I was surprised that watching the All-22 of the Patriots loss to the Lions made me feel a lot better about the Patriots chances of turning the season around from the 1-2 start. This is almost always the case, because you get a sense of how close the Pats were on many plays that went against them.
It’s small consolation, but it’s a clear illustration that all is not lost and that a 23-10 loss isn’t the worst thing to ever happen to a football team even if it was the second week in a row the Pats didn’t really show up.
I had to take this one in as a total experience, not a specific play by play, drive by drive breakdown but I came away with some general thoughts that were much different than what I came away with as I depressingly crawled into bed close to midnight on Sunday.
The first good takeaway is the Ja’whaun Bentley is a keeper. Yes, he had mistakes that took away from his overall impressive play, but this is the kind of player the Patriots defense needs badly and he should only continue to improve. His reaction speed is so impressive, better I dare say than any other linebacker on the roster. Watching his interception and he sticks with his receiver like glue and effortlessly makes the pick.
I don’t know where the Patriots defense is headed, but I’m pretty positive that Bentley is going to be a building block.
The other good guy I’ll mention is Dietrich Wise, who appears to still be viewed mostly as a pass rusher at this point, but he brings great energy and is one of the only consistently disruptive players up front. Bentley and Wise are the future on defense.
