Bill Belichick became just the third head coach in NFL history to reach 300 career wins, and the New England Patriots forced three more turnovers jetting out to a 17-0 lead after one quarter Sunday evening to beat the Cleveland Browns 27-13 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
New England (8-0) got a 20 yard field goal from Mike Nugent on their second possession of the game to crack the scoreboard first. Nick Chubb would fumble on the second offensive play after the field goal, and Dont’a Hightower scooped it up and took it 26 yards for the touchdown to make it 10-0. Chubb would break a long 44 yard run on the first play of the next series for Cleveland (2-5), but Jonathan Jones caught the running back from behind and stripped him of the ball and Devin McCourty recovered for the Patriots at their own 4 yard line. After a New England punt, Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield tried to get the ball to Jarvis Landry on a shovel pass at the visitors 21 yard line that was intercepted by Lawrence Guy at the 16 and returned to the 11. Two plays later Tom Brady hit Julian Edelman for an eight yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 17.
Cleveland finally got on the board early in the second quarter when Demetrius Harris caught a 21 yard pass from Mayfield to cap off a six play 54 yard drive to cut the lead to 17-7. New England had a chance to extend the lead late in the quarter driving to the Cleveland 11 yard line where the Browns defense stiffened and then blocked a 29 yard field goal attempt by Nugent. The Browns marched down the field in 12 plays to begin the third quarter and would get a 38 yard field goal from Austin Siebert to get Cleveland within seven. New England had the answer though as Brady capped off an 84 yard drive in just 2:26 finding Edelman for a 14 yard score on the second connection between the two on the night to push the lead to 24-10. The scoring ended when both kickers would exchange field goals in the fourth quarter.
Belichick joins both George Halas and Don Shula to reach the 300 win plateau that includes regular and postseason. Belichicks first career NFL win was on 9/8/91 as coach of the Cleveland Browns against the New England Patriots at the old Foxboro Stadium.
Brady finished the night 20-36 passing for 259 yards and two touchdowns. Sony Michel had 21 carries for 74 yards. Edelman made eight catches for 78 yards and caught both of the Brady touchdown throws. Jamie Collins had a huge game defensively with 13 total tackles and 1.5 sacks. Mayfield was 20-31 passing for 194 yards, with one touchdown and one interception in the loss for the Browns. Chubb was big out of the backfield with 131 yards on 20 attempts. Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. both caught five passes for 65 and 52 yards respectively. Joe Schobert had 11 total tackles to lead the Cleveland defense.
New England is at Baltimore on Sunday night football next weekend to face the Ravens. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:20 p.m.
