The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

KYLE RITTENHOUSE ACQUITTED ON ALL COUNTS IN KENOSHA

Posted on | November 19, 2021 | Comments Off on KYLE RITTENHOUSE ACQUITTED ON ALL COUNTS IN KENOSHA

BREAKING NOW! Kenosha jury finds Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty.

UPDATE: My prediction had been for a hung jury, as I expected there would be two or three holdouts who would insist that Rittenhouse must be found guilty of something. It is therefore a pleasant surprise that the evidence — which clearly showed that Rittenhouse only fired his AR-15 in self-defense when attacked by rioters — was sufficient to overwhelm any such prejudice against the defendant. The acquittal is not necessarily a vindication of the idea that teenagers should be going to riots while armed with rifles, but it is is a triumph of the rule of law, and the constitutional right of trial by jury. Thank God.

UPDATE: Reactions elsewhere:

The important thing here is what was demonstrated, in terms of our constitutional rights as Americans. The Second Amendment exists for a reason, after all — the armed citizen deters aggression. In a situation such as the Kenosha riots, where violent chaos had overwhelmed the ability of police to keep the peace, Rittenhouse was part of a spontaneously organized group of men who showed up to protect life and property. Rittenhouse was attacked by the deranged criminal JoJo Rosenbaum, and shot Rosenbaum in self-defense. Each subsequent shooting was part of a rapid and confusing situation that developed amid the riot. Public authorities in Wisconsin, who failed to maintain order, are the real villains in this story; the attempt by prosecutors to make Rittenhouse a scapegoat was thwarted by a jury of 12. God bless America!




 

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Category: Crime, Wisconsin

Kenosha: Verdict Today? Or Never?

Posted on | November 18, 2021 | Comments Off on Kenosha: Verdict Today? Or Never?

My prediction of a hung jury in the Kyle Rittenhouse case is looking better after the jury failed to reach a verdict in their second day of deliberations. The jury asked the judge Wednesday to review surveillance drone video of the shooting incident, a request that might be interpreted several different ways. My theory, however, is that a majority of the jurors want to acquit Rittenhouse, but are deadlocked — probably 10-2 or 9-3 — because a few jurors are adamant that Rittenhouse can’t be allowed to get off scot-free. He must be found guilty of something, these holdouts believe, because how is it that a 17-year-old can just walk around with an AR-15 and shoot anybody who causes him trouble?

That’s my theory, anyway, and if I’m right, the reason they wanted to review the drone video was because, according to the prosecution, this video shows that Rittenhouse “provoked” the attacks against him by pointing his rifle at people. The defense denies this, and has moved for a mistrial because the prosecution gave them a low-quality “compressed” version of the video file, rather than the high-resolution version the prosecution showed the jury. While I doubt the judge will declare a mistrial over this issue, the defense is establishing the basis of an appeal, in case the jury returns a guilty verdict — which I think they won’t.

It’s either going to be an acquittal or a hung jury, as I see it, because the evidence so clearly shows Rittenhouse fired in self-defense in each of the three cases — killing the deranged criminal JoJo Rosenbaum, killing skateboard punk Anthony Huber, and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, who was pointing a Glock pistol at Rittenhouse. By the way, they have identified “Jump Kick Man,” the mystery figure who attacked Rittenhouse right before Huber got shot. “Jump Kick Man” is a convicted felon with a lengthy rap sheet. Rittenhouse fired two shots at him but unfortunately missed, and it was this incident that may have encouraged Huber’s subsequent attack on Rittenhouse. “Jump Kick Man” is reportedly behind bars now, because of a probation violation, but his involvement in the case indicates what I’ve said all along — these rioting mobs weren’t composed of “social justice” idealists, but rather criminal scum looking to engage in mayhem. Democrats, in other words.

So now everybody’s waiting for a verdict, and there may never be a verdict, because some holdout jurors are insisting that Rittenhouse be found guilty of something — anything — rather than be acquitted, and never mind the clear evidence of self-defense.

Dana Loesch spanked David French for his idiotic attack on “open carry” of firearms. I try to ignore French — it’s painful even to acknowledge his existence — but somebody had to school him, so thanks to Dana for doing this job. However, I will cede French’s point that most of Rittenhouse’s defenders would never do what Rittenhouse did, or want their kids to do it. Like, if one of my sons ever called me to ask, “Should I take my AR-15 to the riot?” I’d be like, “Hell, no! Have you lost your mind?”

