Patriots: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Pre-season game 2)

Patriots 6 - Bengals 7

Sorry, there is not a lot that can be said for this game. Brady played for two series. The Patriots definitely were trying to get the running game going. The Patriots also ran the 3- 4 Defense more than last week. As Coach Bill Belichick pointed out, there is a lot of work still left to do!

The Good:

Patriots LB Jerod Mayo registered a 6-yard sack of Bengals QB J.T. O'Sullivan to help force the Bengals to punt on the game's first drive.

Tom Brady completed 4 of 8 passes for 57 yards over two series.

The Bengals went for it on 4th and 7 at the New England 27, but Adalius Thomas registered a 1-yard sack to force a turnover on downs.

Bengals TE Daniel Coats hauled in a 27-yard pass from QB J.T. O'Sullivan after getting behind Patriots LB Shawn Crable, but safety Brandon McGowan made a big hit to jar the ball loose and cornerback Terrence Wheatley recovered for New England.

Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski booted a pair of field goals (32-yard and 41-yard)

The Bengals put together a lengthy 14-play drive that trekked to the Patriots 6. But without their starting kicker (and not wanting to go to Chad Ochocinco's foot again), Cincinnati went for it on fourth down and an incomplete pass gave the ball to the Patriots.

The Bad:

Patriots QB Tom Brady avoided getting hit hard while playing 24 snaps in last week's win over the Eagles, but he finally endured a big shot in the first quarter tonight. Bengals DE Robert Geathers ran straight past Patriots RT Nick Kaczur and absolutely flattened Brady on a first-down pass attempt.

Patriots RB BenJarvus Green Ellis fumbled at the Cincinnati 12 and defensive back Marvin White recovered for the Bengals. The forced fumble was credited to safety Tom Nelson.

Patriots safety Patrick Chung tried to haul in a punt early in the fourth quarter, but it went straight through him (officially scored a fumble). The Patriots averted disaster when Ray Ventrone tipped the ball to the side and Darius Butler fell on the ball at the New England 5.

Special teamer standout Matthew Slater loses awareness and has fair catch interference on a punt.

The Ugly:

Watching Chad Ochocinco booting the extra point with kicker Shayne Graham sidelined. Doug Flutie did it better!

Game Notes:

Belichick seemed upset in the aftermath of the team’s 7-6 loss to the Bengals, but a look at the tape seemed to soften his tone. “Within [the mistakes], there were plenty of good individual performances,” he said, also noting that there were times when four or five things were good on one play, but one other breakdown hurt the play and "if we could get that one thing straightened out that would make things go a lot better."

Quotes:

"I think it’s pretty obvious out there tonight that we certainly have a lot of work to do and a long way to go. I think we were pretty sloppy in every area of the game: had a lot of penalties, didn’t convert on third downs, missed too many tackles – just generally had too many mistakes, too many errors in every phase of the game with every unit, pretty much in every area. It’s just an inconsistent performance that even though there were some positive things out there, especially offensively, [they] were overridden by mistakes. Quite a few of them were self inflicted. We had our opportunities and didn’t take advantage of those as well as we should have either and the same thing in the kicking game. We have a long way to go. We have a lot of work to do. We’ll have to get back at it tomorrow. We have a long week for Washington and we’ll take advantage of that time and try to get a few of these things straightened out so we can perform a little bit better in game conditions. So that’s it." -- Patriot Coach Bill Belichick

Game Info from Reiss Pieces, Boston.com