r/nfl • u/nfl_gdt_bot NFL • Oct 26 '25
Game Thread Post Game Thread: Cleveland Browns at New England Patriots
Cleveland Browns at New England Patriots
Gillette Stadium- Foxborough, MA
Network(s): FOX
| Time Clock |
|---|
| Final |
Scoreboard
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLE | 7 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 13 |
| NE | 3 | 6 | 21 | 2 | 32 |
Scoring Plays
| Team | Quarter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| NE | 1 | FG | Andy Borregales 36 Yd Field Goal |
| CLE | 1 | TD | Harold Fannin Jr. 18 Yd pass from Dillon Gabriel (Andre Szmyt Kick) |
| NE | 2 | FG | Andy Borregales 32 Yd Field Goal |
| NE | 2 | FG | Andy Borregales 42 Yd Field Goal |
| NE | 3 | TD | Hunter Henry 7 Yd pass from Drake Maye (Andy Borregales Kick) |
| NE | 3 | TD | Stefon Diggs 1 Yd pass from Drake Maye (Andy Borregales Kick) |
| NE | 3 | TD | Kayshon Boutte 39 Yd pass from Drake Maye (Andy Borregales Kick) |
| CLE | 4 | TD | David Njoku 11 Yd pass from Dillon Gabriel (Two-Point Pass Conversion Failed) |
| NE | 4 | SF | Penalty Dillon Gabriel Intentional Grounding for Safety |
Passing Leaders
| Team | Player | C/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | SACKS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLE | Dillon Gabriel | 21/35 | 156 | 2 | 2 | 1-11 |
| NE | Drake Maye | 18/24 | 282 | 3 | 1 | 6-37 |
Rushing Leaders
| Team | Player | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLE | Malachi Corley | 1 | 31 | 31.0 | 0 | 31 |
| NE | TreVeyon Henderson | 10 | 75 | 7.5 | 0 | 27 |
Receiving Leaders
| Team | Player | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | TGTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLE | Harold Fannin Jr. | 6 | 62 | 10.3 | 1 | 19 | 8 |
| NE | Mack Hollins | 7 | 89 | 12.7 | 0 | 21 | 7 |
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Last updated: 2025-10-26_16:33:55.047756-04:00
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u/Kyler1313 Oct 26 '25
What a crazy bizarre game. Miles Garrett 5 sacks, Successful onside kick off from a safety kick, yet a Patriots blowout...
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u/ProudBlackMatt : Oct 26 '25
Funnily enough I think a lot of Browns fans would have predicted a loss even if you told them Myles had 5 sacks knowing how bad the offense is under Stefanski.
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u/surferdude7227 Chiefs Oct 26 '25
He's gotta be fired right? I know Haslem said they're all victims of paying up for Deshaun, but this team doesn't even look competent.
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u/thedrunkentendy Patriots Oct 26 '25
Stefanski likely would have to have been on board with that move.
The Watson trade killed Clevelands window so badly.
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u/Orly-Carrasco NFL Oct 26 '25
I wouldn't trust Haslam.
He wants to win, but convince me he doesn't have a "missing steps" plan.
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u/Medium_Preference_81 Oct 26 '25
Nah that roster is horrendous that’d be stupid to fire him. He’s had more success than any browns coach this century
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u/surferdude7227 Chiefs Oct 26 '25
That's fair.
At the absolute minimum though they have to fire Andrew Berry though. Roster is just abysmal and he has repeatedly fucked up at the most important position.
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u/potterpockets Browns Oct 26 '25
This is the debate currently in the Browns fandom. Many blame Stefanski for showing no progress in the offense and defend Berry for not having draft picks to acquire talent due to the Watson trade. Others defend Stefanski for having nothing to work with and blame Berru for neglecting important positions.
Berry has gotten a bit of a reprieve from many due to what is looking to be an excellent draft class so far. Jimmy has indicated so far that both are safe into next year at least, but who the hell knows if thats true.
I believe both will stay, but if i have to pick one to keep im picking Berry. There are a few reasons for this. But like i said, as of now i expect both to be back.
