Patriots put together their best comeback yet to win 27-26 over Cleveland Browns


The New England Patriots have gotten away with a lot of poor play in recent weeks. Today, it looked like it had finally caught up with them. Fortunately, they again squeaked away with a win.

The Pats played poorly nearly the entire game and their problems were magnified by a third quarter serious knee injury to star tight end Rob Gronkowski. The Patriots never quit though. They trailed 26-14 late in the fourth, but two late touchdown drives sandwiching a miraculous on-side kick recovery had the Patriots take the lead with 30 seconds remaining, eventually setting up a 58 yard field goal miss by Cleveland's Billy Cundiff to seal the 27-26 comeback win for the Patriots.

With the team swinging the momentum by closing the gap 19-14 in the fourth quarter, the Pats really needed to stop the Browns offense late in the fourth. The Patriots defense could not hold up their end of the bargain though, failing to hold the Browns on a fourth quarter drive, that included a completed 3rd and 17 pass to Josh Gordon good for 19 yards and a first down with just over 3 minutes remaining. That pass was followed by a wide open 16 yard completion to tight end Jordan Cameron and then a wide open touchdown pass to Cameron again, giving the Browns a 26-14 lead with 2:39 remaining.

The Pats responded with a touchdown to Julian Edelman on the ensuing drive, which gave the team 1:01 remaining and no timeouts, needing an onside kick to pull off the miracle. A miracle they got.

On the second play of their drive following the recovery, a controversial pass interference was called on the Browns for interfering with Josh Boyce in the end zone, giving the Pats the ball at the one with the Pats trailing 26-21 with 35 seconds remaining. The next play, Brady hit Danny Amendola in the endzone for the game winning score. The Browns drove the ball on the ensuing possession far enough to set up a 58 yard field goal attempt for Patriots fans' favorite kicker, Billy Cundiff. Cundiffs' kick didn't have the distance though as the Pats held on to win by one point.

The first half was, as per usual, rough for the team. They trailed 6-0 heading into halftime after running only three plays in Cleveland territory. Brady had a measly 31.7 passer rating, and an interception after only completing one pass in the first quarter.

Things were looking even worse in the second half though, something we haven't seen the last three weeks. The Pats gave up an easy 40 yard catch and run to Browns tight end Gary Barnidge to give Cleveland a 12-0 lead early in the third quarter. The Browns later answered a Patriots field goal with an 80 yard catch and run touchdown by Josh Gordon (7 catches, 151 yards, 1 TD) to open it up 19-3. Both touchdown plays were the longest the Pats had allowed all season long.

With the Gordon touchdown coming following Rob Gronkowski being carted off the field after a low hit to his knee as well as a Tom Brady fumble, it looked like the game might be over.

To the Pats' credit, that wasn't the case. Shane Vereen (12 catches, 153 yards, 1 TD rush) sparked the Patriots back with a 50 yard momentum turning catch on the ensuing drive that ended with a six yard touchdown run. A two point conversion following the touchdown and a 50 yard Gostowski field goal had the Patriots down just 19-14 in the fourth quarter.