New England Patriots

Patriots Report Card: Week 13 at Green Bay

By Jeremy Gottlieb

9 minutes to read

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Mike Roemer/AP

It was probably inevitable that the Patriots would lose another game this season. As great as they’ve been for the past two months, their schedule contained plenty of land mines, the biggest probably sticking out of the fabled frozen tundra of Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

So their 26-21 loss to the Packers on Sunday wasn’t necessarily a surprise. The Pats hung in there on D against the power of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers’ offense, a super powered unit at home. Tom Brady threw two touchdown passes and led the Patriots into position to win late. The entire game probably came down to a handful of plays, the Packers simply seizing the upper hand on more of them.

Still, a loss is a loss and by losing, the Pats lessened their margin for error in the chase for the No. 1 seed in the AFC. Despite Green Bay’s video game numbers, this game was still there for the taking. And anyone on the Pats has every right to be frustrated. So with that, let’s get into this week’s report card.

OVERALL GRADE: C+OFFENSE

– Given how limited their opportunities were, Brady and the offense did some mighty fine work. Twenty-one points in just over 23 minutes and about to reach the doorstep of even more is an impressive accomplishment.

But disappointment enters the equation when considering what could have been. The Patriots moved the ball on the ground when they bothered to try, with LeGarrette Blount ripping off 58 yards on 10 attempts and punishing folks while he was at it.

Even Brandon Bolden made a rare cameo and looked shifty and fresh, particularly on his second quarter touchdown run. They averaged 4.7 yards per rushing attempt against the Packers’ lousy run D, which makes it all the more frustrating that they let that part of the game get away from them so quickly. Alongside Jonas Gray’s pre-banishment performance, Bolden’s play indicates that the Pats can run the ball and succeed no matter who’s doing the running.

Brady played well and no one in his receiving corps deserves any ridicule. When the Pats needed to move the ball through the air in the fourth quarter, he made one clutch throw after another while Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski made big catches. The mere fact that the end zone pass to Gronkowski that would have given the Pats the lead was as close as it was is a testament to Gronk’s ongoing greatness, as was his pinball routine near the goal line on which he was nearly pantsed in the second quarter. And Brandon LaFell continued to break out as the NFL’s newest star receiver, setting career highs in catches, yards and touchdowns in the game with a fantastic, back shoulder grab going for his second score of the night.

If there’s really anywhere to be picky it’s the offensive line, which didn’t perform to the same standard as it has for the past couple months. Brady was only sacked once but the timing of it made it feel much worse than that, and at least temporarily damaged the goodwill engendered by the line keeping him upright since the Denver game one month ago.

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And it wasn’t just the sack (which can be pinned on Nate Solder and to a lesser extent Dan Connolly, who did not have a good game at all), on a huge third down with the game in the balance, that hurt. It was Brady being under the kind of duress he hasn’t experienced in weeks. It was Marcus Cannon playing the Cameron Fleming, extra blocker role and being horrible at it. It was the three straight plays early in the second half on which each member of the interior either got whistled for a penalty or flat got beat.

Or maybe it was the lack of the running game that hurt the pass protection. Much like the offense as a whole, the line never really got into any kind of rhythm or was able to build any kind of momentum. When the Pats set the tempo, every part of the operation works better starting with the guys up front. When they’re chasing all day, they’re just not the same and that starts up front as well. GRADE: B-

DEFENSE – Here’s the thing. Take all the yards and all the time Rodgers had to kick back and relax in the pocket before throwing – and the lofty third down conversion rate – and just put it aside. Because with the exception of the 45-yard TD pass to Jordy Nelson at the end of the first half (an absolute killer) and the deep sideline pass to Davante Adams on Logan Ryan to set up the Packers’ first touchdown, the Patriots were solid — if not a bit malleable — on defense all day. They held the Packers to their lowest point total in weeks and only three in the second half. They allowed zero touchdowns in four red zone trips. And they survived an inordinate amount of time stuck on the field (the Packers won the time of possession battle 36:35 to 23:25) well enough to give the offense a huge chance and plenty of time to win the game in the end.

