All of a sudden the New England Patriots are back on top in the NFL and beginning to round into that playoff form that the team has shown so many times in the last decade.
The Patriots will be looking to break out their top-ranked offense on the road when they visit the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
New England (6-1) has won five straight and leads the NFL in scoring offense at 29.3 points per game despite sending Randy Moss out of town after Week 4.
Moss was back in the news again this week after being placed on waivers by the Minnesota Vikings on Tuesday. The mercurial receiver spent a good portion of his postgame press conference last Sunday praising the Patriots’ organization, leading to speculation that he could return to New England had he not been claimed on waivers by Tennessee.
Even without Moss around to stretch the defense, Tom Brady has had no problem doing what he does best - finding the open receiver and getting him the ball. Brady passed for 240 yards and a touchdown in last week’s 28-18 victory over Moss and the Vikings, completing passes to seven different receivers and opening up the running game for BenJarvus Green-Ellis.
Green-Ellis responded with 112 yards on 17 carries and a pair of touchdowns - the first multi-touchdown game of his career.
The Patriots may have some extra protection for Brady on Sunday. Two-time All-Pro guard Logan Mankins ended his holdout this week and reported to practice. New England was granted a roster exemption for Mankins and can activate him any time before Nov. 15. Mankins had previously refused to sign a one-year, $1.54 million tender from the team.
More impressive than the offense recently has been the play of the defense, which seems to be reverting back to the bend-don’t-break strategy was employed with so much success during New England’s Super Bowl runs. The young defensive backs, especially rookie Devin McCourty, who had an interception on Sunday, are growing into their roles as the season progresses.
That is bad news for a Cleveland team that is expected to start rookie Colt McCoy at quarterback. McCoy hasn’t been asked to do much yet and only attempted 16 passes on Oct. 24 at New Orleans for 74 yards and no touchdowns.
The Browns (2-5) earned a surprising win in that game against the defending Super Bowl champions due to their defense, which intercepted Drew Brees four times en route to a 30-17 victory. Linebacker David Bowens returned two picks for touchdowns.
Cleveland head coach Eric Mangini and New England boss Bill Belichick are very familiar with each other. Mangini coached under Belichick with the Patriots before taking the head job with the New York Jets and moving on to Cleveland.
Belichick has gotten the better of his former protege in the past, winning five of seven meetings with Mangini-coached teams.