Gold Stars, Penalty Flags: Brady, Hogan Go Deep For Patriots
BOSTON (CBS) -- Tom Brady's 2016 debut was a complete success. The Patriots played well and Brady looked like he never missed a beat in their 33-13 win over the Cleveland Browns.
Here are your gold stars and penalty flags from Sunday's victory:
Gold Stars
- This one is extremely obvious, but Tom Brady gets a gold star. From his arrival to the stadium to taking the field and running to the end zone, delivering a ferocious fist pump, this game was all about Brady. His 406 passing yards were just numbers. His three touchdowns were also just a product of those numbers. The big item here was there was the calmness he brought to the team; an idea of "we got this."
That's what Brady brought back into the huddle and what was missing the last four weeks. No. 12 put on a show and at the end, everyone appreciated it. Sunday was a solid return.
- Chris Hogan gets a gold star. Nothing gets the crowd going like the long ball and the Pats put that on display on Sunday. Hogan was the recipient of two bombs, a 43 yarder that set the Pats up at the Cleveland 7 and a 63-yard connection with Brady that got them to the Cleveland 6. The receiver simplified everything after the game by saying he's always going to try and out run his guy. If he does, and Brady can get him the ball, then he will have those opportunities. He finished with four catches for 114 yards. It was nice to see the Pats stretch the field.
- Patriots Nation gets a gold star. Pats fans showed up on Sunday and took over First Energy Stadium. More than one security guard mentioned to me that they were impressed with how the New England fan base traveled.
There were more Brady jerseys in the stands than Browns jerseys. Pats Nation started Brady chants when he came out, more Brady chants during the team's first drive and even more Brady chants when he exited the game. Most impressive though, is it seemed like the faithful stayed until the end of the game and cheered the team and Tom when they walked off the field.
Penalty Flags
- Cyrus Jones gets a penalty flag. First, he got beat by Andrew Hawkins on the Browns first touchdown. That's probably where everything started. He and Hawkins must have been jawing at each other all game long because they got locked up later in the game and all of a sudden, Jones was ejected. It wasn't until afterwards, when the referee said Jones threw a punch, that anyone knew what happened.
The Patriots rookie was having a brutal season with his struggled in the return game, and now this. He's going to find himself deep in the dog house.
- The Cleveland Browns get a penalty flag. This team was hopeful they were headed in the right direction at the beginning of the season. Hue Jackson is the right guy for the job, but as this point, Cleveland is a bad team. A really bad team.
There best player is Terrelle Pryor and his position isn't even defined. They don't have a quarterback and that's fine because they don't have an offensive line. The 0-5 Browns need to do something because the fan base is starving for a winner.