But whether an activity is advisable is a different question than whether it’s legal, and there are a lot of things that are legal to do which I avoid and would also advise my children to avoid. So while I try to stay away from riots, and have never brandished a carbine at anyone, that doesn’t mean it should be illegal to brandish a carbine during a riot. And when we consider the result of Rittenhouse’s (arguably foolish) decision, it’s not as if it were entirely bad. At the very least, we should all be grateful that convicted child rapist JoJo Rosenbaum is dead.




 

Category: Crime, Wisconsin

Killer Lesbians: Pennsylvania Couple Investigated in Homicide of Two Girls

Posted on | November 17, 2021 | Comments Off on Killer Lesbians: Pennsylvania Couple Investigated in Homicide of Two Girls

Don’t expect feminists to notice this case:

COGAN STATION, Pa. — The discovery of the bodies of two girls missing for years and buried in the backyard of a Pennsylvania home has led to the arrest of two women.
Authorities identified the bodies of 6-year-old Nicole Snyder and 4-year-old Jasmine Snyder on Monday. Authorities say the older girl was buried in 2016, and the younger one was buried in 2017.
The girls’ mother, 32-year-old Marie Snyder, and her partner Echo Butler, 26, have been charged with child endangerment and obstruction in Lycoming County, and authorities have opened a homicide investigation, the Williamsport Sun-Gazette reported.
The girls’ bodies were transported Monday to Erie for examination by a forensic anthropologist, officials said. Chief Chris Kriner of the Old Lycoming Township police department said an investigation continues “into the manner of death, motive and the timeline of events.”
The Children and Youth Services department earlier took custody of a son for care. In early September, the agency began investigating after reports of concerns about “educational issues” involving the 7-year-old son, Kriner said. Officials then learned that Marie Snyder had two other children who were unaccounted for and last month sought help from police, he said.
Authorities said the father of the girls reported last having seen them in 2015, the same year as their last contact with medical, court or other personnel. Robert Mausteller of the township police department said officials were allegedly told in September the girls were staying with a friend, but they never got a name.
Marie Snyder was arrested at her Clinton County workplace Nov. 4 and refused to provide information about the whereabouts of the missing girls, Kriner said. The property was searched several times over the next few days, and the remains were found over the weekend.
Kriner said he and the county district attorney consider it “a terrible, horrific situation” and vowed that their investigation will not conclude until “justice is brought on behalf of these two young girls.” He said other agencies including state police and the FBI assisted in the search.
Both women were ordered held without bail pending a Nov. 17 preliminary hearing.

They have not yet been charged with murder, but when you bury two bodies in your backyard, that’s pretty heavy circumstantial evidence. I mean, one body, you could perhaps come up with some plausible explanation, but two bodies? No, you’re not going to explain that away.

The father of the children, Joshua Snyder, 31, was prohibited from seeing them under a “Protection from Abuse” (PFA) order issued in 2015, after he was evicted from the mobile home where Snyder, Butler and Butler’s mother lived. Exactly what he knew about his ex-wife’s domestic situation is unclear, but this is definitely a strange case. You might suppose that, in such a case, there would have been some sort of follow-up to check on the well-being of the children, but it appears that in this quiet part of Pennsylvania (about 5 miles north of Williamsport) nobody paid much attention. Once you legally prevent the father from being involved, children are at the mercy of their mother — and, in this case, their mother’s lesbian girlfriend and the girlfriend’s mother.

You’re not allowed to voice concerns about such an arrangement. It’s practically a hate crime even to use the words “lesbian” and “homicide” in the same headline, unless of course a lesbian is the victim of homicide. These are the unwritten rules of modern journalism, which is all about “social justice” and “diversity,” so don’t expect CNN to notice that two lesbians are suspects in the homicide of two little girls. This is not a crime deserving of national attention, but strictly local news.




 

Category: Crime, Pennsylvania

In The Mailbox: 11.16.21

Posted on | November 17, 2021 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 11.16.21

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

…and that’s the way it was.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Felony Murder On The Left Coast?
EBL: Land, also, Schrödinger’s Kyle
Twitchy: Max Boot Is Terrified “We’ll” Lose “Our Democracy” When The GOP Wins In 2022 & 2024, also, Jen Rubin Endorses Beta O’Rourke & It Promptly Backfires
Louder With Crowder: Hero Cabbie Stops Terror Attack By Locking Jihadi In His Taxi Seconds Before The Bomb Went Off
Vox Popoli: Hundreds Of Troops, Desperate For War, and Was Kenosha A Failed Hit?
Gab News: Former West Point Cadet Speaks Out – Booted From USMA For Refusing Jab