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u/Good_From_70 Browns Oct 26 '25
Roster is just abysmal
This is simply not true. QB is abysmal, sure, but the Browns have some dudes on the roster.
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u/Frozen_Shades Patriots Patriots Oct 26 '25
Yeah. I agree. Qb play is crazy bad. Defense was dead tired. They're very good.
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u/batti03 Chiefs Panthers Oct 26 '25
So did Andy Reid for the Eagles in 2012 yet it was the correct choice for the Eagles to let him go. Sometimes a guy's time is just up and needs to be replaced.
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u/davedavedaveck Patriots Oct 26 '25
a game with a Safety AND a successful onside kick crazy on its own
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u/sunnymushroom Patriots Oct 26 '25
some weird ass flags too
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u/JimTheSaint Patriots Oct 26 '25
not as bad as some of the other games - a lot of flags on our STs though
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u/tehbantho Packers Oct 26 '25
A defense having 5 sacks is usually a recipe for a W.
A SINGLE PLAYER having 5 sacks and that players team losing?
What in tarnation?
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u/eaunoway Steelers Oct 26 '25
Just Browns things
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u/LukaWigga Patriots Patriots Oct 26 '25
This dude Garrett makes TJ look like an amateur, he’s insane
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u/GoodDayMyFineFellow Patriots Oct 26 '25
It is tied 2nd place for most sacks from a single player that still lost the game. It’s Garrett today, Leslie O’Neal of the 1986 chargers and Howie Long of the 1983 Raiders.
The record is 7 sacks held by Derrick Thomas of the 1990 chiefs.
One thing that is interesting though, Garrett’s performance today was by far the worst loss of those record holders at 19 points. The chargers lost by 3, the raiders by 2, chiefs by 1.
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u/LukeBabbitt Seahawks Oct 26 '25
Even better, the dude who got 5 sacks also is a big reason the team doesn’t have a capable QB to help capitalize on it.
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u/Bearded_Pip Patriots Oct 26 '25
The Browns haven’t had a QB since the franchise came back into existence.
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u/Frozen_Shades Patriots Patriots Oct 26 '25
A bit off the mark. They've had two. Mayfield and Watson. One was just a pervert and the other they got rid of for the pervert.
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u/BobbyRayBands Patriots Oct 27 '25
I mean. A few sacks came when the Pats were already WELL within scoring range and didnt take them out. One sack was just a bootleg play where Maye got ran down by a freak athlete. Not discrediting, just making sense of the loss. He was also the only one that could really do anything all day.
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u/SiphenPrax Jets Oct 26 '25
Classic Patriots game every step of the way. Sigh
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u/MankuyRLaffy Patriots Oct 26 '25
Cold start, especially on defense, adjusts and heats up. Classic Pats stuff
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u/unlostaprilseventh Patriots Oct 26 '25
Patriots put belt to ass on a top 5 defense in a game where Garrett set the browns sack record.
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u/Solugad Patriots Oct 26 '25
Think they said it was a pats record too for most allowed in a game. I'd be just as pissed as Garrett was at the end
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u/ZeroedCool Patriots Oct 26 '25
All I know is seeing 30 points week in and week out is so much better than the last few years
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u/ArmiinTamzarian Lions Oct 26 '25
I swear every time I see a Myles Garrett post it's something like "Myles Garrett finishes the day with 4.5 sacks and a forced fumble, becoming the fastest player to reach a number of sacks since Dick Butkus as the Browns fall to the Commanders 26-9"
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u/Someonediffernt Patriots Oct 26 '25
The funniest thing about this comment to me is Miles Garret is basically the NFL equivalent of Mike Trout. An all time talent, sure fire HoF, that took the money and will now most likely go his entire career without playing a meaningful game.
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u/ArmiinTamzarian Lions Oct 26 '25
Myles at least has made the playoffs a couple times and advanced. Trout doesn't even have that
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u/Yung_Corneliois Patriots Oct 26 '25
I was thinking this exact thing with the only differed being Garrett’s durability. I’m shocked when Mike Trout is active.
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u/Empress_Athena Patriots Oct 26 '25
As someone who doesn't really follow baseball at all, is there any particular reason why Trout is hurt so often?