It should be noted here, in the understatement of the week, that Rodgers is the best quarterback in the NFL hands down, and he played like it in this game. The Patriots should be at peace with the fact that they held him and his offense to 26 points. The way he was able to diagnose matchup advantages, elude pressure when the Pats actually generated some, make every correct decision, use his running ability efficiently and just look like he was flicking his wrist only to rifle the ball to his receivers with pinpoint accuracy were all staggering. If there’s such a thing as a prototypical pro quarterback, this guy is it. And if you don’t believe that, take a look at this.

OK, now that that’s out of the way, it must also be noted that because Rodgers is so great, it’s very difficult to get away with making any mistakes, even if you just make one. Such is life for Darrelle Revis, who was his usual shutdown self, minus the Nelson catch and run scoring play, and Devin McCourty, who got caught flat footed and was late to pursue on that same play (probably because he’s so used to not having to ever clean up for Revis). You aren’t going to find many better free safeties than McCourty and you aren’t going to find any better corners than Revis so in this case, let’s just tip the cap to Rodgers and Nelson and move on.

The Patriots are still mostly fine in the secondary. Again, no need to worry about Revis and McCourty. Brandon Browner was tremendous in this game, lousy reputation calls notwithstanding. And even though Patrick Chung was beaten by tight end/local boy/not famous, dead composer Richard Rodgers for a TD and dragged a few extra yards for a critical first down by James Starks, he’s been so steady all year that it’s OK to give him a mulligan.

But the way that Rodgers was able to seek and destroy Logan Ryan is something that bears watching. If Ryan is going to be on the field, the Pats are probably going to have to give him help in man coverage situations moving forward. As tough a day as he had, if Adams doesn’t drop that late-shoulda-been touchdown pass, it’s even tougher. He was toast right from the snap on that play, and it would be a huge disappointment if all of Revis and Browner’s excellent work this season winds up going for naught because the third or fourth corner can’t cover.

Beyond that, it’s tough to criticize too much else. The Patriots contained Eddie Lacy and the running game after the Packers’ first possession. Dont’a Hightower played another monster game (don’t even try to deny you felt the chunk rising in your gullets when he was shaken up in the fourth quarter). Jamie Collins was solid. And it’s tough to blame Rob Ninkovich for getting stuck chasing Randall Cobb out of the backfield. That and a couple of similar plays were just cases of the defense being outflanked. Credit the Packers.

That’s the general theme of this whole exercise, at least as it pertains to the defense. Credit the Packers. The Pats were good on Sunday. Green Bay was just better.

GRADE: B

SPECIAL TEAMS/COACHING – Mostly blah concerning the special teams. Ryan Allen didn’t punt particularly well but the ball probably made it feel like he was kicking cinder blocks. Stephen Gostkowski missed his much debated only field goal attempt but it was a 47-yarder and again, the ball was a giant stone. Danny Amendola had a couple of decent kick returns and picked up three yards on his only punt return. The cover guys were their usual stingy selves. Ho-hum.

It gets a little tricky though when we move on to the coaches, who have seen better days. It’s tough to figure out exactly what the game plan was on offense while the defense had the right idea but was out-schemed enough to elicit some finger pointing.

For the 78th time, the imbalance between pass and run (35 to 18) just makes no sense. What gives? The Pats came out trying to run but botched their first possession from a play-calling standpoint (why the quick snap on third down when you have a tank like Blount who is better when he gets a head of steam?) then bailed until late in the third quarter when … surprise! … Blount got going and it opened up everything.

And while we’re here, isn’t trying to slow the Packers’ lightning fast attack and keep Rodgers off the field sort of important? Again, the Patriots are at their best when they set the tone and control the tempo. So are the Packers. Yet the Pats almost willingly ceded any attempt at initiating the pace one possession into the game. They were on their heels from the opening kickoff and it just felt like that was OK with them. And it wound up wearing on both the offensive line and the entire defense.

We could debate the merits of punting on fourth-and-1 near midfield early in the game (again, not going for it played right to the Packers’ strength). Or that field goal attempt on fourth-and-18 (seems that going for it would have made more sense there too). Or even single out some more play-calling misadventures (on the first possession of the second half specifically).

But instead, let’s just slightly shake our heads at the proven fact that Mike McCarthy outcoached Bill Belichick in an actual game, give the Packers one final tip of the cap, remember that the Pats are still in the driver’s seat for homefield throughout the AFC playoffs and bid Titletown adieu.

On to San Diego.

GRADES: SPECIAL TEAMS: B-, COACHING: C

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