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Comments On The Podcast, also, No, The Bible Is Not An Israeli Book
American Conservative: Why I Joined The U. Austin Advisory Board, also, SCOTUS Should End “State Secrets” Shield
American Greatness: Retract Every Russian Collusion Story & Fire Everyone Who Wrote One, also, Why The Rittenhouse Case Has Changed Everything
American Thinker: A Word About Democracy From A Man Brought Up In A Dictatorship
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Charlie Fox News
Babalu Blog: 15-N In Cuba – The Dictatorship Exposes Its Fear Of The Cuban People, also, Dissidents Call For An Extension Of Protests For Twelve More Days
BattleSwarm: Beto III – The Betoing Officially Greenlit, also, Anti-CRT/SJW Roundup
Behind The Black: Today’s Blacklisted American, Branson Sells Another $300 Million In Virgin Galactic Stock, and Arianespace Launches Three French Milsats
Cafe Hayek: The World Is Not Right, also, Thoughts On Democratic Choice
CDR Salamander: LCS – History’s Judgment Looms
Don Surber: EU Wants Americans To Die Defending Europe Again, NYT – Maybe We Shouldn’t Have Published Those Lies, and Libs Realize Biden Is Now A Problem
First Street Journal: Weathering The Storm, also, #MaskMandates And Fewer Fans In The Stands
Gates Of Vienna: Migrants In France Offer Their Thoughts On The Great Replacement, Death By Vax – A Numbers Game, and Ho! Ho! Ho!
The Geller Report: Two Jurors Holding Up Rittenhouse Verdict, Citing Backlash, Per U.S. Marshals In Kenosha, also, Ukraine Says Russia Massed 100,000 Troops On Border – Blinken Raises “Real Concerns” About Invasion
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of The Day, A Meme, and I’m Not Making This Up, You Know
Hollywood In Toto: Twitter Schools Matthew Modine On His Absurd Rittenhouse Slam, also, Bruce Willis’ Films Now Border On Fan Abuse
The Lid: Former Chicom Political Prisoner Schools PBS Host On Trump & Authoritarianism
Legal Insurrection: Student Leaders At Syracuse U. Want Rudy Giuliani’s Honorary Degree Rescinded, also, Leftist Student Groups To Protest Ben Shapiro Speech At FSU
Nebraska Energy Observer: FIDO, The American Way, also, Call It By Its Name
Outkick: Cleveland Wimps Settle Suit With Roller Derby Team, Both Will Be Called Guardians, also, Enes Kanter Suggests He’s Not Playing Because Of His Red China Stance, And He May Be Right
Power Line: Inflation – Stages Of Disbelief, also, Wyoming GOP Gives Liz Cheney The Boot
Shark Tank: Diaz-Balart Slams Biden For Making The Situation In Cuba Worse
Shot In The Dark: Faith Noah More, The Shorter Rittenhouse Prosecution Summation, and Something Tells Me…
The Political Hat: When Public Schools Are Objectively Pro-Rape
This Ain’t Hell: Vietnam Vet Reflects On His Time There Through Letters Home, also, Racist Idiot Claims Hiroshima Bombing Was To Show Return On Investment
Transterrestrial Musings: The NASA OIG Audit, The Russian ASAT Test, and Plant-Based “Meat”
Victory Girls: Cori Bush Claims White Supremacists Shot At Ferguson Marchers
Volokh Conspiracy: Sixth Circuit To Hear Challenges To OSHA Jab Or Test Mandate
Weasel Zippers: State Dept. Flack Insists Withdrawal From Afghanistan Was “Extraordinary”, DHS Head Mayorkas Gives Himself An “A”, Claims Biden Border Policies “On The Road To Success”, and GOP Could Pick Up 70 House Seats Next Year
The Federalist: Whistleblower’s Documents Suggest Garland Lied About Targeting Concerned Parents, also, DOD Flack Says Climate Change As Big A Threat As Red China
Mark Steyn: Together Wherever We Go, also, A Bridge Too Farcical

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Category: Linkagery

Kenosha: Media-Induced Mistrial?

Posted on | November 16, 2021 | Comments Off on Kenosha: Media-Induced Mistrial?

This disturbing report from Jack Posobiec (via Legal Insurrection, tipped from a commenter in today’s earlier post) shows exactly what can be expected when the media engages in deliberate misrepresentation of criminal cases. We live in an era of neo-Stalinism, where The Party organizes show trials preceded by propaganda that demonizes the accused as an “enemy of the people” (vrag naroda).