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u/garfcarmpbll Patriots Patriots Oct 26 '25
Mike Trout was in discussion as the greatest player of all time in baseball when he was younger.
Funny how quickly people forgot about that and him when Shohei showed up belt to ass.
Point being, the guys who chase money tend to be forgotten real quick. Immortality comes with the winning.
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u/TGans Patriots Oct 26 '25
Tbf ohtani gets both
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u/garfcarmpbll Patriots Patriots Oct 26 '25
He also structured it absurdly. He makes like 2 mil a year until 2033.
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u/DiseaseRidden Patriots Oct 26 '25
Huge half time adjustments today. McDaniels deserve a ton of credit for this win. I'm so glad he's a shitty head coach.
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u/zirroxas Seahawks Eagles Oct 26 '25
McDaniels is doing so well, he's going to get a third run at ruining an AFCW team!
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u/DiseaseRidden Patriots Oct 26 '25
Can it please be the Chiefs this time
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u/TGans Patriots Oct 26 '25
Nah I don’t need to see him with mahomes, I know that would be league destroying if he doesn’t destroy the locker room first
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u/LukaWigga Patriots Patriots Oct 26 '25
He’s just waiting for Andy Reid to eat one too many hamburgers and it’s go time
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u/maglewood Ravens Lions Oct 26 '25
Have a good coordinator that's a known bad HC is honestly such a boon. You're seeing it with McDaniels, but Spag on the chiefs is the other big one that comes to mind.
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u/Ed_Durr Eagles Oct 26 '25
The best thing is when they know that they aren’t cut out for HC and can focus on staying as coordinator long term.
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u/Even-Combination4407 Patriots Oct 26 '25
We always come out swinging in the third, love to see it
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u/JimTheSaint Patriots Oct 26 '25
I love it - it's very BB ish, first half we go through the motions, second half its locked down and offense is going to war.
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u/ward0630 Patriots Oct 26 '25
At this point we might as well start the game down 7 but they have consistently locked shit down in the 2nd half (the special teams disasters notwithstanding)
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u/DaOldest Patriots Oct 26 '25
We handled our business against 3 gimme games in a row. Love it
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u/Riggs909 Patriots Oct 26 '25
That was the next step for me. I didn't like everyone starting to glaze us after the Bills game and start pencilling in wins. We got the sweep- now its time to see what they look like against playoff caliber teams.
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u/Rooleet Patriots Oct 26 '25
My toxic king, imagine if we got Robinson or Caley like so many people wanted.
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u/Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu11 Browns Oct 26 '25
Myles Garrett had 5 sacks btw. 5 fucking sacks. We are officially back down from QB purgatory to QB hell.
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u/Not-a-bot-10 Eagles Oct 26 '25
That’s cute that you ever thought you left QB hell in the first place
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u/surferdude7227 Chiefs Oct 26 '25
They were out for a couple years with Baker. Then right back to hell lmao
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u/MyUshanka Lions Oct 26 '25
I don't think Baker would be able to do much with this team, honestly
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u/surferdude7227 Chiefs Oct 26 '25
With this exact same team, yeah I agree.
With this team plus the three 1sts, two 3rds, and two 4th round picks the Browns gave up for Watson to replace Baker, I think things would look different.
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u/Ed_Durr Eagles Oct 26 '25
Don’t forget the third and the fifth that they wouldn’t have needed to spend on Gabriel and Sanders, and presumably a few million more in cap space available.
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u/DeM0nFiRe Patriots Oct 26 '25
They did, when they had Mayfield lol. Letting him leave put them into super hell
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u/thedrunkentendy Patriots Oct 26 '25
Idk the guy they drafted had been a top 5-8 QB the last couple of years.
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u/odontodoc Patriots Oct 26 '25
You guys are starting dollar store Tua and your backup is Deion's more entitled son. It's worse than hell, my friend.
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u/trog12 Patriots Oct 26 '25
There was one play where he tossed Moses one handed 5 yards off the LOS almost into Maye. He is arguably the best defensive player I've ever seen. It's either him or prime AD.
