Call it another prime-time implosion.
The Bengals came into Sunday night’s game at Gillette Stadium looking for a pass-the-torch win in the AFC, but got burned on a night nothing went right as the Walking Dead Patriots bounced back to take a 43-17 win.
It was an enormously frustrating night for the Bengals and their fans as they fell to 2-8 in prime-time games and playoff games in the Green-Dalton era. It was the first time they allowed 40 points since a 44-13 loss in Baltimore in the 2012 opener, another prime-time game, as they gave up over 500 yards on 82 plays with the Pats having the ball nearly 39 minutes.
But with Baltimore’s loss in Indianapolis the 3-1 Bengals stayed a half-game ahead of the Ravens and Steelers in first place in the AFC North.
The Bengals flashed some life of their own early in the second half when back-to-back big plays cut the lead to 20-10 with 11:23 left in the third quarter. Cornerback Adam Jones parlayed a block from running back Cedric Peerman into a juke-and-go 47-yard punt return down the right sideline. On the next snap wide receiver Mohamed Sanu beat cornerback Alfonzo Dennard on a go pattern and quarterback Andy Dalton hit him in stride for a 37-yard touchdown pass.
But the defense that had been so good was as bad as it’s been in years and couldn’t respond with a stop on the next series. They had no clue how to cover the New England tight ends as Rob Gronkowski and Tim Wright got loose for back-to-back plays of 17 and 25 yards, respectively, over the middle.
The real killer was on third-and-16 when the Pats simply handed it off to running back Shane Vereen and he cut against the grain of the defensive line with tackles Geno Atkins and Devon Still not being able to make a play and nobody else could either on a 19-yard journey.
Gronkowski was then wide open again over the middle and when safety Reggie Nelson couldn’t finish the tackle at the 5 the Pats got the TD right back at 27-10. It was Gronkowski’s sixth catch for 100 yards to go along with Wright’s five for 85 yards.
At that point New England’s wide receivers had four catches for 33 yards. A tough night for a defense that had given up 33 points all year and it was their shocking inability to stop the run that made all the difference as the Pats racked up 191 rushing yards after three quarters and 220 for the game. The Pats’ 505 yards is believed to be the first time since Sept. 16, 2007 the Bengals gave up more than 500 yards.
Three lost fumbles didn’t help after they didn’t have any fumbles in the first three games.
Both Vereen and running back Stevan Ridley neared the 100-yard mark, a real bad sign considering head coach Bill Belichick’s Patriots came into the game 38-1 with a 100-yard rusher. Ridley got his 101th yard on his 20th carry and finished with 112 while Vereen had a whopping 10 yards per his nine carries.
Kickoff, returner Brandon Tate had the ball popped out of his arm by running back Brandon Bolden and cornerback Kyle Arrington picked it up for a nine-yard return for a touchdown that was a killer and made it 34-10. Tate had come in on his 27th birthday looking to repeat what he did for the Patriots against the Bengals in the 2010 opener with a 97-yard kick return for a touchdown.
It was another tough night in the spotlight for the Green-Dalton Bengals, although Dalton and wide receiver A.J. Green began to heat up late but the defense couldn’t stop anything to make it close. Cornerback Darrelle Revis was assigned to shadow Green and he kept him relatively quiet on three catches for 55 yards.
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