Patriots 28, Vikings 18

It's weeks like this when you should cherish being a Patriots fan.  In most NFL cities, you get one good year out of three, owing to the unbalanced schedule and the fact that most teams don't draft well beyond the first 20 picks.  That's how it is in Minnesota -- and as if to prove it, the Vikings (who were in the NFC Championship Game last year) brought their can't-do attitude to Foxboro on Sunday and left with a 28-18 loss amid a lot of head scratching.  Meanwhile the Patriots continued their winning ways, sporting a 6-1 record that tops the entire NFL and puts them a game ahead in the division race.

At first, it looked like all-world running back Adrian Peterson would shred the Pats on the ground all day long, ripping off runs of 8, 7, 8, 9, 7, and 8 yards in the first half.  But it wasn't all bad; he was also stopped for no gain or a loss four times, including on a third-and-one to stop a drive and fourth-and-goal at the 1 yard line.  That last stop kept the game tied 7-7 at the half, and the tackle was made by rookies Jermaine Cunningham and Brandon Spikes.

The Patriots defense continues on the road to improvement.  After being completely unable to stop anyone on third down, they held the Vikings to 36% in that key stat (after holding the Ravens to 31% two weeks ago).  Moving Vince Wilfork to an outside line position seems to confound opposing offenses, creating mismatches for Wilfork and allowing Mike Wright to attack with speed against schemes designed to stop beef.  The young linemen also improve every week; with Brandon Deaderick earning another start and Myron Pryor and Ron Brace looking a *lot* better than they did last year.

And all that up-front scheming leaves the linebackers to run to the ball, and Jerod Mayo is close to returning to his 2008 form (you remember; when he won Defensive Rookie of the Year).  Mayo's inside running mate Brandon Spikes shows good instincts and now rarely runs himself out of a play.  And for regular readers of this blog, you know that is progress -- since he did that a *lot* at the beginning of the year.  Jermaine Cunningham and Rob Ninkovich still aren't where the defense needs them to be in holding up against the run and pressuring the quarterback.  And there were holes yesterday in the intermediate passing game over the middle.  But at this point, much improved from the start of the season.

The secondary did a terrific job yesterday in man-coverage.  Not so much in the soft zone; but when corners Kyle Arrington and Devin McCourty jam receivers at the line they can run with just about anyone and showed good tackling ability (save for one catch-and-run by Percy Harvin against Arrington).  And McCourty plays the ball a lot better now, getting turned to the ball to knock it down and avoid penalties.  He cut inside a route by Harvin to break up a long pass, and ripped the ball away from Harvin later in the quarter for the only INT of the game.  The safeties played very deep against Minnesota, taking them out of the intermediate passing zones, but they never got beaten deep... until Brandon Merriweather found himself singled up on Randy Moss and had to commit a penalty to save a touchdown.

The Patriots running game was the opposite of the Vikings'.  The Pats totaled only 9 yards in the first half, but changed the blocking schemes to break out with 113 yards in the last 30 minutes.  BenJarvus Green-Ellis broke 100 yards for the first time in his career (17 carries for 112 yards), and scored two touchdowns for the first time, too.  He showed good quickness, hitting the hole and then making decisive cuts to get enough extra real estate against the secondary, and he averaged an impressive 6.6 yards a carry.  And you can't say enough about Danny Woodhead, who has now fully stepped into the role Kevin Faulk occupied for so long.  Now that they do direct-snaps to Woodhead (probably the closest you'll ever get to the Wildcat from the Patriots), he's doing everything Faulk did -- including breaking tackles to get important first downs late in the game.

Tom Brady's day seemed pretty pedestrian; but he had a 65-yard touchdown that was one of his best plays with the Patriots -- period.  He slid away from the pass rush, broke contain and spun away from more pressure before finding Brandon Tate breaking free down the sideline.  Oh, and Brady stood his ground to make that throw in the face of a big hit coming his way.  Just a great overall play.  Other than that, hewas cool and efficient, a few throw-aways to avoid sacks or INTs, and very good on third down.

The O-line was like the running game; not much in the first half but more push and better protection in the second.  Given how they man-handled a very good Vikings defensive line in the second half, it makes me wonder how good they will be if Logan Mankins, one of the best guards in the league, returns to play the last six games of the season, as he will reportedly do today.

On special teams, there were zero mistakes on long snaps; so it appears that Jake Ingram got all those problems out of the way against the Chargers.  It was another good day for both Zoltan Mesko and Stephen Gostkowski; with Mesko getting the Patriots out of a hole with a 55-yard punt.

And it bears special mention that the Patriots coaches have out-adjusted their last four opponents at the half.  The reason it bears mentioning is that it hasn't been consistently true for 2+ years.  But the Dolphins, Ravens, Chargers, and now Vikings were outscored in the second half, and the Patriots offense in particular has performed a lot better after the break.

So where does that leave us?  Well, 6-1 isn't bad at all, putting the Patriots on pace for 13 or 14 wins for the year.  As mentioned, they lead the NFL at the moment, and they have a game against the 2-5 Browns next week.  But don't take that game too lightly -- the Browns beat the Saints the last time they played, and the last time Mangini had a bye week to prepare for the Patriots he unexpectedly beat them.

Statistical Oddity of the Week: Patriots inside linebacker Jerod Mayo leads the entire NFL in tackles with 86, even though he has played fewer games than the second and third place players.  Trivia question: when was the last time the league leader in tackles was from the Patriots (answer below)?

Weekly Water-cooler Wisdom: "Maybe Logan Mankins should talk to Randy Moss before he fully commits to leaving the Patriots.  The grass ain't always greener."

Keep the faith,

- Scott

PS.  6-1!

PPS.  Trivia answer:
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Okay... trick question -- the NFL has only kept official tackling stats for a few years, and the Patriots never had anyone lead the league.