ProFootball Focus: Pats vs. Browns Stats
Pats segments below:
While everyone is looking at a shock result, perhaps the biggest shock is just how good a team the Browns are becoming. Eric Mangini was supposed to have ruined the franchise but instead he’s found away to get the most out of players other teams didn’t want and the results are extremely impressive so far.
The defense showed signs of being dominant last year and right now is playing lights out, and with the offense learning to stop making mistakes (read Jake Delhomme’s gunslinger ways no longer on the field) we could be seeing something special being built here.
For the Patriots the offense is missing something while the defense was really overpowered by a determined Browns unit. Are they really contenders?
Patriots: Performances of note
Much was made of the return of Logan Mankins (-4.6) and it’s safe to say he looked very rusty. Rotating in at left guard for 78.13% of snaps, Mankins had difficulty with the Browns’ attacking nature and while he only gave up one quarterback pressure, he looked off the pace when the Patriots tried to run. Perhaps this game came a little too soon after the holdout.
The biggest concern for the Patriots was how the defense performed. There were a number of guys who just weren’t at the races, but the beating Vince Wilfork (-3.5) took from Alex Mack (+3.4) was perhaps the biggest surprise. Wilfork just couldn’t move the Browns 2009 1st round pick whose success against Wilfork was a big reason the Browns ran so effectively.
On a brighter note, it’s not often you’ll see two tackles play as soundly in pass protection against the Browns as both Matt Light (+1.8) and Sebastian Vollmer (+1.3) managed. Between them they gave up just three total pressures and their run blocking wasn’t terrible. It’s encouraging to see Vollmer especially starting to play up to the reputation he was developing last year.
Rookie report
It was a tough day for Rob Gronkowski (-2.7) who just had one of those days. A fumble, unable to haul in half the passes that came his way and caught out on special teams, he’ll want to put this one behind him. … Fellow tight end Aaron Hernandez (-0.4) caught two touchdowns but he also dropped three passes and that’s never acceptable. … Brandon Deaderick (-2.0) went from looking excellent against the Vikes to looking like a rookie against the Browns left side of the line. … Cornerback Devin McCourty (-2.1) didn’t enhance his rookie of the year prospects giving 5 of 6 balls thrown his way. … That was the weakest display from Brandon Spikes (-0.7) though he still ended up with four defensive stops. … Jermaine Cunningham (-1.5) needs to do more than that. He was invisible for most of the game with just one quarterback pressure and one defensive stop … Punter Zoltan Mesko (-0.3) had a max hangtime of 4.8 seconds on his punts.
Random Notes
The one time Julian Edelman was thrown at, it ended up in an interception as the ball was wrestled away from him