People can be taught to hate a person they never met if, as in the case of Kyle Rittenhouse, they are fed a controlled diet of lies and distortions, intended to portray someone in the worst possible light. There are people on the Left, cocooned inside the media echo chamber of hate propaganda, who sincerely believe that Rittenhouse is a sort of right-wing assassin, who went to Kenosha to kill “racial justice” protesters. This is the narrative of the Rittenhouse case created by CNN and MNSBC, and amplified by every propaganda organ of The Party.

Did I mention that actual Communists are in Kenosha?

In a sane world, killing Communists would not only be legal, it would be encouraged as a patriotic duty. Pray for America.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!




 

Category: Crime, Wisconsin

Kenosha: Expect a Hung Jury

Posted on | November 16, 2021 | Comments Off on Kenosha: Expect a Hung Jury

Kyle Rittenhouse should be acquitted, but he won’t be, because there are almost certainly two or three jury members in Kenosha who will vote for conviction no matter what the law or the evidence may be. Recall that it was Democratic voters who rioted in Kenosha, unleashing three nights of vandalism and arson because domestic abuser Jacob Blake got shot by a cop while violently resisting arrest. If you think it’s a bad thing for cops to shoot violent criminals, and if you think torching a used-car lot is an appropriate form of “peaceful protest,” you’re obviously a Democratic voter — the Kenosha riot was a Joe Biden campaign rally.

“This is case-closed self-defense. Democrats allow mob violence to rule the streets. Americans have the right to defend themselves.”

That’s what I said the day after the shooting, and I haven’t changed my mind, but the pro-riot/anti-police Democrats haven’t changed their minds either and, if there are just two or three Democrats on the Rittenhouse jury, that will be enough to block a “not guilty” verdict.

No Democrat cares about facts or the law:

“Why did President Biden suggest that Kyle Rittenhouse on trial in Kenosha is a white supremacist?” Fox News’s Peter Doocey asked the press secretary this week during a news conference.
Psaki let out a loud, long sigh, as if it’s tiresome to be asked about an issue the Biden team previously was very eager to discuss.
“What I’m not going to speak to right now is anything about an ongoing trial, nor the president’s past comments,” responded Psaki. “What I can reiterate for you is the president’s view that we shouldn’t have, broadly speaking, vigilantes patrolling our communities with assault weapons. We shouldn’t have opportunists corrupting peaceful protests by rioting and burning down the communities they claim to represent anywhere in the country.”
The Biden campaign tweeted a video on Sept. 30, 2020, with the accompanying caption, “There’s no other way to put it: the President of the United States refused to disavow white supremacists on the debate stage last night.” The video includes images of Rittenhouse taken on the night of the riots.

(Hat-tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.) The prosecution of this case was a circus sideshow from start to finish, and if you wonder why crime is rampant in America’s cities, just think of how much effort went into prosecuting Kyle Rittenhouse, and how little effort — in fact, no effort at all — Kenosha devoted to keeping the dangerous criminal JoJo Rosenbaum behind bars. If Rosenbaum had been in jail, where he belonged, nobody would have gotten shot that night, but Kenosha turned Rosenbaum loose and, as Tucker Carlson said, JoJo “died as he had lived, trying to touch an unwilling minor.” I’m glad he’s dead.




 

Category: Crime, Wisconsin

In The Mailbox: 11.15.21

Posted on | November 16, 2021 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 11.15.21

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

Some people won’t learn anything from history.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Examples Of Homemade Guns Found In The Wild
EBL: The Song of Lunch, also, Red Notice
Twitchy: Lefty Activist With “Over One Thousand Soldiers Ready To Go” Threatens To Come To Next School Board Meeting “Locked & Loaded”
Louder With Crowder: “You Think Sitting Back And Complying Will Get You By? You Are Wrong!”, also, Kyle Rittenhouse’s Mom Asked About Suing Joe Biden For Defamation, Gives Perfect Six Word Answer
Vox Popoli: What Is So Hard To Understand?, The Barbarossa Question, and We’re Not Locked Out By You

