Patriots Blog: Gold Stars & Penalty Flags From Win Over Bengals
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Patriots answered some of the pressing questions in their best victory of the year, a 43-17 whopping of the Cincinnati Bengals.
This win will mean nothing though if they can't move on and beat the Bills. Here are your gold stars and penalty flags from Week 5:
The Gold Stars
- Tom Brady gets a gold star. He faced criticism all week-long and came out and played with fire on Sunday night. Forget the fact that he became the sixth player in NFL history to pass for over 50,000 yards. He ran the ball on the first drive and that's what got the crowd going. Brady brought emotion and, for the first time this season, the Pats went down the field and got a touchdown on their first drive. That set the tone, and Tom was the tone setter.
- Darrelle Revis gets a gold star. Finally, this was the game that everybody was hoping to see. Revis went one-on-one withe A.J. Green all game, and Green was silent. Whether Revis asked to stick to A.J. or that was the game plan, this is how the Pats need to play it. He locked down the other teams best receiver and the defense was able to do the rest. This is what they brought him here for and he got the job done.
- Stevan Ridley gets a gold star: Ridley ran the ball hard for 113 yards on 27 carries, and all of it was pound the rock. This is what the Pats like to see in Ridley and again, he hasn't put the ball on the ground.
- The fans at Gillette get a gold star: This was the loudest game I have been to in a while.The fans were up and in the stands from the beginning to the end. Plus, when they were chanting Brady during the game, everybody got emotional. Also, when the Pats did the Devon Still tribute, the fans were right on it. This was a great game for the fans.
The Penalty Flags
- The Pats and their penalties get a penalty flag: New England was hit with 12 penalties for 114 yards. I have to be honest, that's crazy. The Pats had more penalty yards than the Bengals had rushing yards. I didn't even mind the emotional penalties. It's the offensive holding penalties that kind of bother me.
Follow Levan Reid on Twitter @LevanReid.
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