Monday, September 24, 2018

Patriots Flattened by Lions, 26-10

The Patriots played pretty much like this blog entry -- a day late and a dollar short -- and came up lame in a 26-10 loss. The game leaves them at 1-2, two full games behind 3-0 Miami in the division. Up next, those same Dolphins come to town for what is a sneaky important game this early in the year.

The Pats actually scored to end the first half and again the first time they got the ball in the second half. Unfortunately, that was all the scoring they did. Aside from those two drives (the TD was on a short field after an INT), they averaged 3.75 plays per drive, including three consecutive three-and-outs to start the game -- the first time that has happened to the Pats game since Belichick became head coach.

So when you hear people blame the defense, take it with two grains of salt. The offense bears its share of the blame, first for not scoring enough, and second for never giving the defense a chance to catch its breath. After all, the Lions D only made 39 combined tackles, the Patriots had to make 71 of them. And if you need more proof, time-of-possession was: Detroit 39:15, New England 20:45. Blech!

Pretty much everyone on the Patriots had a bad game. And it didn't help that they were missing three key pieces on defense: Trey Flowers, Patrick Chung, and Eric Rowe. Oh, and before you scream that Rowe isn't any good, his replacements were significantly worse, hard as that might be to believe.

Duron Harmon was not good in place of Chung. And the rotation of corners were worse that Rowe, who at least competes and does his best. As for Flowers, the Pats have absolutely no one on the roster to replace him, so when he is out, it just hurts.


On defense, the "bad pie" falls mostly to linebackers who can't cover in the passing game (or don't know their assignments yet), a defensive line that got pushed around all night in the running game and got no pressure on the QB, and confusion that culminated in a "12 men on the field" play that we usually see from other teams.

Dont'a Hightower looks limited by injury. Elandon Roberts hasn't progressed. And for the time being, Ja'Whaun Bentley (who got his first INT) is good but still misses assignments due to inexperience. Without a trade, there are no reinforcements coming. So better hope that Hightower gets healthy and Bentley continues to improve.

On the D-line, at least Deatrich Wise Jr. showed some spirit. He sacked the QB once and also got another QB hit, and he tried to get his teammates to up their emotional intensity. But it was for naught; because former D-coordinator Matt Patricia knew exactly how to slice up the Pats defense.

Offensively, it really does come down to execution. On the first possession of the night, Tom Brady threw a deep pass to Chris Hogan on third-and-four, when he had a running back open over the middle for an easy first down. Result: punt. Same thing on the second drive, except it was to Phillip Dorsett this time. Result: punt. And on the next drive, they tried a run up the middle on third-and-one and got stuffed. Result: punt.

Each of those times, a better play call or better execution would likely have gotten the first down. But they are taking too many deep shots on third downs, and it has been years and years since they could line up in a running formation and overpower the defense to get a first down.

Offenses hate to be called "finesse," so I'll just say the Pats offense depends on deception and trickery more than most. That is its strength, and they need to play to it more often.

Sure there are a lack of talented receivers, and the offensive line has only been okay this year. But it's execution under pressure that is killing them. When Julian Edelman returns, things will look better. However, the team won't be doing much this year if they can't get Chris Hogan or Sony Michel integrated into the offense.

The special teams standout was returner Cordarrelle Patterson. He averaged 28.3 yards per kickoff return, with a long of 45 yards. And even though it looked like the Lions kickoffs were low and short, I'll take the one positive from it that I can.

Where they go from here is up to them. They have the talent to rip off three straight wins and bring the universe back into alignment. But if they somehow lose Sunday, they'd already be looking at a three-game divisional deficit four weeks into the season. A steep mountain to climb, especially if you lose your home game to Miami, and that's who you trail.

So where does that leave us? Time to get back to basics. Stop with the long throws on third-down and take the easy firsts that are available. Stop trying to integrate Patterson in the offense and let him just return kicks and run "go" routes to gas opposing defenses. And stop thinking your talent will win out - this is the NFL, you take the game or it gets taken from you.

Biggest on-going issue: I'm sick of hearing it's the defense -- it's the offensive execution and some of Brady's decision-making. The defense has problems, but it is exposed the more the offense bungles things up.

Non-Brady MVP: Deatrich Wise, Jr., who at least tried to fire up his teammates.

Statistical Oddity: This is the first year since the introduction of overtime that four teams are 1-1-1 after three weeks. (Trivia question: can you name the four teams? Answer below.)

Weekly Water-cooler wisdom: "Remember: the sky was falling after the KC game in 2014. And that ended with a fifth Lombardi trophy."

Keep the faith,

- Scott

PS. 1-2!

PPS. Trivia Answer
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The Packers, Vikings, Steelers, and Browns are all 1-1-1 this season.

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