The New England Patriots stayed in the win column on Sunday, celebrating a ninth straight W to improve to 10-2 on the year.
Here is who caught our eye for better or worse upon live viewing the 26-20 victory.
Winners
TE Hunter Henry: It was a career day for the veteran tight end, who posted a personal best 115 receiving yards and a touchdown on seven receptions (while also having a second score wiped out due to penalty). After a slow start offensively, Henry was a calming presence for the offense and his 28-yard touchdown on a sail concept opened the scoring for the Patriots. Henry also had a pair of chunk gains working the underneath areas of the field as the veteran remains a reliable target for Drake Maye.
K Andy Borregales: Despite missing his first field goal attempt since Week 2 last week, New England’s rookie kicker regained his consistency as Borregales connected on all four of his field goal attempts (41, 45, 19, and 52 yards) in the win. On the year, Borregales is now 19-of-21 including all three makes from 50-plus yards — with the last proving to be huge in a six point win over Cincinnati.
CB Marcus Jones: Following Henry’s touchdown, Jones made the play of the game in the second quarter with a pick-six — New England’s first since 2023. With downfield routes taken away, Joe Flacco looked for his check down where Jones was waiting to jump the route and take it back untouched 33 yards for the score. Jones, who was recently rewarded with a contract extension, continues to play at a high level this season.
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Losers
Injuries: After placing Milton Williams on injured reserve last week, the injury bug truly hit the Patriots on Sunday. New England lost their left side of the offensive line as Will Campbell (knee) and Jared Wilson (ankle) were ruled out, while special teams ace Brenden Schooler (ankle) and Khyiris Tonga (chest) also departed the game early. Mike Vrabel was not able to provide injury updates after the game, but New England is now limping into their Week 14 bye week.
Red zone: The Patriots offense went 0-for-2 in the red zone Sunday as they were stuffed on a pair of goal-to-go situations. That included a third quarter sequence that saw the Patriots run six plays at the one-yard line and not be able to find the end zone. Later in the fourth quarter, Maye was also stuffed on a tush push from the one-yard line leading to a field goal.
Defensively, New England allowed the Bengals to score on their lone trip to the red zone as that continues to be an area to improve.
Honorable mentions
- As for Maye, it was a shaky start to the day for the QB which included a bad pick-six on a sailed throw. But, Maye bounced back to throw for a career-high 294 passing yards while generating +0.21 expected points — with his best throw coming on a 37-yard completion to DeMario Douglas on a seam-splitter.
- Henry wasn’t the only tight end to find success against the Bengals, as Austin Hooper hauled in three targets for 39 yards.
- DeMario Douglas had just one catch but made a strong adjustment on a diving 37-yarder and then took a handoff 14 yards the next play.
- Quieter game for Stefon Diggs (two catches, three targets) largely working against D.J. Turner. Diggs did beat the corner on a late third-down for one of his catches.
- Kyle Williams made his one target count hauling in an underneath route and taking it 18 yards. Williams also had a 36-yard kick return on New England’s final offensive drive.
- As part of the red zone issues, Rhamondre Stevenson managed just five yards on six carries largely running in short yardage situations. TreVeyon Henderson led the backfield playing 65 percent of the offensive snaps.
- Down Campbell and Wilson, New England only allowed a manageable 35 percent pressure rate on Maye with Vederian Lowe and Ben Brown holding down the left side. But, the O-line also deserves blame for the failures to find the end zone from the 1-yard line.
- Harold Landry led a pass rush that pressured Flacco on 41 percent of his drop backs despite not blitzing until the final drive. Landry had a sack and an additional QB hit.
- K’Lavon Chaisson had a near sack that resulted in a throwaway, but later jumped offsides on fourth-down.
- With no Milton Williams, Cory Durden played 33 snaps and had three pressures. New England felt the absence of Williams in the run game, however, as Chase Brown became the first 100-yard rusher they’ve allowed as the run defense continues to decline.
- Carlton Davis rebounded from an earlier DPI guarding Tee Higgins by recording three pass breakups on the Bengals’ final drive to help seal the game. Davis allowed just one catch elsewhere to Higgins.
- Christian Gonzalez matched up against Higgins on 15 routes and allowed three catches for 20 yards. Gonzalez did get beat late in the game by Mitch Tinsley for a score.
