Mike Dussault

This game was kind of all over the map. Some amazingly positive things. Quite a few possible injuries. And some stuff that was really really icky on defense.

The biggest positive is that the Patriots offense looks even better than it was last year. Last year they only excelled at the short passing game, but this year they’re going down the field at an amazingly succesful rate.

Brady beats Chargers deep

NEXT LEVEL: Tom Brady completed 10 of 12 passes that traveled 11 yards or more on Sunday. He was able to exploit the Chargers’ secondary, one of the top defenses in the NFL against the deep ball in 2010, with many different receivers. Overall, five different Patriots caught two passes each that were thrown 11 yards or more resulting in 203 yards and two touchdowns.

Defenses that try to copy Rex Ryan’s “challenge all the short stuff” philosophy might be torched long if the protection can continue to hold up.

They may sputter at times, but overall this offense is looking dominant and at times unstoppable. Though Hernando’s injury status certainly warrants monitoring. Losing him for significant time could sting a bit.

On the defensive side of the ball it was the tale of two halves. The first featured a goaline stand, and ended with Vince Wilfork rumbling down the field. It looked like we might have just as many turnovers as last year.

But the second half looked frighteningly like the horror shows from last year. In fact the Patriots were worse on third down (10/12 = 82% conversions!) against the Chargers  than in any game last year.

The lack of pressure and big receivers allowed Philip Rivers to move the Chargers almost effortlessly down the field. As we noted before the game, the dump off passes underneath burned the Pats all game long. Gasp, did we miss Guyton a bit?

There were definitely some positive moments for the defense, but nearly all of them came in the first half. There should be some things to build on, but they’ve still got a long way to go.

Overall it looks like we’re in for quite a ride with the 2011 Patriots. On offense it looks like more of the same as last year. Though I’m curious to see more of Ridley, Vereen, and Price.

Not quite sure what to make of the defense right now. Not gonna lie, today scared me. I thought we had this shit figured out. I know it was probably one of the best offenses in the NFL, but still, Rivers was just sitting back there throwing darts.

Next week against the Bills should actually be interesting. It’s about time Bills. I’m crediting the new uniforms. If Ryan Fitzpatrick does what Rivers and Henne did we may have a problem.

Injuries to monitor: Hernandez, Chung, Dowling, Arrington, Haynesworth, Love, Bodden. Anyone else I’m missing? Yikes! At least no offensive linemen. As far as I know.