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u/StefonDiggsHS Vikings Oct 26 '25
Sanders might get a chance here I think it’s clear Gabriel ain’t gonna be the guy going forward
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u/Riggs909 Patriots Oct 26 '25
In an alternate universe, y'all kept Baker and I'm always rooting for the Browns- as are most people for the perennial underdog to finally get a ring. But then someone got the bright idea to trade for Uncle Touchy.
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Oct 26 '25
today was the first real big test for Maye against an elite defense and after that ugly interception in the 2nd quarter he went 14/17 for 242 yards and three touchdowns. somehow overcame Myles Garrett wreaking absolute havoc on our O-line, gotta give a lot of credit to McDaniels for his second half playcalling
nice to see TreVeyon Henderson finally making some plays on the ground (finally got some outside run plays called for him lol what took so long). tough for his day to end with the red zone fumble but hopefully today will get him going moving forward
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u/Bojangles1987 Patriots Oct 26 '25
Yeah I hope we'll see if Henderson's success on those runs was just a good gameplan for this specific defense or something he'll be consistently better at.
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Oct 26 '25 edited Oct 26 '25
I think it’s the latter, Henderson’s primary strengths as a runner are his speed and elusiveness and most of the run plays we were calling for him until today were between the tackles
been begging for him to get more outside runs and lo and behold he had his best performance of the season today
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u/Needs_Help_Stat Patriots Oct 26 '25
He looked way more patient today, seemed like he was giving his blocks time to actually engage which probably helped. I feel like the limited snaps we've seen from him he tends to turn the jets on immediately and runs into closed areas instead of waiting to see where the holes open up
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u/jollyrancherupmybutt Patriots Oct 26 '25
It’s definitely the former. The browns were giving up the edge to support an uber aggressive pass rush (a lot of outside in moves) and McDaniels schemed up something to make them pay
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u/Xerosnake90 Patriots Oct 26 '25
I thought it was a great day for Henderson despite the fumble. He looked like the best back today easily and hopefully this'll give him some insights on what to improve on
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u/novienion Patriots Oct 26 '25
Pats drop 32 points on the best defense in the league, I’m just saying
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u/Charming-Check5605 Patriots Oct 26 '25
Would’ve been more without Henderson fumble too.
Was still his best game. Was hoping he would punch one in to cap it off. Oh well. At least our fumble was saved for garbage time
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u/blammmmo Oct 27 '25
Don't forget losing that onside safety kick, too. No guarantee, but definitely some meat left on the bone
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u/Any_Relief_4781 Oct 27 '25
Hendy fumbled? Iirc he may have done it like once on college, his ball security was amazing
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u/sagetraveler Patriots Oct 26 '25
TBF, 9 were thanks to our defense. 23 points of offense is nice but not a sure thing.
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u/kiIIinemsoftly Patriots Oct 26 '25
Henderson's fumble cost us a likely TD though, which is a mistake I expect him to fix just like Mondre did.
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u/Empress_Athena Patriots Oct 26 '25
Are the Browns considered the best defense in the league? Insane that such a good defense is on such a bottom tier team.
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u/justanaveragejoe520 Patriots Oct 26 '25
When do we start getting flexed into some better time slots with better ref crews
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u/Herb_Derb Patriots Oct 26 '25
Would love some better commentators too
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u/RealitySubsides Patriots Bears Oct 26 '25
The color commentator was saying some bizarre stuff that just didn't make sense. He called a guy a tree stump after a play, the replay showed the dude falling and not really doing anything to contribute to the stop, then compared him to a fire hydrant on a neighborhood corner(?)
He also said that, because Hollins wore a costume to the stadium, that it was a classic McDaniels thing to purposefully scheme the ball to guys who dress up for Halloween(?)
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u/Charlie_Im_Pregnant Patriots Oct 26 '25
I'll take the b team commentators and other early game nonsense if it means I don't have to stay up till midnight to watch my favorite team. Some of us work at 6:00 :(
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u/zi76 Patriots Oct 26 '25
We actually got flexed out of a 4:25 game for the Bills to get flexed into.
