Boston, Massachusetts — With a heartbreaking 22-18 victory over the Patriots at Gillette Stadium, the Bengals celebrated Christmas Eve by offering a peek of Christmas Future in the living room of the masters of Christmas Past. This victory extended Cincinnati's winning streak from 11-4 to seven games.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow went from Joe Cool to Steamy Joe when he de-iced the 17-degree weather with a Bengals-record tying 40 completions for 375 yards, on a day he also tied his own team record with his 34th touchdown pass of the season, while playing with sleeves down just to his elbows and without gloves. A last-second stop on a fumble forced by safety Vonn Bell and recovered by nose tackle Josh Tupou was required for Burrow to win his tenth consecutive game in December and January.
Before the Pats started to claw their way back into the game, Burrow connected with wide receivers Trenton Irwin twice and Tee Higgins once for scores. Higgins had a day of 128 yards receiving.
With 3:12 remaining, the Bengals faced a third-and-three situation as they attempted to defend a 22-18 lead. Burrow threw a screen pass to wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase, and edge rusher Matthew Judon caused a fumble the Pats recovered at the Bengals' 43. Suddenly, the Bengals were on the Pats' 16 at the two-minute warning when cornerback Eli Apple was flagged for a hold and the Patriots abandoned their running game.
With 65 seconds left, however, Bengals nose tackle DJ Reader upended Pats running back Rhamondre Stevenson on a first-and-five from the 5. Bell then knocked the ball out, and Tupou and tackle B.J. Hill then tripped Stevenson at the 8.
Late in the third quarter, on a third-and-11, Burrow went back shoulder on the right sideline while Chase continued to run the route, sparking the comeback. Marcus Jones, a cornerback, received the ball on the right and dribbled down the left sideline before making a 69-yard pick-six to cut Cincinnati's advantage to 22-6. (Nick Folk missed the extra point). Following three pass plays, the Bengals went three-and-out. With three minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Pats jumped a screen on third-and-five, forcing Burrow to toss the ball into the ground.
It inspired the Patriots. After being booed off the field at halftime, quarterback Mac Jones still had time to complete two third down passes to Kendrick Bourne, the second of which was a 29-yard moonball that Bourne caught between three defenders. When the two-point attempt failed, the score was 22-12 after Jones connected with Bourne once more on third-and-goal from the Cincinnati five with cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt facing the quarterback.
On the Bengals' subsequent possession, it appeared that the game was won. Higgins' jump ball for 31 yards on the first possession following the Pats score gave him over 100 yards for the fourth time this year and the tenth time in his career. Burrow fired a gorgeous pass down the seam to Irwin on third-and-four, but it sailed off his fingers in the end zone. After missing an extra point in the first half and another missed PAT being wiped out by a penalty, Evan McPherson attempted a 43-yard field goal with 6:59 remaining in the game. However, it missed to the left.
The following drive began with a 28-yard pass to Bourne that was first ruled incomplete until the Patriots challenged it and the replay revealed Bourne managed to somehow get both feet in bounds. New England appeared to have some holiday magic working. Two plays later, Jones dropped the ball as Bell tackled him in a blitz and was penalised for intentional grounding, but Zac Taylor raised his own red flag, claiming Jones had lost control before slipping the ball out of his left hand.
With a microwave touchdown drive that ended with his third touchdown throw of the day—tying his own Bengals record with his 34th of the year—Burrow capped the first half onslaught in the same manner he had begun it. Irwin broke away from cornerback Shaun Wade to score his second touchdown of the day, a four-yarder, on third down. Tyler Boyd, the slot receiver, wriggled to get a first down on a third-and-eight conversion, and right tackle Hakeem Adeniji, filling in for the injured La'el Collins, surrounded 10.5-sacker Josh Uche and prevented him from getting close to Burrow on the touchdown pass. Boyd, who suffered a dislocated finger against Cleveland two weeks prior, injured it again on Saturday and missed some snaps in the second quarter but still managed to make three catches.
Burrow then turned in one of the best first halves in Bengals history, completing 28 of 36 passes for 284 yards and a passer rating of 115.7. However, it wasn't any more than the 344 yards he had against the Falcons in the first half last October.
In the opening drive of the game, the Bengals shredded head coach Bill Belichick's renowned defence in just five plays and 2:36. He completed his first four throws for 73 yards. Marcus Jones, who is 5-8, outran the 6-4 Higgins on a 39-yard pass that was perfectly positioned for Higgins to high-point it.
Running back Joe Mixon gained a first down following the play-action fake when he was wide free for a flip in the flat and the Patriots were forced to call a timeout because they had 12 players in the huddle. Higgins then scored the game's first touchdown by bowling over cornerback Jonathan Jones from the Pats 9 under a zone at the 1. The first of the kicker Evan McPherson's initial two wide extra points was then missed. (With nine minutes left in the game, he also missed a 43-yard attempt to the left.)
But during the second drive's frost, Burrow continued to run the heat. Following a sack by Bengals nose tackle DJ Reader, Burrow sliced them once more, this time going five for five for 48 yards. When he sprinted to his right and away from Judon and his 14.5 sacks, he successfully completed his first third down. For the first down, he hook-slid the remaining three yards.
Then, on first down, Burrow completed a stunning pass to Irwin on what appeared to be a post-pattern, and he made a wonderful lunging catch just before strong safety Devin McCourty could get there for a 23-yard touchdown. Burrow had a 158.3 rating on nine of nine passes for 121 yards on the opening two drives, which was practically flawless.
When the Pats went for two, running back Samaje Perine was stacked up when he tried the right side after McPherson missed the PAT a second time due to a roughing penalty.Burrow, though, smoked the Patriots in the first quarter, going 13 of 15 for 165 yards, while Mac Jones had just 0.0 yards, and the Bengals' 12-0 lead represented the Patriots' largest deficit heading into the second quarter at Gillette in nine years.
On the first play of the second quarter, after Mixon's two-yard touchdown was overturned for holding by former Patriots tight end Devin Asiasi, McPherson drilled a 28-yard from goal to swiftly make it 15-0. With Marcus Jones as his only defender, Burrow converted a third-and-17 to Chase to complete the drive. When Chase halted in front of Jones on the right sideline, it was an 18-yard first down in the end zone.
However, on their subsequent trip into the red zone, Burrow committed his season's first interception within the 20-yard line, which resulted in McCourty's 34th career interception when he got inside Boyd at the Patriots' 15. When Burrow threw a deep ball that Chase was unable to catch against his shoulder pad, it appeared as though Chase might have gotten them there a little earlier than that.
No comments:
Post a Comment