How un-Patriot-like has this season been? Let us count the ways
Losing two games in a row doesn't sound like New England.
Sure, the Patriots have had slow starts before in the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era, so on the surface, it would seem that a 1-2 start is nothing to be alarmed about. But it’s the manner in which they have lost the last two games that has some fans concerned.
Here is a look at some of the uncharacteristic things they have done:
Taking the ball to start Jaguars game.
Typically, when the Patriots win the coin toss, they elect to kick off to open the game, and receive the ball to open the second half. (There are exceptions, as the Pats took the ball in Week 17 last year against the Jets and in the first round of the playoffs vs. the Titans). Ideally, the goal is to execute a double score, in which they are able to get points on the board at the end of the first half, then take the ball and score again on the first drive of the second half.
At Jacksonville, the Patriots decided to receive after winning the coin toss. After marching to the Jacksonville 36, the drive stalled, and Stephen Gostkowski attempted a 54-yard field goal that sailed wide right.
The Jaguars pulled off a double score.
Jacksonville turned the tables on the Patriots, marching 75 yards and scoring with nine seconds left in the first half to increase their lead to 21-3 after Blake Bortles connected with Austin Seferian-Jenkins on a 3-yard touchdown pass.
The Jaguars added to their lead when they took the kick to open the second half and drove to the Patriots’ 10-yard line to set up Josh Lambo’s 28-yard field goal for a 24-3 lead.
The Patriots have had some strange penalties.
Against the Detroit Lions, the Patriots were whistled for 12 men on the field on defense. And this wasn’t one of those times where the other team runs up to the line of scrimmage and attempts to snap the ball while one of the defenders is trying to get off the field. No, the Patriots were lined up with too many men on the field as Detroit broke the huddle and got set to run a play. It took defensive end Deatrich Wise 5-10 seconds after the penalty had been called to realize he was the extra guy. They were flagged for the infraction on a drive that would result in Detroit adding a field goal to take a 13-0 lead over the Patriots in the first half.
That was not the only weird penalty of the night. In the fourth quarter, Brady was called for intentional grounding when he fired a deep ball with no receivers around. It appeared that Cordarelle Patterson ran the wrong route. The Patriots were on their own 21 at the time, trailing 23-10 with 12:37 remaining in the game. The penalty knocked the Patriots back to their own 11. With the loss of down, they faced second and 20, and went three and out.
They were picked apart by two offenses in a row.
The Patriots were unable to stop Blake Bortles.
The Patriots didn’t have an answer for Bortles in Week 2. The Jacksonville quarterback carved up the defense, completing 29 of 45 passes for 376 passing yards and four touchdowns in the 31-20 win. Not even an increased number of blitzes worked. He also rushed six times for 35 yards and finished with a quarterback rating of 111.0.
Those numbers are particularly astonishing when you look at what Bortles did in Weeks 1 and 3, throwing for just one touchdown and 331 yards combined. In a Week 3 loss at home to the Tennessee Titans, the Jaguars did not get in the end zone, managing just a pair of field goals in a 9-6 loss.
Against the Lions, the Patriots’ defense could not get off the field, Detroit won the time of possession battle, holding on to the ball nearly twice as long as the Patriots (39:15 to 20:45), Kerryon Johnson became the first Detroit running back to rush for 100 yards in a game since 2013, and the Lions rushed for 151 yards. Quarterback Matthew Stafford went 27 for 36 for 262 yards and two touchdowns.
The Patriots used up their timeouts with 4:43 remaining in the Lions game.
Trailing 23-10, the Patriots turned the ball over to Detroit with 7:39 left when Brady was intercepted by Darius Slay.
As Detroit looked to take time off the clock, the Patriots burned their timeouts and eventually forced the Lions to punt for the just the second time. The Patriots took over at their own 15, but ended up turning the ball over on downs.
Within that possession, Phillip Dorsett nearly came up with a catch that would have kept the drive alive, but it was ruled incomplete. Dorsett gestured to the sideline that the play should be challenged, but with no timeouts remaining, that was not an option for the Patriots.
Brady called out the team’s use of James White.
James White scored the only touchdown for the Patriots against Detroit.
James White scored the only touchdown for the Patriots in the loss to Detroit when he hauled in a 10-yard pass from Brady with 10 minutes left in the third quarter, pulling the Patriots to within 13-10.
“He’s got to be involved,’’ Brady said when asked about White after the game. “The guys who can make plays, those are the ones who should be involved. James is certainly one of them.’’
Brady seemed to be criticizing the play and personnel decisions, lamenting the fact that White didn’t play a bigger role while also questioning why other less effective players were seeing as much action as they did.
White’s snap count has decreased each week from a high of 36 in Week 1 to just 25 in Week 3. But that speaks more to the inability of the offense to stay on the field. In Week 1, White was on the field for 48 percent of the offensive snaps. Against the Lions, he was on the field for 52 percent of the offensive snaps.
Rob Gronkowski acknowledged that he nixed a trade to Detroit in the offseason.
When he was asked over the summer about reports that the Patriots were trying to trade him in the offseason, Rob Gronkowski dismissed it as fake news. But the All-Pro tight end changed his tune this weekend when he was asked if ESPN’s report that he threatened to retire if he was traded to Detroit was true.
“Yeah, it happened,’’ said Gronkowski following the Detroit game. “Brady is my quarterback. That’s all. I wasn’t going anywhere without Brady.’’
Typically, the Patriots keep those issues in-house, but Gronk appeared to break protocol in what has been an atypical season for the Patriots thus far.