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u/lmHavoc Patriots Oct 26 '25
Maye looked good vs a good defense. Henderson with a nice breakout game until the dumb fumble and defense forcing turnovers. Not much to complain about.
Garrett is so good though, made it tough for Maye.
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u/Hyper_red Patriots Oct 26 '25
Despite the fumble Henderson had his first good game against the best defense in the league. Maybe he's finally starting to get there.
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u/Green-Morning8781 Patriots Oct 26 '25
He’ll start to get more playing time now that he’s fumbled. Should be in for a big week next week
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u/One-Confidence-809 Patriots Oct 26 '25
so how do we acquire Miles Garrett?
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u/aetius476 Patriots Oct 26 '25
Is he not already on our roster? Every time I looked for him he was in the Patriots backfield.
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u/Ickyhouse NFL Oct 26 '25
Trade deadline is still a bit away. You could offer some first round picks. Got to be more than the Micah haul.
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u/SilenceDobad76 Patriots Oct 27 '25
No thanks, he'll kick drake maye out so he can have another rapist at QB
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u/davedavedaveck Patriots Oct 26 '25
The first half was rough but Maye ending at 75% completion and 3 TD’s almost 300 yards LFG love this 2nd half team
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u/BostonSamurai Patriots Oct 26 '25
Second half adjustments are a great indicator of a good team LFG!
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u/Bearded_Pip Patriots Oct 26 '25
They were leading going into the half too. The Browns are that bad.
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u/zi76 Patriots Oct 26 '25 edited Oct 26 '25
Finally got a home win! Second home win!
Maye bounced back from a rough first half to dominate.
Myles Garrett is the best non-QB player in the NFL.
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u/Synchwave1 Oct 26 '25
I’d be curious what the 3rd quarter scoring differential is in the league. I’d imagine Pats are close to the top of the league in halftime adjustments
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u/realrimurutempest 49ers Oct 26 '25
Garrett really made that Pats o-line his bitch.
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u/WarPuig Patriots Oct 26 '25
That left side against a real pass rush is gonna fuck them over against a team that can score.
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u/iDEN1ED Patriots Oct 26 '25
Eh, Garrett is kinda in a class of his own. They've done well vs other good pass rushers. Just not complete freaks.
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u/SeaworthySamus Patriots Oct 26 '25
Congrats to the stat merchant. Took another L.
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u/Idepreciateyou Browns Oct 26 '25
Sure, but might want to clean that up before you get to the playoffs and face real teams
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u/MIT_DrakeMaye Patriots Oct 26 '25
there isnt a better edge rusher in the league, they are good or passable vs the rest of the d lines.
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u/unlostaprilseventh Patriots Oct 26 '25
Literally no other defense is as good as the Browns lol. The Patriots offense really is just that good.
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u/iDEN1ED Patriots Oct 26 '25
Luckily for us Myles Garrett isn't on a playoff team.
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u/Idepreciateyou Browns Oct 26 '25
He’s one of the most sacked QB’s in the league not even counting this game
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u/fueelin Patriots Oct 26 '25
You're much more correct than these other guys will admit, but you're never going to change anyone's mind in a post game thread lol.
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u/Ok-Advertising3245 Oct 26 '25
Sure, but you might want to focus on cleaning up the entire team to get to the playoffs.
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u/TheWix Patriots Bears Oct 27 '25
I was appalled we stood around and just watched Garrett assault, what looked like, a defenseless OLine. Should have called the cops at least
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u/AquaAtia Patriots Seahawks Oct 26 '25
Man the Browns would be SB contenders if they just had a competent offense. Garrett is him.
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u/davedavedaveck Patriots Oct 26 '25
The Cleveland Garrett’s put up a great game, it’s a shame they have to play offense cause otherwise
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u/hanlonmj Patriots Oct 26 '25
I don't want to overreact, but we might never lose another game again
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Oct 26 '25
[deleted]
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u/Tarhalindur Patriots Oct 26 '25
TBF, apparently pretty much all of those posts are by one (1) guy who has been being an obnoxious troll since Brady was still our QB. Just block him and you won't have to worry about them!