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Humility & Pride, also, Sexual Demons
American Conservative: Durham Indicts Danchenko, also, Time To Trust Bust Big Tech
American Greatness: Don’t Cede The Streets To Violent Communists, also, Federally Funded Nonprofits Are Running Illegal Immigrant Processing Centers In Nice Hotels, Helping Illegals Avoid Arrest
American Power: The Problem Of Loudoun County Schools, also, America Is Built On A Great Culture. Progressives Want To Abandon It
American Thinker: Why Are COVID Cases Spiking Again? also, Don’t Let Leftists Gaslight You On Critical Race Theory
Animal Magnetism: Goodbye, Blue Monday
Babalu Blog: Santiago De Cuba Teeming With Repressive Squads, Snitches, & Plainclothes Thugs, also, 15-N Begins With An Act Of Repudiation In Front Of Sally Gonzalez’ House
BattleSwarm: Did CRT-Pushing Ariz. School Board Prez Break Federal Law? also, Drone Swarm Boogaloo
Behind The Black: Today’s Blacklisted American, SpaceX Launches 53 More Starlink Sats, and Russian Anti-Sat Test Creates 1500 More Pieces Of Space Junk
Cafe Hayek: Yesterday’s Left Vs. Today’s Left, also, I Do Not Understand How Some People Think
CDR Salamander: Time For A Maritime Department? Jimmy Drennan On Midrats
Da Tech Guy: Under The Fedora, The Ground Game In Virginia, and How Long Can MSNBC Viewers Fall For The Lies?
Don Surber: NYT – Censor Huck Finn But Not Porn, Flashback – January 12, 2017, and Why They Hate The 1950s
First Street Journal: A Few Real Journalists Challenge The Woke “Journolism” Of The Credentialed Media
Gates Of Vienna: Memorial To Samuel Paty Vandalized, Austria Locks Down The Unvaxxed, and Poland In The Spotlight
The Geller Report: Rittenhouse Defense Makes Closing Arguments – Comes Right Out & Calls DA Binger A Liar, also, The Great Divestment Wars So Far – Israel 8, Unilever 0
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of The Day, Callisto, and I’m Not Making This Up, You Know
Hollywood In Toto: How Billy Bathgate Shattered All The Gangster Movie Rules, also, Marc Maron – Cancel Culture Critics Are “Right Wing”, “Fascists”
The Lid: Iran-Backed Houthi Terrorists Plunge Biden Into SECOND Hostage Crisis, also, MSNBC Anchor Blasted For Cheerleading Biden’s Inflation Problem
Legal Insurrection: Students & Faculty Demand Revocation Of Prof’s Honorary Degree Because He’s Christian, also, North Dakota Becomes 13th State To Ban Critical Race Theory In Schools
Nebraska Energy Observer: Random Observations, also, Tragedy & Horror
Outkick: Party On In Starkville! Miss. State Beats Auburn 43-34 After Biggest Comeback In School History, also, Jayhawks Complete Upset Against UT 57-56, Crowd Chants “SEC!” At Embarrassed Longhorns
Power Line: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion – Does It Help?, Consumer Confidence Falls To 10-Year Low, and Crime In Progress
Shark Tank: Marco Rubio Slams Socialist Hypocrite Danny Glover Over Cuba
Shot In The Dark: Game On, Dereliction Of “Duty”, and Swallowed By The Cracks
The Political Hat: Microsoft Goes All In On Wokeness, also, Diagnosis – Climate Change
This Ain’t Hell: Stupid People Of The Week, NJ Gets Tougher On Stolen Valor, and Tulsi Gabbard Defends Kyle Rittenhouse
Transterrestrial Musings: The Left’s Bungled Revolution, Anti-Racism, and The Boring Company
Victory Girls: Inflation Will Take Joe Biden Down Regardless Of Spin, also, The Media Finally Admits Kamala Harris Is Terrible
Volokh Conspiracy: Why Did Judge Dismiss Weapons Charges Against Kyle Rittenhouse?
Weasel Zippers: Bad Orange Woman Claims Politics Are To Blame For Concern Over Rising Prices, also, Almost Half Of Americans Polled Say Biden Has Accomplished “Little Or Nothing” 
The Federalist: SNL’s Weird Joe Rogan Spoof Exposes The Show For What It Really Is, also, Former Lt. Gov Rebecca Kleefisch Sues Wisc. Elections Commission For Flagrantly Breaking The Law
Mark Steyn: Gold-Digger In Gold Lame – Claudette Colbert and Midnight, Beware The Jabber-Woke? and My Lady Nicotine

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Category: Linkagery

Patriots Dominate Browns, 45-7

Posted on | November 15, 2021 | Comments Off on Patriots Dominate Browns, 45-7

Mac Jones hands off to Rhamondre Stevenson.

