Game 2 - Comments

The Pats played an uninspired pre-season game #2 and lost 7-6 to the Bengals. There were several performances to note

Tom Brady played two series, completing 4/8 for 57 yards resulting in one field goal. Last week, he expressed a desire to take a hit. He got his wish as he was knocked down twice.

Kevin O'Connel finished the first half and played into the third period. He was 5/10 for 69 yards during four series. The net result was another field goal.

Brian Hoyer played most of the 2nd half completing 11/19 for 112 yards. He lead a 4th quarter drive from their own 5 yard line until a fumble by BenJarvis Green-Ellis on the Bengal's 12 yard line with 3:43 left. This essentially ended the game.

Safety Ray Ventrone saw action as a receiver and caught four balls for 39 yards. Terrence Nunn looked good with four catches for 53 yards.

Wes Welker saw action and caught 1 ball for 32 yards, but looked great running with the ball after the catch. Kevin Faulke showed his usual versatility catching two screens for 35 yards.

Fred Taylor started in the backfield and carried 7 times for 16 yards. Laurence Maroney was dancing around and did his usual 3 carries for 6 yards. The team was able to put up 108 yards.

The defense came out in a 3/4 with Adelius Thomas and Pierre Woods playing left and right outside respectively. Tedy Bruschi saw his first action, although Jerod Mayo and Gary Guyton got the starts at inside.

A lot of work remains for the defense. The Bengals were able to run the ball for a 4.9 yard average with 35 attempts gaining 173 yards. Passing picked up 186 yards from 12 completions.

It was interesting to note that the Bengals had 346 yards offense compared to 336 for the Pats. They were almost equal in time of possession with 29:51 for the Bengals and 30:09 for the Pats.

Coach Belichick was not overly enthused about his team's performance and indicated there is a long way to go.

One of the game highlights was the kicking of WR Chad Ochocinco. With their regular kicker out, Ochocinco converted the point after and did the next kickoff.