The Patriots win in Minnesota seemed to reveal a lot about where these two teams really are halfway through the season. The score being so lopsided is one thing, but the way Bill Belichick and Tom Brady combine to continuously dissect opponents never seizes to amaze me.
Belichick knew coming into this game that the Vikings were pretty stout against the run. So, what does the Super Bowl-winning coach do? Spread the Minnesota defense out by attacking the entire field through the air and let Brady do his thing. Brady attempted 43 passes, threw for 372 yards and four touchdowns while completing passes to ten different receivers. And how about the play of Laurence Maroney? Mike Tirico said it best:
“Maroney never gives up on any plays, does he?”
On defense, Belichick designed a scheme to completely take away Chester Taylor (Taylor was a non factor about one quarter into this game) and force Brad Johnson into third-and-long plays all night.
Minnesota looks a bit fraudulent after this shellacking. Not that the Vikings aren’t a decent team, but all the national guys were considering Minnesota a top 10 team after a few close wins. Johnson is a fine game-manager, but it was clear tonight that his game is so vanilla at this point that he can be had with a few small defensive adjustments. New England didn’t do anything out of the ordinary on defense, yet picked off Johnson three times. And the interception he threw to Rodney Harrison in the second quarter near the goal line was brutal.
This was one of those games that to me anyway, told a bigger story on the season. Minnesota will contend, but probably won’t make the playoffs with the talent it has right now. And the Patriots, good grief, everybody has to wake up and pay attention to these guys again. Their match up with the Colts next Sunday night is going to be great.
