2001 · Week 1

Final

Patriots

New England

QB Drew Bledsoe

17·23

Bengals

Cincinnati

QB Jon Kitna

Paul Brown Stadium · outdoors · grass · 79°F · wind 8mph

Closing spread

PK

Total

36

Model margin

+1.6est.

CIN perspective

Push chance

1.9%est.

Win probability

  • Bengals
  • Patriots

How each play moved the game.

Bengals winsPatriots wins

Matchup

Where the edges are

Season-long league percentiles for both sides, mirrored. The saturated side of a lopsided row holds the edge.

Patriotsedge mapBengals
  • -0.017EPA / play-0.090
  • 41.5%Success rate39.0%
  • +0.059EPA / dropback-0.080
  • -0.107EPA / rush-0.106
  • 7.6%Explosive rate6.9%
  • 41.6%Third-down rate37.7%
  • 48.0%Red-zone TD rate46.6%
  • 1.32Points / drive0.98
  • 2.6%Turnover rate3.1%
  • -0.079EPA / play allowed-0.112

Bar length is league percentile, already oriented so longer is better. The saturated side of a lopsided row holds the edge; rows within ~12 points are washed as even.

The rivalry

NE lead 10–3 since 1999

NE have won 2 straight. Meetings average 44.8 points. CIN are 6-7 ATS in the series.

Previous meetings
SeasonMatchupScoreWinner
2025 · W12NE @ CIN2620NE
2024 · W1NE @ CIN1610NE
2022 · W16CIN @ NE2218CIN
2019 · W15NE @ CIN3413NE
2016 · W6CIN @ NE1735NE
2014 · W5CIN @ NE1743NE
2013 · W5NE @ CIN613CIN
2010 · W1CIN @ NE2438NE

Box score

Individual performances

Patriots

Passing

PlayerC/AttYdsTDINT
Drew Bledsoe22/3824120

Rushing

PlayerCarYdsAvgTD
Antowain Smith11333.00
J.R. Redmond3124.00
Drew Bledsoe3103.30

Bengals

Passing

PlayerC/AttYdsTDINT
Jon Kitna18/2720410

Rushing

PlayerCarYdsAvgTD
Corey Dillon241044.31
Brandon Bennett6437.20
Peter Warrick11313.00
Jon Kitna2-3-1.50

Receiving

PlayerRecTgtYdsTD
Darnay Scott591040
Peter Warrick79380
Corey Dillon44320
Tony McGee12251
Ron Dugans1250

Where this game is likely to land

  • Model
  • Smooth (normal)
  • Betting line

Probability of each final margin. Football scoring clusters — the spikes at 3 and 7 are real, and a smooth model misses them.

line 04.1%2.8%7.1%7.5%3.0%4.6%2.9%

Positive margins favour Bengals; negative favour Patriots.

Half-point at risk

1.86%

outcomes that flip if the line moves 0.5

Model home win

53.4%

Expected total

43.0est.

Model

Where the number comes from

Each component is additive, in points of expected margin.

  • Team ratings (opponent-adjusted EPA)-2.01
  • Home-field advantage+2.56
  • Quarterback adjustment+1.07
  • Rest differential0.00
  • Expected margin+1.62