Facing a critical third-and-long situation late in the first half of Sunday’s game at FirstEnergy Stadium, the Patriots were rewarded for going against the grain.
Standing at Cleveland’s 31-yard-line with 3:30 left in the second quarter and the game tied 3-3, New England needed 10 yards to both gain a first down and inch closer to the red zone. Conventional knowledge tells an NFL team to take to the air in that situation, but the Patriots instead went with a shotgun handoff to Rhamondre Stevenson. The call proved to be the right one, as the sophomore running back blew through the line of scrimmage, evaded Browns cornerback Martin Emerson Jr.