Ground rules

WEEK 1
The two biggest questions I had about the 2012 Patriots coming into yesterday's opener was how would their running game do and how would their defense do against a healthy Chris Johnson and the Titans' running game.

The answers: Stevan Ridley... 125 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. Chris Johnson... 4 yards and no touchdowns on 11 carries. Ridley will face stouter defenses and Wilfork and company will face fiercer running attacks, but the early signs are good.

As are the early signs from the Patriots rookie class. First-found picks Chandler Jones and D'onta Hightower teamed up for a forced fumble and recovery for a touchdown that broke open a close game in the second quarter. Jones and third-year man Jermaine Cunningham each had a sack and were around the quarterback all day. In the defensive backfield, rookie Tavon Wilson had an interception. Many times last year the secondary would give up more than 300 yards passing to a mediocre quarterback like Jake Locker and allow the other team to stick around. Not yesterday. Locker finished with just 229 yards (backup Matt Hasselbeck added 43) and the Titans were never in the game in the second half. That's the way a good defense should play against a mediocre offense.

The Pats offense put up close to 400 well-balanced yards. It was a clinic. Second-year man Ridley established himself as the lead back with his solid (fumble free) play. With the running game moving the chains and eating the clock, Brady didn't have to be his usual spectacular self. He just had to be efficient and he was, finishing with 236 yards, two touchdowns, no picks, and one smashed nose. The patched-up offensive line only allowed that one nose-busting sack and moved the line of scrimmage in the running game. Mankins, who was heaving in the huddle at one point, had a great game.

Brandon Lloyd put the shine back on the number 85 with a solid game and, of course, the two most important offensive players in the NFL, Gronk and Hernandez, each had a touchdown catch.

The only real miscue of the day was Gronk dropping the ball when he went to give it the Gronk spike after his great catch in the corner of the end zone. He'll have a chance to improve on that in the home opener this Sunday against Arizona. He may have quite a few chances.