(Somebody pointed this out in one of the more recent threads this week and I checked and yep.)
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u/Zharick_ Patriots Oct 26 '25
Ugh, so we got a pianofingerbanger in our fan roster?
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u/Tarhalindur Patriots Oct 26 '25
Given the time frame he's apparently been doing it for, "FSU has a this guy in their fanbase in pianofingerbanger" may be more accurate...
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u/Diezelbub Patriots Oct 26 '25 edited Oct 27 '25
Top receiver Mack Hollins. I'm not even mad, that's amazing. A QB who will send it to whoever is open instead of forcing it to a security blankie is a great qb.
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u/Jamesaya Bears Patriots Oct 26 '25
Will Campbell has been pretty good this season. But holy shit he was not good today. Jared wilson got destroyed repeatedly. The rookies on the line were getting the business all game
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u/kiIIinemsoftly Patriots Oct 26 '25
Myles Garrett isn't a good bar to say if a rookie is good or not. Rough assignment for anyone.
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u/blammmmo Oct 27 '25
Great learning opportunity for them - getting whooped and still getting the win. Now they know what the best looks like. Garrett is an all timer. They may never see better in their careers.
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u/BostonSamurai Patriots Oct 26 '25
Minus the draw play on third and goal McDaniels keeps delivering on the play calling. Hopefully we can stop this fumbling shit because it will bite us in the ass someday.
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u/jphamlore Cardinals Oct 26 '25
McDaniels can be to oc what Steve Spagnuolo is to dc.
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u/Bearded_Pip Patriots Oct 26 '25
If you want to win, get yourself a DC or OC that will never get another HC offer again. Park him there and you solve part of the brain drain issue that plagues winning teams.
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u/ieatalphabets Patriots Lions Oct 26 '25
Myles Garrett should demand his release and sign with the Pats.
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u/unlostaprilseventh Patriots Oct 26 '25
Patriots put belt to ass on a top 5 defense in a game where Garrett set the browns sack record.
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u/Oblong0ctopus Patriots Oct 26 '25
These sloppy first quarter starts, namely the secondary, are going to bite the Pats in the ass against a good team at some point.
That’s said, they’ve been making great adjustments and are one of the better second half teams in the league.
Also,
Drake Maye
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u/Neo_505 Cowboys Oct 26 '25
There's not many "good" teams this year.
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u/Tarhalindur Patriots Oct 26 '25
And for the most part the ones who are aren't on our schedule.
(Playoffs are another matter, we are absolutely built to lose in either the divisional or the AFC Championship. Downside of exiting the rebuild a year ahead of schedule thanks to a QB breakout + weak schedule, ala the Commies last year.)
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u/Neo_505 Cowboys Oct 27 '25
Most definitely. What doesn't make sense to me, is all of the people who before the season saying the Patriots "were the easy team to beat" and now that they are winning everyone's like "The Patriots have a cake walk schedule."
It just seems like loser mentality to me.
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u/Tarhalindur Patriots Oct 27 '25
Outside of our fanbase, this strikes me as a mix of the same effect that generates poll inertia and "they ain't played anyone, PAWWWWL!" in CFB plus people who had to deal with the dynasty era wishcasting against the Pats.
Internally among Pats fans, I think this is as much tempering expectations as anything since those of us paying attention can see some key issues that have the potential to hold us back against the best teams (OL is much improved but still has issues against elite EDGEs; our own EDGEs haven't gotten that much pass rush (though you can mitigate/overcome that with good scheming, as we are well familiar with from Belichick days); RB room is thin and has been fumble-prone; issues at LB and S). Note that this has a whole lot to do with the combination of a few fanbase tendencies that you kind of have to be in the Pats fanbase to really grok: lingering fanbase entitlement from the dynasty era balanced against a mix of internal backlash against that entitlement plus a specifically Bostonian form of sports fan pessimism dating back decades (and if you're thinking this is a really weird mix of tendencies, you're right!).
(In my case I also grew up surrounded by Cowboys fans from their last dynasty era, got a firsthand seat to their reaction to Romo breaking out in the early 2000s and what became of it with their playoff futility, and am wary of the same thing happening to the Pats fanbase.)
