Historic victory for Tom Brady and New England Patriots
Life without Gronk began for the New England Patriots on Sunday vs the Los Angeles Rams as Tom Brady looked for victory number 201 to become the winningest quarterback in NFL history. On a day when the 2001 Patriots’ Super Bowl team was honored, the Rams looked nothing like “The Greatest Show on Turf” that played against New England Patriots 15 years ago.
Lead by number one overall pick Jared Goff, the Rams struggled to find any kind of attack, amassing a whopping 25 yards of total offense in the first half. Rams’ fans have to be absolutely thrilled with the recent announcement of a contract extension for head coach Jeff Fisher.
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The Patriots opened the scoring with a 43-yard LeGarrette Blount touchdown run on a 4th and 1 play. It was a great run by Blount in which he made several Rams’ defenders look silly, particularly safety Maurice Alexander. Another impressive afternoon for Blount who finished with 88 yards on 18 carries and the touchdown. With the offense looking to reinvent itself without Gronkowski, Blount should play an even larger role down the stretch.
Julian Edelman and Malcom Mitchell should also see a significant uptick in usage with Gronk sidelined. Both players had an excellent showing Sunday as Edelman finished with 101 yards on eight catches and Mitchell totaled 82 yards on eight grabs. It was Edelman’s best game of the season as he seems to be relatively healthy and finally hitting his stride. Mitchell continued his improved play as he had his third consecutive strong performance. With Danny Amendola suffering an ankle injury in the second half, Mitchell stepped up and delivered in his absence. Amendola did not return to the game and was seen leaving the stadium on crutches and in a walking boot.
The story of the day was definitely the history making performance of Tom Brady. Brady came into the week hobbled by a knee injury, but looked as sharp as ever against Los Angeles. He finished the day completing 33 of his 46 pass attempts for 269 yards and one touchdown. The lone touchdown came at the start of the second quarter as Brady found Chris Hogan in the corner of the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown. The New England Patriots would add four Stephen Gostkowski field goals in a game that was never in question leaving the final score at Patriots 26 Rams 10.
The victory gave Brady his record setting 201st win as a starting quarterback moving him ahead of his rival Peyton Manning on the all-time list. After the game Brady commented in typical Brady fashion saying “”It’s always been about winning, and I’ve been very fortunate to be on a lot of great teams, I’m just really grateful.”
Up next for the Pats is a date with the Ravens at Gillette Stadium.
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