Welp, special teams tried their hardest to give the game away, but the Pats held on thanks to a particularly generous blown coverage by Baltimore. Offense played about as well as could be expected minus Gronk and Amendola, while the defense (particularly the pass rush) stepped up in a big way. Patriots are going to need to find ways to win games down the stretch; I don't think the offense can consistently be relied upon for as many big plays as they had tonight.
One thing that struck me with Baltimore, especially in the first half, was how much unwilling they were to challenge Patriots DBs down the field. That changed in the second half to an extent, but the weakness of New England's CBs is mid-deep routes. Throwing short not only gives your receivers less time to beat the secondary, but it also allows the strongest part of New England's D, the linebackers, to get involved. That's the one caveat that's holding me back from saying NE's defense is back on track; Baltimore rarely challenged their weakest point.
