By Scott Mellecker | Observer Contributor
We are officially eleven games into the NFL season and the Pats are holding a nice 9-2 record. Although there are plenty of more games in the win column than the loss column, there is still plenty that needs to be worked on with this team.
The first four games of the season were a nice test for the Patriots without the greatest quarterback of all time, and the team passed with an A+ score. First it was Jimmy Garoppolo who was handed the keys to the offense. With everyone in the world doubting them, Jimmy G pulled off a miraculous victory against the Arizona Cardinals to win the first game of the season. Next up, the Miami Dolphins, who Garoppolo absolutely tore up for the first half of the game.
Then the unexpected happened. With the Patriots already being forced to use their backup due to Deflate-gate, Garoppolo went down with a painful shoulder-injury. The Pats then had to go to their last option, rookie third string QB Jacoby Brissett. The Dolphins made a stunning comeback, but the team held on to get the victory.
Next on the list was the Houston Texans. This game is arguable the defenses best game of the season, shutting down the Texan offense to zero points. The offense played well, but the game was won by the defense. The fourth game was a matchup against Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills. The defense once again played well, but the story was not the same for the offense. The Bills whooped us 16-0.
Finally, the game we had all been waiting for. I’m not talking about the game itself, which we ended up putting a pounding on the Browns like many other teams have, I’m talking about the return of the GOAT. Tom Brady stepped onto the field for the first time all season, and even though the game was in Cleveland, Brady erupted for 406 yards and 3 touchdowns to Martellus Bennett. Finally, our team was back on the path to another Super Bowl.
The Pats were rolling over teams for the next 3 weeks, defeating the Bengals, Steelers, and revenge on the Bills. The offense was looking better than ever, and the defense was playing solid. But then fans, reporters, and even some of the players were blindsided by Bill Belichick’s next move.
Bill had traded one of our top linebacker’s and arguably the most versatile players on our defense, Jamie Collins. Ever since then our defense has not been the same. The trade came on the day of the deadline. And even though we had two weeks to prepare due to our bye-week, the defense got stomped by the Seattle Seahawks in a rematch of Super Bowl 49. Sure, the Seahawks came ready to play, but there was clearly something lacking with our defense.
On the schedule next for the Patriots was the San Francisco 49ers. Tom Brady, as always, looked like a football God. The 39-year-old quarterback looked better than when he was 29. He torched the 49ers all day. But even though we won convincingly by 13 points and the defense only let up 17 points, and one of those scores was a garbage time TD, they still did not look their best.
This past Sunday we played the New York Jets who were 3-7, one of the worst teams in the league. Now I will say this, if you follow Patriots-Jets games, you know the Jets will always give us a run for our money simply because they are our rivals. But this is another team that we should have handled with ease. Ryan Fitzpatrick who has been an interception machine this season looked like an All-Star against us. Once again, Tom Brady had to bail out the defense by playing like the freak he is at the end of the game to give us the go ahead touchdown that eventually won the game.
There were a few good defensive plays against the Jets, such as Malcolm Butler’s forced fumble or Chris Long’s strip-sack to seal the deal, but our secondary got burned most of the game and we could not get any pressure on the QB. It seems to be that is going to be the story of our defense.
The Pats defense is a bend but don’t break type, but they bend a lot. We haven’t even been facing great offenses and our defense gets burned. With so much potential on the defensive side of the ball after the great drafting Belichick has done, it seems like were back to the same defense we had back in 2009 (which if I must remind everyone, it was terrible).
Everyone goes by the motto “In Bill we trust”, but I’m not so sure about it anymore. People put their blind faith in Bill as a GM, but to be honest they need to open their eyes. Going back to last season Belichick has been dismantling this defense.
The type of defenders that Belichick has always gone after are speedy secondary guys. Speed does win in this league, but it’s time we get some players who play with some attitude. We need a defense that wants to punish the other team, some hard hitting guys that hate your guts just because you play for the other team. Our defense has no identity.
As most people know, we are too far into the season to expect anything different out of our defense. The best we can hope for is that our offense stays in-tact and keeps beating teams up, because if it comes down to needing our defense to win us a game, I won’t have much confidence that we can do it.
Comments are closed.