Pats bottle up Browns' rushing attack in dominant win

By Karver Jordan, Class of 2024

The Patriots defeated the Browns Sunday, Oct. 16, to advance top a 3-3 record. As for the Browns, they moved to a 2-4 record. The Patriots fired on all cylinders: offense, defense, special teams, repeat over and over again. Bailey Zappe has earned his chance to fight for the starting quarterback spot. There will be a quarterback battle,

The Patriots offense struggled in the red zone to start off the game. But, overall, a great day for Zappe, The rookie went 24/34 in the air with 309 yards and two touchdowns. In the second half, the Patriots improved their performance against the Browns. Rhamondre Stevenson took off and ran for 76 yards on 19 carries. Stevenson gained an average of 4.0 yards per carry and scored twice.

The tight end position finally woke up and did what the Patriots paid them to do. Hunter Henry had 4 catches for 61 yards and a touchdown. Jonnu Smith did a great job with 2 catches for 61 yards. The wide receivers did a great job against a strong brown secondary. Devante Parker led the wide receivers in yards. Parker had four catches for 64 yards. Jakobi Meyers was Mr Reliable, like always. He had four catches for 60 yards. Rookie Tyquan Thornton had a great second game with four catches for 37 yards with a touchdown. In the final minutes, Thornton also had a jet sweep to the left side and took it all the way for the touchdown—a two -touchdown day for the Rook.

The defense played amazing against the Browns’ rushing attack. Nick Chubb, the leading rusher, was held to 12 carries for 56 yards. Kareem Hunt was held to four carries for 12 yards. Jacoby Brissett had an alright game for the Browns, going 21-for-45 for 266 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He said it was an emotional game. The leading receiver for the Browns was Donovan Peoples-Jones with four catches for 74 yards. The Patriots shut down Amari Cooper with just four catches for 44 yards and a touchdown late in the game. The Patriots struggled to cover the tight end. David Njoku had three catches for 58 yards. Kyle Dugger led the team in tackles with six and an interception. Jalen Mills had an interception as well.

The special team unit was great. The Patriots barely punted and when they did the Browns had some mistakes. Browns returner Chester Rogers muffed the punt and Brenden Schooler the undrafted free-agent rookie got the ball back for the Patriots. Marcus Jones had a good game returning punts and on 2 returns he had 39 yards. Jake Bailey had four punts on the day and three of them landed inside the 20-yard mark. All four punts added up to 164 yards. Nick Folk's streak was broken with 64 straight field goals under 50 yards. Overall, a great day for the Patriots. The Patriots play the Bears on Monday Night Football.