new england patriots

Yes, it’s the bye week, that one dreaded week that happens once per football season without a Patriots game. Once Monday hits the push for a fourth Super Bowl begins so here are some things the Patriots should be regrouping on with the extra time.

1. Find the best secondary combination: There are a lot of questions about the secondary right now, and that’s compounded injuries. With the cutting of Sterling Moore the Pats are even down another defensive back. So from what we’ve seen so far what is the best combination? And how does Aqib Talib fit into the equation?

Here’s what we think is the ideal: Gregory and McCourty at safety, Dennard and Talib as your outside corners and then Cole (or perhaps Arrington) at star. Keep Wilson at Money and use Chung in an in-the-slot role in sub packages depending on the match-ups.

The only issue that could come up is if they want a better in-the-box safety on the field since Gregory and McCourty seem better suited to the back end. But we do need the most help on the back end. The hard part is boiling down Chung’s role. That will be an interesting place to watch.

Regardless the Pats must figure out what the best combo in the secondary is and hope to ride it out for the next three months plus. As always health is paramount  back there.

2. Stay out of trouble – The Pats practiced on Thursday then most of them will probably get out of town one last time over the weekend. Last year over the bye we had the infamous Gronk-Bibi Jones incident. Hopefully this year he’s learned from that and will just stick to harmless fun like playing some Giants in Halo. This is a young team so you never know what to expect, but hopefully every one of them stays out of the news.

3. Fine tune the offense – “Finding an identity” has been a big buzz phrase surrounding the Patriots offense, which is kind of strange to say of the best offense in the NFL. Perhaps more appropriate would be to find consistency. The identity of this offense is one that can do whatever the defense isn’t prepared for, but the execution has been up and down at times from both the play calling stand point and the players’.

When self-evaluating this week the Pats need to find the kind of plays they can hang their hat on in crunch time. The kind of plays they can execute when they’re not dictating the pace to the defense. Things are easy when the defense is on it’s heels, but this Patriots offense needs to do a better job of putting the hammer down when the momentum is not in their favor. Doing this in crunch time might be the biggest key to a Super Bowl run this year (as it always is).

4. Get healthy – The Patriots haven’t been devastated by season-ending injuries so far this year, but they’ve had a ton of lingering minor ones that just won’t seem to go away. If nothing else the time off will give some of these injuries a chance to heal up a bit more. The players who most need it: Logan Mankins, Aaron Hernandez, Steve Gregory, Dont’a Hightower and Patrick Chung.

As of Thursday the guys still missing practice (full pads) were Arrington, Bolden, and Hernandez.

5. Finish – As always this is our final key. How does one finish during the bye week? It’s simple, getting your personal life in order for the long last stretch of football that could last another three full months, and putting aside all distractions that might keep focus from the ultimate goal.

There’s no question that despite their (limited) flaws the Patriots have another chance to make a run at the Super Bowl. They’ll have some good tests in the second half of the season, but the pieces are in place. They must take advantage of their opportunities, especially to secure as many home playoff games as possible.