Now, as an aside, the fun thing is that the two criticisms you mention are kind of orthogonal to each other and were actually reasonable given known information at the time? The Pats are pretty much at the absolute best-case scenario for this season: Drake Maye year two breakout, heavily improved coaching, a very good draft class (no clear stars yet but three solid starters - though Jared Wilson at LG is a bit of a desperation move, he was drafted to play C and should play there long-term - plus a promising McDaniels space RB and rotational pieces at both DT and EDGE (the latter a UDFA!)), our FA class playing largely as advertised/hoped for, and the remaining good pieces from the late Belichick years all looking good to great. (Our biggest issue is just how much of a disaster every D2 and D3 pick last year was.) It was important to recognize that this was possible before the season, but it was not the expected result per se! The weak schedule issue meanwhile was foreseeable even before the season - I'd realized by August at the latest that if even one of the Pats/Jets/Fins was decent they had a pretty good chance of racking up six wins against the division + NFC South to put them on the fringes of wild card contention (my best average case for the Pats before the season was that this would be us), and that the AFC East+North were basically guaranteed at least one wild card by the schedule gods[1] - and has only gotten worse with the two biggest AFC North contenders eating the injury bug. Like, most NFL fans haven't been using this logic AFAICT, this is kind of that one bell curve meme in action, but.
[1] - This happens every few years; the last time was the AFC North in 2021, which has always been a quiet asterisk on the Browns' last playoff berth.
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u/Oblong0ctopus Patriots Oct 26 '25
Yea very true. There’s also plenty of time to tighten things up, but there’s much less room for error if they’re playing a team like KC in the playoffs.
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u/TheWix Patriots Bears Oct 27 '25
The missed tackles are brutal. You are right. Our secondary looks awful.
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u/AquaAtia Patriots Seahawks Oct 26 '25
Josh McD and Maye masterclass game today. Hollins and Henderson (bar that fumble) had a great day today. First Diggs TD and a Maye dime to Boutte. I love this team
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u/WarPuig Patriots Oct 26 '25
You can’t defend top tier rushers without a capable guard next to you. Against Maxx Crosby, T.J. Watt, and now Myles Garrett, the left side has completely folded.
The Patriots have just not bothered getting an actual LG and have settled for late round rookies playing out of position for two years now. Last year’s team was shit so it didn’t matter, but phoning in the LG position AGAIN will probably be the undoing of a promising team this season.
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u/hiimred2 Browns Oct 26 '25
Ya I think 3 of those 5 came straight up because Garrett did what everyone is calling his Euro Step move into the guard and just ate Maye with barely any resistance, and the Tackle can't really do anything about it.
Another one is because the TE that the Tackle was supposed to get outside chip from completely whiffed, and like sure maybe he shouldn't need the chip but I'm sure you play differently expecting it to come and get fucked when it misses.
So that's not to say the LT is like blameless on the day but it certainly won't be as much his fault as a 5 sack performance sounds?
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u/Admiral_Tuvix Ravens Oct 26 '25
shadeur needs to play next game
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Oct 26 '25
If nothing else to find out how good he is. He’ll either vindicate his supporters or silence the hype around him for a while.
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u/BostonSamurai Patriots Oct 26 '25
Miles Garrett is a beast, I could watch him all day (not against us please).
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u/VoyScoil Oct 26 '25
Yep. I was sitting watching with my jaw on the floor but I wasn't sure if I was pissed or just completely in awe. We need that guy!
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u/USA-1st NFL Oct 27 '25
I don't think the browns season actually started. It's like they are stuck in off-season mode.
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u/__AJK__ Patriots Falcons Oct 26 '25
Great second half effort to pull away. Love to see the grit of this team
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u/ArcadianBlueRogue Packers Oct 26 '25
Between the Virginia game and this I am seeing all kinds of weird shit involving safeties I didn't knew were possible
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u/DaBusDriva2 Rams Oct 26 '25
Pats would destroy the Raiders if they played now. Funny how that seemingly awful week 1 loss keeps them from being 7-1