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Morris, Moss help Patriots rout Broncos

Oct 21, 2008 - 5:53 AM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts (Ticker) -- Monday was just what the doctor ordered for the New England Patriots, while the Denver Broncos could use some medical help.

Sammy Morris ran for a career-high 138 yards and one touchdown while Randy Moss matched his season total with a pair of touchdown receptions as the Patriots blew out the Broncos, 41-7, at Gillette Stadium.

Matt Cassel had the best game of his career, completing 18-of-24 passes for 185 yards and a career-best three touchdowns to lead New England (4-2) to its most impressive win of the season.

The Patriots ran the ball 38 times for 257 yards, the most since totaling 281 yards against Cincinnati on December 22, 1985.

"If we can run the ball like that, we'll be in good hands," Cassel said. "It starts with the running game up front, being physical, running the ball downhill, and those guys did such a great job with the ball in their hands. That really opens up the passing game because then you have to respect the run."

"Offensively, it was our best game and he is a big part of that," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said of his quarterback. "But we ran the ball well. We hit some third downs in the second half and got the ball in the end zone a couple of times down there (in red zone). They held us to field goals early but in the end, we got the ball in the end zone."

Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler suffered an injury to his finger on the first play of the game, but stayed in the game for all but one series.

"My finger hit a helmet," Cutler said. "I'm not going to make excuses. I was good to go. I had an X-ray and it wasn't broken so I could throw. It was fine."

Both Bailey brothers were lost in the first half as defensive back Champ injured his groin while Boss twisted his left knee. Neither returned to the game.

"We just physically got beat up," Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams said. "Both sides of the ball, offense, defense, special teams, they just beat us. They just beat us man-to-man. They just over-powered us. There is nothing you can say about it. We had a good pass rush today but we have to learn from our mistakes."

On the field, Denver (4-3) showed little discipline and it cost the Broncos in the first half as the Patriots built a 20-0 lead at the intermission.

Defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban committed two of Denver's three personal fouls in the first 30 minutes while back-up running back Andre Hall lost fumbles on his first two carries.

"We lost, that is what happened," Ekuban said. "We got our butts handed to us. Give credit to them. They just made plays. The score was 41-7, there are no silver linings."

New England converted both fumbles to field goals of 31 and 40 yards by Stephen Gostkowski in the first quarter.

The Broncos committed a season-high five turnovers in loss.

"We went into the game knowing we couldn't turn the ball over," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "Anytime you turn the ball over five times and you get no turnovers in return, obviously, good things aren't going to happen."

Morris and the Patriots began to break the game open midway through the second quarter as the running back ran in a 4-yard touchdown off left tackle on 4th-and-one.

Moss caught the first of his two touchdowns with 44 seconds remaining in the first half as the Patriots took a 20-0 lead to the locker room.

Moss hauled in a 27-yard score on a screen pass with 7:32 left in the third quarter, and Wes Welker had a 6-yard touchdown reception with 2:21 left in the quarter to give the Patriots a 34-0 bulge and put the game out of reach.

"I'd like to think that I continue to grow each and every week," Cassel said. "The more you run this offense, the more comfortable you become. There are a lot of details that you have to be on top of if you want to be successful and each and every week I learn something and I'm just going to try to continue to grow and mature."

Playing through the pain, Cutler finished 17-of-26 for 168 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.

"We have a bye week," Cutler said of the Broncos' break next weekend. "You want to go into a bye with a win, that would've put us at 5-2, that's what we expected going into the game. We felt good about it. We just didn't get it done."

Patriots veteran safety Rodney Harrison injured his right knee at the end of the third quarter and had to be carted off the field.

"I'm going to keep that to myself," teammate Tedy Bruschi said of his on-field conversation with Harrison. "Rodney is one of my favorite teammates of all time and I just went out there to check on him."