Last week’s showing against the Seattle Seahawks showed exactly what the New England Patriots’ weaknesses are.
The Pats aren’t the team who are going to go and put up 50 points every game like they did in 2007 and they clearly aren’t going to be able to depend on the offense to do everything like they did in their Super Bowl run last year.
The Pats beefed up their pass rush with Chandler Jones and linebackers with Dont’a Hightower in this year’s draft, but their problems aren’t coming from those areas. The secondary is awful with the NFL’s fifth worst passing defense in the league. Injuries to free-agent pick up Steve Gregory and other members of the secondary certainly haven’t helped, but what they did last week was just atrocious.
They made Seattle rookie quarterback Russell Wilson look like a star, especially on the long pass to Sidney Rice late in the fourth quarter to give them the 24-23 lead.
The defense needs to start picking things up and they couldn’t have found a better team to face off against in week 7 to get some confidence than the struggling offense of the New York Jets. The Jets are 30th in the league in passing, only averaging 184 yards a game.
However, that’s not saying much as Seattle is 31st in the league in passing yards a game (161 yards a game) and looked top-5 against the Pats.
However, last week should count for a wakeup call for the Patriots who now sit at 3-3 and are in a four-way tie in the AFC East with the Jets, Buffalo and Miami. At the beginning of the regular season it looked as if the Patriots would run away with the division (again), but now things aren’t so sure. This is the time the Patriots need to turn it around and have a major second half to the season. They will be in major trouble if they lost to the Jets and fall to 3-4.
Saying that a few things need to happen for the Patriots to succeed. One being the secondary needs to pick it up, but no need for beating a dead horse.
Another thing that needs to happen is Tom Brady needs to start picking his game up a little bit. One thing I have noticed in the game is Brady has been so scared to sit in the pocket and take a hit. There were times in the game against the Denver Broncos where Brady hunched over like he was trying to avoid a hit and no one was even around him. That wastes precious time and takes his eyes away from where his receivers are and will only lead to a sack nine times out of 10.
Has the Patriots offense looked good so far this season?
Of course they have, they are third in offensive passing with 293 yards a game and fourth in rushing with 152 yards a game. They are also leading averaging 31 points a game (although the blowout of Buffalo certainly helped).
With those type of offensive numbers, the Patriots should be racking up the wins, but their struggles late in the game have killed them, as they have been almost absent late in the game. They need to step it up and become the fourth-quarter kids they used to be and stop settling for field goals in the red zone. They need the touchdowns.
Saying that I think this matchup with Rex Ryan and the Jets comes at the perfect time for the Patriots all-around game to start coming into form.
Patriots win 34-20.
Follow me on Twitter: ALabor_ET
The Pats aren’t the team who are going to go and put up 50 points every game like they did in 2007 and they clearly aren’t going to be able to depend on the offense to do everything like they did in their Super Bowl run last year.
The Pats beefed up their pass rush with Chandler Jones and linebackers with Dont’a Hightower in this year’s draft, but their problems aren’t coming from those areas. The secondary is awful with the NFL’s fifth worst passing defense in the league. Injuries to free-agent pick up Steve Gregory and other members of the secondary certainly haven’t helped, but what they did last week was just atrocious.
They made Seattle rookie quarterback Russell Wilson look like a star, especially on the long pass to Sidney Rice late in the fourth quarter to give them the 24-23 lead.
The defense needs to start picking things up and they couldn’t have found a better team to face off against in week 7 to get some confidence than the struggling offense of the New York Jets. The Jets are 30th in the league in passing, only averaging 184 yards a game.
However, that’s not saying much as Seattle is 31st in the league in passing yards a game (161 yards a game) and looked top-5 against the Pats.
However, last week should count for a wakeup call for the Patriots who now sit at 3-3 and are in a four-way tie in the AFC East with the Jets, Buffalo and Miami. At the beginning of the regular season it looked as if the Patriots would run away with the division (again), but now things aren’t so sure. This is the time the Patriots need to turn it around and have a major second half to the season. They will be in major trouble if they lost to the Jets and fall to 3-4.
Saying that a few things need to happen for the Patriots to succeed. One being the secondary needs to pick it up, but no need for beating a dead horse.
Another thing that needs to happen is Tom Brady needs to start picking his game up a little bit. One thing I have noticed in the game is Brady has been so scared to sit in the pocket and take a hit. There were times in the game against the Denver Broncos where Brady hunched over like he was trying to avoid a hit and no one was even around him. That wastes precious time and takes his eyes away from where his receivers are and will only lead to a sack nine times out of 10.
Has the Patriots offense looked good so far this season?
Of course they have, they are third in offensive passing with 293 yards a game and fourth in rushing with 152 yards a game. They are also leading averaging 31 points a game (although the blowout of Buffalo certainly helped).
With those type of offensive numbers, the Patriots should be racking up the wins, but their struggles late in the game have killed them, as they have been almost absent late in the game. They need to step it up and become the fourth-quarter kids they used to be and stop settling for field goals in the red zone. They need the touchdowns.
Saying that I think this matchup with Rex Ryan and the Jets comes at the perfect time for the Patriots all-around game to start coming into form.
Patriots win 34-20.
Follow me on Twitter: ALabor_ET