new england patriots

The New England Patriots were two yards away from almost assuredly being blown out, something that has rarely happened under Bill Belichick. The lifeless Pats were down 17-3 as the Miami Dolphins facing a second-and-two at the Patriots 19-yard line. 

With another field goal the Dolphins would take a three-score lead, and after an ugly day from Tom Brady and the Pats’ offense, there was no reason to think the Pats would mount much of a comeback. Another touchdown and the game was likely over, as the Dolphins snapped the ball inside the Patriot red zone.

An incompletion later and it was third-and-two, a huge moment, that in retrospect might be a turning point in the 2013 season. That’s when Rob Ninkovich and Dont’a Hightower delivered. The Patriots brought the blitz and Hightower finished it off, sacking Ryan Tannehill for a loss of nine yards and forcing the Dolphins into a long field goal attempt in a brisk wind.

It was the first sack of the day for the Patriots, but it would open the floodgates and perhaps might’ve even saved the Patriots’ season. Yes, a loss would’ve only dropped the Pats to 5-3, but until that point, New England looked like a team that couldn’t do anything on either side of the ball.

On the next play, Dolphin kicker Caleb Sturgis missed the 46-yard field goal and the Patriots offense took over. Five plays later the Pats would get their first third-quarter touchdown of the year and the comeback was on.

When Miami got the ball back, needing to answer and stop any Patriot momentum, the Pats’ defense came with pressure again, and again it delivered as Logan Ryan forced Tannehill to fumble, setting the Pats’ offense up on the Miami 23-yard line.

The Patriots would tie the game on Brandon Bolden’s two-yard touchdown just three plays later. 

Two big sacks in an nine-play span and the complexion of the game had completely changed and it was because Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia finally decided to send the blitz after Tannehill.

New England has traditionally preferred a read-and-react style of defense, but on this day it was the attacking style that turned things around. Injuries have left the Pats vulnerable in certain areas and by taking away Tannehill’s time in the pocket, the blitz forced him into bad throws.

The sacks might’ve not only saved this game, but given the Pats a blueprint for how they can succeed going forward. Their problems on third-down continued in this one, but nothing gets you off the field like an unstoppable pass rush.

Big game this weekend for the Pats, with a divisional win over the Dolphins they’ll maintaing at least a one game lead over the Jets. Jets are playing the Bengals, that should be a good one.

Taking a look at the point spread on NFL action this weekend and the Pats are favored by seven. Sounds about right. I think this matchup with the Dolphins, a team many though might overtake the Pats this year, is coming at the perfect time. It’s a division game so there won’t be many surprises, but the Pats also know how important these games are, so they’ll be no lack of focus.

I liked what I saw out of Jamie Collins getting a chance to rush the QB a bit against the Jets. Belichick seemed to like it as well, saying today: 

“We know he’s athletic, but I thought other parts of his game showed up. I thought he played hard and made some plays, played aggressively and played with good power. He’s getting better every week.” 

Collins could be a real wild card in the second half of the season.

Really like the Andre Carter signing. He should bring some good calm leadership to the defense. Not sure how much he has left but he did have 3 sacks last year with the Raiders and was generally solid against the run (2.4 rating from PFF). He’ll ease the burden on NInkovich and Chandler a bit, and help out on passing downs especially. He was a beast in 2012 and really, losing him to injury might’ve cost the Pats the Super Bowl.

Sounds like Vereen is close to practicing and Amendola was out at practice today. If these two can get back in lineup (and stay in the lineup) the Pats offense is going to have a completely different complexion in just a couple weeks. 

I feel the same way about Armond Armstead and Tommy Kelly. Their impact on the defense will have a hugely positive trickle down effect. Not to mention that Joe Vellano and Chris Jones have played far better than I ever thought either would. Both could stick in Foxboro for a long time. Jones is already getting me hot and bothered with some of his timely interior rushes. If only Wilfork and Kelly had stayed healthy, the Pats might’ve never been in the position of need to pick Chris Jones up, but I think he’s quickly becoming a building block for the defense.

Pats must win at least one of these last two before the bye. If they win both they will be in great position, but neither will be easy games.

Took a bit of a break from the internets after the loss yesterday. Not because I found it all that distressing, but because I knew the Chris Jones penalty would be argued and lamented non-stop. It happened. I’m not going to get into what was or wasn’t called or what the rule book did or didn’t say. We’ve had plenty of good calls and bad calls go our way over the years. 

The Jets were the better team yesterday. Barely. So hats off to them, in my eyes they won the game by being better on both sides of the ball on third down and totally overmatching the Patriots offense for their first three possessions of the second half. That was frighteningly similar to the 2009 and 2010 losses.

Did the Pats find enough in the tank at the end to make it interesting? Sure. They always seem to, and even when they’re as shorthanded as we’ve ever seen them and not playing their best game in a hostile environment, it still took until overtime to put them away by a (controversial) field goal.

Let’s keep some perspective. The AFC is wide open this year. Look at all the devastating injuries around the league that happened yesterday. Reggie Wayne. Brian Cushing. Doug Martin. Every team is dealing with that and it’s going to level the playing field even more.

So the Pats aren’t going to waltz off with another division title by late October. Does anyone really think the Pats have been good enough that they should be 2-3 games up in the division? I don’t. And they’re still in pretty good position.

So what did we learn yesterday? Gronk is back, but isn’t an instant fix. The Pats need Amendola and Vereen back because they’re still struggling to find any consistency moving the ball.

But there were glimmers of hope yesterday, and let’s remember that’s a Jets defense that is playing very well right now. It’s not often you can point to one area to fix coming out of a loss, but third down is that one area as I see it.

The middle of the offensive line needs to be better. Brady can’t get too locked into Gronk. And the defense need to re-establish a new identity without Mayo and Wilfork. Getting Tommy Kelly back and adding Armond Armstead could be just the boost they need. Vellano and Smith have been better than I thought they might be.

Otherwise, it was a hard-fought game and I look forward to pouring back over it to see exactly what the Pats were doing on defense and just what went wrong on all the third downs.

The 2013 season very well could be a dogfight down to the end, and those can be enjoyable. This great “re-healthening” has begun. Let’s hold on for two more weeks, get to the bye and see where we’re at then.