantage of nearly 40 minutes to 20 minutes. I’m not quite convinced the Cowboys running attack can do the same to this Patriots defense.