The case can be made the Cleveland Browns’ roster is as talented as the New England Patriots’ from top to bottom. But as Cris Carter was quick to point out following the teams’ Week 8 showdown, there’s a considerable gap between the two AFC squads.
The Patriots jumped on the Browns early Sunday at Gillette Stadium, kept their foot on the gas and cruised to a 27-13 win. Cleveland’s overall performance was poor, but it also didn’t do itself any favors. The Browns surrendered three turnovers to the Patriots’ zero and committed 13 penalties to New England’s four.
Carter knows mistakes can be limited through proper preparation and sharp attention to detail. The Patriots obviously take great pride in these tactics and were able to expose the Browns’ shortcomings.
“The thing about the Patriots is, they do the most boring things and they don’t get bored doing them,” Carter said Monday on FOX Sports’ “First Things First.” “Football is about a bunch of fundamentals. So I could tell you a bunch of plays and everything, but just the basics of football regardless of what the conditions are — they’re gonna put the maximum amount of detail to every single, little thing. That’s throwing it, that’s catching it, that’s tackling and as you can see, the Cleveland Browns, yes they have a lot of talent on paper, but the details to playing football, they’re not that important to them. You can see mistake after mistake. Veteran players, star players make mistakes. Illegal procedure, lining up offside, formation discrepancy. Like, so many little things. To me, with New England, it’s about the small things. In every single game, they’re going to go about being about them. It’s like, they outclassed Cleveland right from the beginning.”
While the Patriots are beyond prepared for each week’s opponent, the players’ homework leading up to the game might not be as rigorous as one would expect. This is thanks to Bill Belichick, who racked up his 300th career win as a head coach Sunday. As Tom Brady explained Monday, Belichick “trims the fat” for his players and limits the workload to only what is necessary. To put it simply, New England is working both harder and smarter than most teams around the league.
The Browns proved to be no match for the reigning Super Bowl champions, but the John Harbaugh-led Baltimore Ravens, who’ve managed to find success against the Patriots in the past, are poised to be New England’s toughest test of the season thus far in Week 9.
