by Ryan Auger
Staff Writer
On Sunday night the New England Patriots faced off against the Green Bay Packers. At the beginning of the season this game seemed like a prime time match up befitting Sunday night football.
This all seemed to change when Packers’ quarterback Arron Rodgers, was sidelined on Saturday due to a previous concussion, but the Pats nevertheless would make it a great game.
The Pats started out the game slow, fumbling an unexpected onside kick which led to a field goal by the Packers.
The Pats were down 10-17 at half time, after the farthest kickoff return by an Offensive linemen. Dan Conolly, the right guard for the Pats, returned the ball 71 yards to the six yard line setting them up with a TD pass to Aaron Hernandez.
Dan Connolly records NFL's longest return by an offensive linemen, of 71 in Pats Win
The momentum started to shift and would continue when the Patriots defense stepped up with Kyle Arrington intercepting a pass from Matt Flynn Packers QB, and broke multiple tackles to score with the pick six.
The Packers then drove down the field, and some costly penalties hurt the Pats as the Packers came back to score and found themselves up by three, 24 – 21.
The Packers got the ball back and drove down the field, but the Pats’ defense held tight and the Packers kicked the field goal, making the score 27 – 21.
The Pats got the ball then for the second time of the half in the fourth quarter, but were unable to get more than a field goal, still down 24 – 27.
Devin McCourty, Patriots’ cornerback recorded his first career sack, leading to the Pats getting the ball back with around 10 minutes left in the game. Plays by Danny Woodhead and Deion Branch led the Pats down the field, when Hernandez caught his second TD of the game on first and goal. Pats led 31 – 27.
Rookie Dan Fletcher sacked Flynn with 51 seconds left, forcing the Packers to use their last timeout. A few plays later, at a fourth and one, the clock was running down and the inexperienced Flynn wasted time, and was sacked on their last play, giving the Pats the win.
The Pats defense is back as they secured the win with key sacks and INT’s throughout the game.
Their defense was solid against the Bears and stifled the Jets to three points a few weeks back on Monday night football. This Pats defense is what makes the Patriots the favorite approaching the playoffs in a few weeks, as they attempt to make it to the Superbowl for the fifth time in 9 years.
Tom Brady set the NFL record for single season completions without an interception at 287 in the 4th quarter, adding another record to the profile of the future hall of fame quarterback.
that is true that they gave up 27 but just as arrington said this week in press conferences they come up big in key moments and late in the game thats what i mean by “back”. I dont think the pats defense will hold any teams to under 10 pts again but they will make the plays to get the win
Well-written article and very well researched. Just one thing I don’t understand. What do you mean by the Patriots defense being “back”…didn’t they just let up 27 points to a backup quarterback? I thought that the Pats defense was more disappointing coming off of dominating the Bears and Jets.