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Patriots Remain Perfect

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The Associated Press

Published: October 2, 2007

CINCINNATI - Tom Brady had three more touchdown passes. Sammy Morris had one of the best games of his career. The New England defense had its way.

Expect anything less?

The Patriots remained one of the NFL's four unbeaten teams Monday night - and, so far, the best of the bunch - by beating the Cincinnati Bengals 34-13 with a performance that showed their versatility.

And, they've only just begun.

New England (4-0) is off to its best start since 2004, when it won the Super Bowl for the third time in four years. An offense energized by the addition of receivers Randy Moss, Donte' Stallworth and Wes Welker showed it can grind it out, too.

Especially against a team like the Bengals (1-3), who had trouble just getting a defense on the field - and counting to 11 while they were at it.

Moss caught a pair of touchdown passes, and Morris ran for 117 yards, giving the Patriots more than enough on a night when they didn't need a whole lot.

Cincinnati was missing middle linebackers Ahmad Brooks and Caleb Miller, leaving a big hole in one of the league's worst defenses. When Lemar Marshall hurt an Achilles' tendon in the first quarter, the Bengals moved rookie safety Chinedum Ndukwe into a linebacker's spot.

The Patriots had more linebackers in their offenses on goal-line plays than the Bengals had in their defense on many plays. And one of them - Mike Vrabel - caught a 1-yard touchdown pass in a Super Bowl flashback.

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