As the New England Patriots flew to Cleveland for their date with the Browns at Cleveland Browns Stadium, most fans and experts expected the Patriots to coast to an easy victory. This was not the case, however.
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To the surprise of nearly everyone, the Nov. 7 matchup resulted in the Browns (3-5) downing the previously NFL best Patriots (6-2) by a comfortable 34-14 margin.
The Patriots’ defense was exposed by relatively unknown running back, Peyton Hillis. Hillis pounded through the Patriots defense for a career high 184 yards, along with two touchdowns..
“Coming in we felt pretty good about our run defense” said Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo in a postgame press release, “and (Hillis) just came out with their offensive line and did a great job and ran the ball hard.”
Rookie tight end, Rob Gronkowski had two costly fumbles for the Patriots, including coughing it up at the Browns’ one yard line at the end of the first half.
“I fumbled it.” Gronkowski said in a press release. “It shouldn’t be happening, because I should have two hands on the ball.”
Rookie quarterback, Colt McCoy, showed Cleveland fans a bit of why the Browns put so much stock in the young QB. McCoy went 14 for 19 for 174 yards and no interceptions,with a quarterback rating of 101.7.
McCoy received praise from Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady, in a press release after the game. “He is getting the ball to the right guys and making accurate throws,” Said Brady. He did a good job.”
As for the much talked about icy relationship between Patriots coach, Bill Belichick, and his former apprentice, now Browns coach, Eric Mangini, the two shared a brief but courteous handshake at midfield after the game. Mangini later told reporters that he had simply told Belichick “Good game,” before joking that the two were “…making plans for the summer.”
The win was the second in a row for Cleveland. The Browns trounced the defending champion, New Orleans Saints, two weeks before heading into their bye week.
The game started with the Browns driving 42-yards over six plays, capped off by a 38-yard field goal by Phil Dawson. The ensuing kickoff brought the first big break of the game as Gronkowski gave up his first of two fumbles.
The Browns capitalized two plays later when Hillis punched it into the end zone from two yards out.
Later, the Patriots cut the lead to 10-7 when they ended an impressive 11 play, 79-yard drive with a two-yard pass to Aaron Hernandez for his first career touchdown.
As the first half winded down, Browns running back, Chansi Stuckey, ran in an 11-yard touchdown to extend Cleveland’s lead to 17-7 as the teams went into their locker rooms for halftime.
McCoy had a dramatic 16-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter to make the score 24-7 and put the game out of reach for New England.
Hillis put an exclamation point on the Browns big victory with a 35-yard touchdown run with just over two minutes left in the game.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Brady in a post game press release. “If we played the way we played today, we’re not going to beat anybody.”
