Patriots Sleep Walk Through Redskins, Move To 8-0

It wasn't as pretty as most were expecting, but the New England Patriots found a way to battle more injuries and their worst game of the season and still beat the Washington Redskins 27-10, Sunday at Gillette Stadium.

Here are some thoughts on the overall game:

Blount's Big Game- With Washington's struggles at stopping the run, the Patriots utilized the big size and bruising downhill running skills of LaGarrette Blount. On the day, Blount carved up the Redskin defense, rushing for 129 yards on a career-high 29 carries. He also took one rush to the house for his fifth rushing touchdown of the season.

Dion Goes Down- New England's top back Dion Lewis, whose versatility in both the running and passing games makes him difficult to defend, left the game in the second half with an apparent knee injury. It didn't appear that he was hit in the knee, which is not normally a good sign, and usually a precursor to an ACL-type injury. He was taken immediately into the locker room for examinations and did not return. Losing Lewis is a tough blow, as he's been so good all season long. Time will tell how serious the injury is, but if Lewis is lost for some time or the season, it will be "next guy up" for the Pats like always. Right now that means more James White and Brandon Bolden. Also, after Blount's game today maybe more of him as well.

Vollmer Leaves Early, Stork Plays Tackle- Along with the loss of Lewis, the Patriots lost starting left tackle Sebastian Vollmer to a head injury, late in the first half. Because the Patriots only dressed six offensive linemen for today's game, tight end Michael Williams had to step in initially at the tackle spot, as he played that position in Detroit. After that, the Patriots put center Bryan Stork, who was playing in his first game this year after starting the season on short term IR, in at the tackle position. Stork originally had been rotating in at guard, but stepped in in a pinch and played well at the tackle position.

Brady Just Misses 300- In what was a sloppy game for the offense, quarterback Tom Brady put up pretty good numbers, aside from the red zone interception he threw in the first half. On the game, Brady just missed the 300 yard mark today, passing for 299 yards and two scores on 26 pass completions.

LaFell Bounces Back- Although the Patriots didn't have much to write home about today, aside from Blount's strong outing, the team did get a solid effort from receiver Brandon LaFell. In his third game back from the PUP list, LaFell finally seemed to hit his stride as he made five catches for 102 yards on the day. Adding him back as a legitimate offensive weapon, especially with the potential loss of Lewis, will be a big boost for the offense.

Redskins Can't Catch- The Entire Redskins receiving corps had a poor game, dropping multiple passes and really not giving quarterback Kirk Cousins any consistent opportunities to pass the ball. Their offensive ineptitude definitely helped the Patriots dominate this lackluster game.

All in all, the Patriots suffered a couple more potentially huge injuries in this game which will, once again, force the team's depth and resiliency to shine through. This game was by far New England's worst play of the season and they still won by 17. That proves too things; the NFL , as a whole, stinks this year and the Patriots are just better than everyone else. There is plenty of room for improvement from today's effort, but at the end of the day the Pats are still 8-0 and are better then everyone else at filling voids on either side of the ball and getting the best out of all of their players. In short, things didn't look great today, but fans shouldn't be devastatingly worried like they might be in 31 other NFL cities.

To check out all the stats, click here.

To see first half thoughts, click here.