Sunday Rundown: Who can stop the Patriots?

Sunday Rundown recaps the most important developments from the day's action and examines their significance moving forward.

Another week, another division leader vanquished by the New England Patriots.

This time, it was the Detroit Lions, who traveled to Foxborough, Mass., with the NFL's top-ranked defense and left with a 34-9 loss.

As usual, Bill Belichick schemed to take away his opponent's strength. Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner teamed up to eliminate Calvin Johnson from the equation and Matthew Stafford was helpless to manufacture offense without his primary weapon. Stafford finished an embarrassing 18-of-46 passing with an interception and no touchdowns.

Tom Brady, on the other hand, threw nearly 350 yards and two touchdowns. The Lions schemed to limit Rob Gronkowski's effectiveness, so Brady pivoted and threw both his touchdown passes to his other tight end, Tim Wright. 

The Patriots gashed the Lions on the ground, too, with a rushing attack so efficient it afforded Belichick the luxury of benching rookie Jonas Gray, who rushed for over 200 yards and four touchdowns a week ago but was late for a team meeting this week. Instead Belichik inserted LeGarrette Blount, who was cut by the Pittsburgh Steelers and signed with the Patriots on Thursday. Blount finished with 78 yards and two touchdowns.

The Patriots are winners of seven straight including three in a row against division leaders. They aren't just defeating the best teams the NFL's other divisions have to offer, they're routing them. It started with a 43-21 thrashing of the Broncos in Week 9 and moved on to a 42-20 dismantling of the Indianapolis Colts before Sunday's defeat of the Lions.

Next up for the Patriots is a trip to Lambeau Field to face - you guessed it - another division leader in the Green Bay Packers. It's a matchup with "Super Bowl preview" written all over it.

If the Packers can't stop the Patriots, who can?

How long is Hoyer's leash?

Brian Hoyer did it again. He missed throws, turned the ball over and generally looked unfit to be a starting quarterback. He nearly cost the Browns the game. 

Then, when he had to, Hoyer made a few plays and escaped with a win and his control over the Browns' starting job intact.

With just under four minutes left in Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons, Hoyer threw what should have been a backbreaking interception. With the Browns leading 23-21, Hoyer locked on to a double-covered Josh Gordon (as he did all day in the 2013 receiving leader's return from suspension) and tossed up a duck. Dezmen Southward snagged it for Hoyer's third interception of the game, and set the Falcons up for a go-ahead field goal.

The Browns should have lost the game and Hoyer should have been to blame, but the Cleveland native was presented with an opportunity for redemption and he took advantage of it.

Hoyer completed four-of-five passes for 61 yards in a final-minute drive that set the Browns up for a game-winning kick. With those four completions, Hoyer ensured he'll remain starter for at least another week. 

Was his job ever really in danger, though? Despite sub-par play for most of the season, there's a glaring lack of buzz in Cleveland about benching Hoyer and inserting first-round pick Johnny Manziel as starter. The Browns' coaches seem to have no interest in transitioning to the rookie despite his lofty draft status.

In this case, where there's no smoke, there's probably fire.

Since the draft, rumors have swirled suggesting Mike Pettine and his staff didn't want to draft Manziel but were overruled owner Jimmy Haslam. Pettine's action support this theory.

On any other team, Hoyer's play wouldn't be tolerated. The Browns are in range of the postseason - despite Hoyer's play far more than because of it - but probably aren't a true contender without vastly improve quarterback play. It's time to see what Manziel can do.

Yet Pettine continues to resist the idea. Local reporters don't press the issue. They seem to know the decision is made. It's Hoyer or bust. Manziel will have to wait. 

It's hard to see this situation as anything but an indictment of Manziel. If Pettine and his staff were excited about their rookie, he would be starting. The bar set by Hoyer couldn't be much lower, but Manziel hasn't jumped it.

With every win Hoyer produces, regardless of how bad he looks doing it, his leash gets a little longer and questions about when Manziel get a little quieter. Hoyer's not a quarterback many coaches would feel comfortable hitching their wagon to, but Pettine is showing no fear. He must realize Hoyer is the safest choice he has.

The sad case of Robert Griffin III

What's harder to believe in the context of today's NFL: that Tim Tebow once led the Denver Broncos to a playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers with an 80-yard touchdown on the first play of overtime, or that Robert Griffin III once did this:

Tebow never came close to recapturing the magic of that one season. Griffin's story is rapidly headed toward the same conclusion.

Lately, Griffin's highlights look more like this:

It's no longer any fun to watch Griffin play because it's clear he isn't having fun on the field. The dynamic athlete has been replaced by a sad, beaten-down impostor. 

Does it all tie back to that night in the 2012 playoffs when Griffin tore his ACL? It's certainly fair to question whether his knee never fully healed. It's nearly two years later and Griffin hasn't flashed the speed he had before getting hurt.

Griffin's struggles seem to be more mental than physical, though. Maybe his knee healed but he never managed to regain trust in his body. Maybe he bought his own hype and stopped putting in the necessary work off the field. Maybe he recognizes he got too cozy with team owner Daniel Snyder and alienated many of his teammates. Whatever it is, he's playing like he expects to fail. He's a broken player.

No player in the NFL needs a change of scenery more than Griffin. A new head coach won't cut it. Griffin needs out of Washington.

Mercifully, it sounds like there's a good chance of it happening. Read between the lines and you recognize Jay Gruden is winning his power struggle with Griffin. Weeks ago, the buzz out of Washington was that Snyder forced Gruden's hand in re-inserting Griffin as starter after his ankle injury. Now, the whispers say that Gruden has been given the go-ahead to bench Griffin once and for all.

It didn't happen Sunday - Griffin did just enough to keep the Redskins in the game until giving up a sack-fumble late in the fourth quarter and sealing the loss - but it's inevitable. It will be for the best. Football's supposed to be fun, but there's no longer any of that to be found on Griffin's Redskins.

Stray Thoughts

• Teddy Bridgewater's declining draft stock puzzled many analysts in the run up to the 2014 Draft, but it's starting to make a lot of sense. He isn't an impressive passer nor athlete. He stares down receivers and throws wildly inaccurate passes. The Vikings can't feel good about what they see.
• So much for the idea of the Browns limiting Josh Gordon's snaps and easing him back into the game plan. From the first play of the game, Gordon was the focal point of the team's offense.
• The Lions have lost their swagger. Under Jim Schwartz, they played too loose and undisciplined, but under Jim Caldwell they are too clinical and conservative. They have to find some middle ground.
• The Jaguars forced six fumbles and sacked Andrew Luck five times. They still got blown out. That's really hard to do.
• Larry Fitzgerald's streak of 110 games played came to an end Sunday due to a knee injury. Over seven active players have longer streaks - and all but one are offensive linemen or quarterbacks. 

Injury Ward

Ryan Mallett, QB, Texans
Pectoral injury. Expected to miss several games.
Only hours after the Texans' game ended did we learn that Mallett played through an injury to the pectoral muscle on his throwing side. Ryan Fitzpatrick is likely to take over as starter.

Tashaun Gipson, S, Browns
Knee injury. Carted off. Headed for MRI.
Losing Gipson for the season is a devastating blow to the Browns' playoff chances. Gispon leads the NFL in interceptions and grades out as one of the premier cover safeties. 

Stat of the Week