The Patriots were held without a touchdown by the Bengals on Sunday, bringing an end to their four-game winning streak to start the season and quarterback Tom Brady’s 52-game streak with a touchdown pass.
Brady didn’t want to talk about the streak ending after the game, saying that the loss was the only thing that mattered. When asked about the reasons for the loss, Brady credited the Bengals defense and lamented letting the defense down on a day when they allowed only 13 points.
“They have been playing great all year. You can’t expect to kick two field goals and win many games in the NFL,” Brady said. “We can do a better job than that and we are going to have to if we want to win these games. We had too many silly execution errors and mental mistakes today. It is hard to drive the ball down the field if you keep making those mistakes.”
There were problems across the board for the Patriots on Sunday. They struggled to protect Brady, couldn’t punch the ball in from the goal-line in the second half and there weren’t many signs of the improvement we saw in the last couple of games for the Patriots passing game. The play of the defense was a good sign, especially without Vince Wilfork, but the search for consistency continues on the other side of the ball.