The Patriots came into Sunday's opener wanting to run the ball to shrink the game in order to ice Joe Burrow’s offense, and that's what they did to the Bengals in New England's 16-10 victory at Paycor Stadium.
After the Patriots put enough pressure on Burrow to force three short passes and a three-and-out-and-punt with three minutes left, the Pats and running back Rhamondre Stevenson never let the Bengals get the ball back.
Before a crowd of 66,214, Stevenson rushed for 125 yards on 20 carries, the Patriots rushed for 170 of their 290 total yards, and the Bengals could muster just 224 total yards.
Burrow finished 21 of 29 for 164 yards. Ja’Marr Chase was his leading receiver with six catches for 62 yards.
After amassing 117 yards on their first five drives, Burrow led a 90-yard touchdown drive to cut the lead to 13-7 with 1:10 left in the third quarter. His running game came alive with 41 of the yards as Zack Moss slashed for 16 before scoring his first Bengals touchdown behind tight end Drew Sample's pancake block from five yards out.
The offense began to purr with running back Chase Brown going for eight behind big right tackle Trent Brown and Burrow finding Ja'Marr Chase for two catches under the zone.
But operating behind a stitched-together offensive ljne that included old friend and Saturday practice squad call-up Michael Jordan, Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett avoided the relentless rushes of Pro Bowl sacker Trey Hendrickson all day.
That's how Brissett answered the touchdown after the Bengals put him through three straight three-and-outs to start the second half.
On third-and-two he escaped Hendrickson and ran for six yards and then found two of his tight ends for big plays, a 15-yarder to Austin Hooper and then a nine-yarder to Hunter Henry on third-and-four set up Joey Slye's field goal that made it 16-7.
The Bengals then got a field goal of their own when Burow found Chase down the middle for 28 yards on the Bengals' longest play of the game. Evan McPherson delivered a 51-yarder with 6:14 left that made it 16-10.
Special teams were a boom-and-bust Sunday. In his NFL debut, Bengals rookie punter Ryan Rehkow drilled a team-record 80-yard punt.
But as the Bengals got ready for their first possession of the second half down, 10-0, Pats long snapper Joe Cardona got his helmet on the ball during Charlie Jones’ punt return and forced a fumble at the Bengals 24 less than two minutes into the second half.
It was the Bengals' second lost fumble of the game after a season they led the NFL losing two all year.
But the Bengals defense did what it had to do and forced a three-and-out to allow only a field goal.
A crushing turn of events stunned the Bengals in a 15-second span late in the second quarter.
After three three-and-outs to start the season, Burrow got the first one when he scrambled out of the pocket on third-and-six from his 39 and hit wide receiver Andrei Iosivas on a 12-yard come-back.
A screen to running back Zack Moss went for 12 more and on third-and-five from the Pats 21, Burrow found Chase pivoting on cornerback Christian Gonzalez for seven yards.
Burrow then appeared to throw a beautiful touchdown pass on second-and-11 when he lofted it over 6-1 safety Kyle Dugger for his new 6-6 weapon, tight end Mike Gesicki. Gesicki caught it in the air, but lost the handle as he went to the ground.
Then on the next play, Burrow appeared to throw another touchdown to another tight end when he hit Tanner Hudson on a quick-hitter over the middle and Hudson was walking in for the touchdown when at the 2-yard line he extended the ball and Dugger knocked it out and cornerback Marcus Jones scooped it up at the goal line and ran it to his 18 with 5:09 left in the half.
The Pats kept pounding the running game, never gave the ball back, and took a 10-0 lead on a chip-shot field goal at the gun. Stevenson went right for 16 yards on the first snap of the drive and then went left for 17 more a few snaps later as New England piled up 177 yards of offense in the half, 96 of them on the ground.
And another close play in the other end zone almost blew up the Pats' field-goal drive. From the Bengals 12, Brissett lofted a bad ball to tight end Hunter Henry, and safety Geno Stone, the defending AFC champion interceptions leader, was able to get hands on the ball. But as they rolled to the ground, Henry knocked it out of Stone's hands.
