Talk the talk

WEEK 1
Patriots 38, Bengals 24 (9/12/'10): Lots to talk about after a convincing victory over Cincy in the home opener. And lots of people talking (right, Randy?). Wes Welker capped off his amazing return from knee surgery with two touchdowns. The offensive line protected Brady in the first half and then opened up holes for Fred Taylor in the key fourth quarter drive that put the game away.The young defense set the tone early with a total team tackling performance. Special teams made big plays. The fans enjoyed a great late summer day of tailgating and were in good spirits all afternoon long. As Shep said, even the moaners and the groaners who sit behind us were happy.

WEEK 1: Thumbs up.

The Pats set the tone right from the opening kick-off. Gostkowski boomed the ball deep and the Bengal return man was met at the 19-yard line by Kyle Arrington and Tracy White. Belichick and his staff cut some key special teams players in Eric Alexander, Ross Ventrone, and Pierre Woods. Clearly he felt it was time for some new blood there. They special teams players were flying around all day.

The defense started the game by forcing Cincy to punt on both its first quarter possessions,. The D then topped that in the second quarter by getting a fumble (Rob Ninkovich), forcing another punt, and then picking off Carson Palmer and taking it in for a touchdown (Gary Guyton). While the defense was doing that, the offense scored two touchdowns (Brady to Welker, Brady to Welker again) and added a field goal. Rookie tight end Aaron Hernandez caught a sideline pass and took it 45 yards on the opening scoring drive. Brady looked sharp. Guys were blocking downfield. The line was on its game, Mankins or no. The running game put up nearly 130 yards for the game. Running back by committee at its best.

Brandon Tate, building on his outstanding preseason, took the second half kick-off 67 yards for a touchdown. Pats 31, Bengals 3. What's on the grill for the post-game celebration? Uh oh. Spoke to soon. The Bengals offense got on track in the third quarter, scoring touchdowns on back-to-back 12 play drives. The defense did not look lost like it did in the preseason. The Bengals just finally started making some plays. The score was suddenly 31-17 and the Pats were in a position they were in several times last year. It was at this point that this year started to look very different from last year.

The Patriots got the ball with less than a minute to go in the third quarter and held the ball for a game-clinching 14-play, nearly eight minute drive. Last year the Pats would go three-and-out and the other team would take advantage of an exhausted defense. Not this time. Brady to Welker for 12 yards. To Moss (a great game) for 9. Then Fred Taylor took over. He would finish the game with 71 yards rushing. Brady would cap the 14-play drive with a beautiful throw and catch with Rob Gronkowski in the corner of the end zone. A game clincher.

Cincy would score another touchdown late in the fourth but the game was decided. The defense gave up too many yards in the second half, but for the most part the young players came through. Safety Pat Chung led the team with 16 tackles. Cornerbacks Butler and McCourty held their own against T.O. and Ochocinco when the two stars weren't in the locker room Tweeting. Ocho had 12 catches and a touchdown but it was too little too late. The defense only recorded one sack but was often in Carson Palmer's face. That's different from last year too.

The biggest difference from last year -- for one game at least -- was that the Pats looked in control of the game. They rarely confused their opponents last year on either side of the ball. The Bengals often looked off balance yesterday while the Pats played like a team with a plan. That's something to talk about.

The one doing the most talking was, of course, Randy Moss. I was hoping he would restrict his talking to the field. Guess not. He decided he needed to expand on his comments from the other day about his contract. OK, we get it Randy. You love playing for the Patriots and want to do it for several more years. Hopefully the Pats do too. Enough talking.

Except in the locker room. Tedy Bruschi started a post-game tradition of the "Oooooh yaaaaaa!" chant after a victory. For those who think Belichick's teams get no joy from their pursuit of victories, take a look at those post-game moments. From the video below, it looks like Randy has become the guy to carry on the tradition. This is the kind of talking I want to hear from him.