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Pats Posits: Latereally!?

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Imagine yourself before the final mind-blowing play of the Patriots loss to the Dolphins. The Pats were poised to take a five-point victory and with Kansas City in a tight one with Baltimore, potentially looking at ending the day with the top seed in the AFC.

It wasn’t going to be a perfect victory. The offense, despite resurrecting Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman, still had its trouble finishing. And the defense once again had turned into Mr. Hyde for large stretches of the game. Gostkowski misses cost them four points.

Still, until that point the Pats had overcome their continued inconsistencies, which were as drastic within this game as they’ve been between home and away in 2018. The defense got the stops needed and the offense got the points needed. All they needed was to get one last tackle.

Then suddenly, in one play, everything changed.

Where to begin? It’s the kind of loss only the Posits can help me get over.

— There have been quite a few epic shitty signature moments of the Pats Dynasty. The helmet catch, the wildcat, the Ray Rice ’09 first-play TD run, Manningham up the sideline, the Philly Special, any torn ACL plays… but usually those big bummer moments are reserved for playoff games.

This one… Latereally?! is the best I got… immediately takes its place in the pantheon and it. was. the. worst.  But even I can appreciate that it was 69 yards long. Nice football gods.

Now, the main thing we’re hearing about Gronk is questioning why he was on the field. It was a rare glaring situational error by a Belichick team. Regardless of Gronk the execution should have been much better well before the tight end trying to tackle.

The Patriots defense has prided themselves on excellent fundamental play and this is one play where it all fell apart. Given the strength of the defense as tacklers it made the Latereally?! that much more shocking and uncharacteristic. 

Just put it up there now with the Helmet Catch and the rest. We’ll always have five rings and the Buttfumble at least.

— The implications? We’re likely packing our bags for Kansas City for the AFC Championship, which is exactly what none of us wanted. Yes, three games left, and all that matters now is locking down the number two seed and that starts with turning the page as quickly as possible to a HUGE game in Pittsburgh next weekend.

— Let’s cleanse the palate with some positivity. Gronk and Edelman looked like their old selves and I wish that was what we were all congratulating ourselves on this week.  But before the Latereally!? both had really strong games in key moments. That’s huge.

The rusty lining there though is that the run game sputtered. Even with Gordon and Patterson also having nice days, it didn’t matter because Michel, Burkhead and White were ineffective. That trio along with Develin are the lifeblood for this being the kind of finishing offense they weren’t on Sunday.

— The offense still moved the ball in the second half, they just didn’t produce points. That lack of finish is exactly the kind of thing that can’t happen in the playoffs where finishing is everything.

— Now, the defense. What was most distressing? The 189 yards rushing. Last week Brown and Guy were excellent. This week they were both controlled and the Pats were gashed up and down the line. Elandon Roberts is sometimes killer, sometimes whiffer. Everyone is just so up and down in unison this year.

— The third down defense was good (1-7)! They set a season-high in sacks (5)! But if you can’t win on first and second down you are dead meat. It looked like they had done enough to win before that last play, but even if they had gotten the final tackle there’s still no way I’d trust this defense to play lights out anywhere outside of Gillette Stadium, and even there it seems like they could be vulnerable to the right opponent.

Just look at the Dolphins drives for exhibit A. No sustained drives. They’d either get a bunch of yards on first and second down and march right into the end zone, or they’d be punting in six plays or less.

— The Gostkowski misses cost them but I’m too old to complain about kickers. They hit some, they miss some and there isn’t a better alternative out there on the street so just bite your pillow and deal with it. I do think Gost will be a player to consider this offseason but we’ll save that for then.

— The in-season acquisitions Albert McClellan and Ramon Humber came through with two game-changing plays (that only counted as one punt block for some reason, another positive thread that will be buried. Really, it’s how they’ve helped solidify the punt and kickoff teams that has been the most important part.

— Brady throwing dimes out there will lose out to his mental error at the end of the first half that also cost the Pats points, but he had a really good game otherwise and if anything should make the Steelers worried it’s that. Brady looks like he’s hitting his stride, despite being clearly banged up, and that’s a rare sight for a 41-year-old quarterback.

— I can admit I enjoyed Brandon Bolden scoring those TDs. He was a great Patriot.

— The big question is if the 2018 Pats are the critically flawed team like the 2009 and 2010 teams were. You know, the last two teams to not make the conference championship? I don’t think they’re the bad personality mix of 2009 and they’re too talented and experienced on defense to compare to the 2010 Achilles Heel. They’ve shown how good they can be. But they keep slipping on the road.

The punishment for Latereally?! is just. They have not proven they can win on the road this season and it’s very possible they’ll have to go on the road in the playoffs. But maybe not, and that’s why you can’t write even this Patriots team off.

With three games to go a lot can happen and a win in Pittsburgh would feel especially good and could be a good spark to take the team into the final two-game homestand.

But at this point, the 2018 Patriots are who they are. The playoff road they get will be the one they deserve. They’re used to the easy road, having played just seven road playoff games. They’re 3-4 under Belichick. 

But two of those wins came in Pittsburgh so what better place to get things on track?

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