On Saturday, I wrote that if the New England Patriots could “get a convincing win” against the Cleveland Browns, fans would begin talking about the team in Super Bowl terms. Sunday’s 45-7 win was about as convincing as could be and, having won four games in a row, the Patriots now have the second-longest current winning streak in the NFL (the Tennessee Titans have won six in a row). They now have just three days to get ready for a Thursday night game at Atlanta. The Falcons got beat badly by Dallas on Sunday, and New England will be heavily favored Thursday, where a win would put them at 7-4 with six games left to play.

The intriguing possibilities of which Mike Reiss speaks are obvious enough. At this point, is there any team the Patriots can’t beat? They’re two weeks away from a home game against the Titans, currently the best team in the AFC, and you can’t rule out a New England victory. No rookie quarterback has ever led his team to the Super Bowl, but Mac Jones is starting to look like he may be the first to do it:

Mac Jones looked like a seasoned veteran with his best performance of the season, raising the possibility this team could make a legitimate postseason run. Most promising for the Patriots is Jones had been grinding through a couple of so-so games the previous two weeks, sparking questions about whether he had possibly hit a rookie wall. He smashed through it against the Browns (19-of-23 for 198 yards, three TDs), displaying the accuracy and decision-making that had shown up more consistently earlier in the season, and he was poised and on-point in third-and-long situations. The Patriots have proved they can consistently run the ball, and with Jones and the passing game finding its groove, the offense looked the best it has all season.

See how the artful euphemism “legitimate postseason run” is used there to avoid what every Patriot fan is thinking: Super Bowl, baby!

The way New England played Sunday could convince any doubter:

A month ago, the New England Patriots were 2-4 and appeared headed for a second straight season of irrelevance.
Four games later, they are back in a familiar spot as a playoff contender in the AFC.
Mac Jones threw three touchdown passes, rookie Rhamondre Stevenson rushed for a career-high 100 yards and two scores, and the Patriots rolled to a 45-7 victory over Cleveland Sunday as the Browns lost quarterback Baker Mayfield to a knee injury.
The Browns (5-5) have dropped four of their last six and haven’t won at New England since 1992, when Bill Belichick was their coach.
Jones finished 19 of 23 for 198 yards passing. Hunter Henry added a pair of TD receptions as New England (6-4) went 7 of 9 on third down.
“That’s how you want to play the game of football,” Jones said. “It’s just a three-level game and when we click on all cylinders, we can be pretty good.” . . .
Cleveland got on the scoreboard first via a 2-yard TD from Mayfield to Austin Hooper.
New England responded with a 15-play, 83-yard drive on which Jones went 6-for-6 for 55 yards. The drive took 9:39 off the clock, concluding when Jones tossed a 3-yard touchdown to Hunter Henry, his sixth TD catch in seven games.
The Patriots then turned defense into offense. Kyle Dugger returned an interception 37 yards, setting up a 5-yard TD run by Stevenson.
J.C. Jackson dropped what would have been an interception on the Browns’ ensuing possession, forcing a punt that pinned the Patriots on the 1-yard line. It didn’t stop them from marching the length of the field in 11 plays and scoring on Jones’ 23-yard TD pass to Kendrick Bourne.
The Patriots added two more long drives in the second half. They marched 92 yards to Stevenson’s second TD, a 2-yard run in the third quarter. Backup quarterback Brian Hoyer led a 95-yard scoring drive in the fourth.

Putting together four long touchdown drives like that is what inspired the familiar victorious feeling Mike Reiss described. As in the glorious days of Brady — Saint Thomas of Foxborough — the Patriots cranked out first downs like a machine, converting on 7 of 9 third downs. Here are two of those conversions, from their 99-yard first half drive:

Being a ’Bama fan, naturally I want to brag on Mac Jones, but what about that rookie running back Rhamondre Stevenson? He was a fourth-round draft pick, and the reason he went so low in the draft — 120th overall — was because he’d gotten suspended at Oklahoma for some unexplained disciplinary infraction, creating “character” questions. NFL teams are reluctant to spend big money on a player who has off-field issues, but the Patriots took a chance with Stevenson, and he looks like a winner. Now, back to bragging on Mac, whose accuracy was amazing:

To hit that kind of pass against double coverage? Wow.

As Jones himself said, though, it was an all-around team effort, and if the Patriots can replicate that performance down the stretch, there is absolutely no limit to how far they can go this year. Even though the players constantly repeat they’re taking the season one day at a time, fans are under no such obligation, and if New England fans aren’t yet thinking ahead to Feb. 13, they should be. All the way, baby!




 

Category: Football
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