Patriots start season with upset win over Bengals
The New England Patriots are 1-0 after beating the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The New England Patriots got their 2024 season started on the right foot on Sunday afternoon. In Jerod Mayo’s first game as head coach, the Pats went into Paycor Stadium and knocked off the Bengals 16-10 to get off to a 1-0 start.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Patriots got on the board on the first play of the second. Rhamondre Stevenson capped a 14-play, 80-yard drive with a touchdown for the first points of the game.
Meanwhile, the Patriots defense allowed just 19 yards over the first three drives of the game. Cincinnati started moving the ball on its fourth drive, but Kyle Dugger forced a fumble on the goal line, which Marcus Jones recovered.
Getting the ball back, the Patriots’ offense drove back down the field and added a field goal as time expired heading into the half. It was 10-0 after 30 minutes.
The Patriots started the third quarter with a three-and-out but on the punt Joe Cardona forced another fumble, which was recovered by Jaylinn Hawkins. Given a second chance, the Patriots’ offense added another field goal to go up 13-0.
Late in the third quarterback the Bengals started finding momentum. They closed the quarter with a nine-play, 90-yard drive capped by a Zack Moss touchdown.
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With the defense coming off of back-to-back extended drives, the Patriots’ offense put together a much-needed long march. They went 52 plays in 12 yards, taking 7:24 off the clock. The drive ended with another Joey Slye field goal, putting the Patriots’ back up two scores 16-7.
With six minutes to go the Bengals answered with a field goal of their own to get to the 16-10 score. Each team punted one more time – with the Patriots’ forcing a three-and-out deep in Bengals territory – before Stevenson’s strong running killed the clock and ended the game.
Stevenson led the way for the Patriots offensively. He carried the ball 25 times for 120 yards and the team’s lone touchdown of the game.
Quarterback Jacoby Brissett contributed on the ground as well, rushing for 32 yards on four carries before the end of game knee downs. In the passing game he had one near-interception but played a controlled game beyond that, completing 15-of-24 passes for 121 yards.
Brissett spread the ball around, with six players recording multiple catches. The top receiver was K.J. Osborn who caught three passes on six targets for 21 yards. Tight end Austin Hooper caught two passes for a team-high 31 yards.
Defensively the effort was dominated by Keion White. He recorded 2.5 sacks, and had a number of other pressures that forced incompletions from Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (who finished 21-of-29 for 164 yards). Ja’Whaun Bentley led the team with 12 tackles and had the other half of the sack with White. Jahlani Tavai recorded both a pass breakup and tackle for loss.
On special teams, Joey Slye hit all three of his field goals from 32, 35, and 37 yards. Bryce Baringer punted five times for 250 yards with three downed inside the 20 and no touchbacks.
New England is back in action next weekend for their home opener against the Seattle Seahawks. Coverage of that game can be heard on 98.5 The Sports Hub and the Patriots Radio Network starting at 10:00 a.m. ET, leading up to kickoff at 1:00.
