New England Patriots: Studs and duds vs. Browns in Week 8

Stud: Patriots defense

New England’s defense has been one of the best in the NFL throughout the course of eight weeks so far in 2019, and on Sunday against Cleveland, it was yet again impressive.

The Patriots ended up forcing the Browns into a total of three turnovers in the game, including two early fumbles from Nick Chubb that New England was able to recover to set the ton right out of the gate in the game.

New England recovered two fumbles overall in the game while forcing Cleveland into a total of three fumbles. It was also able to intercept Baker Mayfield once in the contest, with Lawrence Guy being credited with that interception for the Patriots.

The defense stepped up and held another opponent in check on Sunday afternoon for New England, something that has become a common theme week in and week out for the Patriots.

Dud: Mike Nugent

This isn’t a big dud for the Patriots, because it didn’t ultimately hurt the story of the game or have a huge impact on the game, but as the season continues to move along it might be something that makes a difference in deciding a contest at the end of the game.

Mike Nugent ended up kicking the ball a total of seven times in the victory for New England, including three extra-point attempts and four field goals. The Patriots kicker finished 3-for-3 on extra points, but went just 2-for-4 on field goals in the game, which was somewhat surprising.

It could have been the fact that the weather was rough and the rain could have very well played a factor in that mark from the field, but it’s something that Nugent will definitely try and clean up moving forward.