The Patriots had this game in hand not only because of their passing game, but because of a hidden battle in which they comfortably got the upper hand. In battling for column inches with the likes of Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Wes Welker, the Patriots’ running game is always going to come off second best. This season though, the dirty little secret around the Patriots is they have the running game to balance their offense and terrify the rest of the AFC.