Cover32: Grade Day: The New England Patriots’ stars came to play in primetime | New England Patriots

Grade Day: The New England Patriots’ stars came to play in primetime | New England Patriots

After last week against the Kansas City Chiefs in the Monday Night Massacre, the New England Patriots received some understandably harsh criticism in the week leading up to their showdown with the undefeated Cincinnati Bengals. Against Kansas City the Patriots run defense was carved up like a turkey, and the pass defense was swiss cheese. On offense the running game was invisible and an afterthought, while the passing game never got off the ground due to some poor pass protection and a rattled quarterback.

Now New England was facing off against the best defense in the NFL (11.0 points per game allowed entering the game) and a week of turmoil seemed ready to push the team to the edge of the cliff in Week 5 of the 2014 NFL season. There are just two options when backed up like the Patriots were: fall back off the cliff and watch the season free fall or fight back.

The Patriots came out swinging like a heavyweight champion on Sunday night...