New England Patriots cruise to seventh straight victory

The New England Patriots have eased to a seventh consecutive victory courtesy of a comfortable 34-9 win over the Detroit Lions at Gillette Stadium today.

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It was the visitors who opened the scoring through a 48-yard Matt Prater field goal, but the Patriots moved into the lead towards the end of the opening quarter as Tom Brady fired a quick pass to Tim Wright in the middle of the endzone.

Prater reduced the deficit to one with another kick at the start of the second quarter, but the hosts responded almost immediately as Danny Amendola gave them good field position with an 81-yard kickoff return.

They then trusted LeGarrette Blount with three consecutive carries, and it paid dividends as he burrowed his way into the endzone from three yards.

New England's lead grew even bigger in the final three minutes of the first half as Brady stepped up before firing an eight-yard pass to Wright for his second touchdown of the game, while Stephen Gostkowski added a further three points as time expired.

Gostkowski notched another field goal in the third quarter to extend the lead further, although Prater brought it back to 18 points with his third kick of the match early in the final period.

Blount added gloss to the victory in the final two minutes with his second score of the match, wrapping up a result that sees the Patriots maintain their 100% home record this season and move to 9-2 for the campaign.

The Lions, meanwhile, are knocked off top spot in the NFC North and now sit second behind the Green Bay Packers with a 7-4 record.