review

As always the must-read recap from Greg Bedard after reviewing the tape. Some interesting observations that are especially critical of the secondary, including Tavon Wilson, who hasn’t caught much flack. I can’t disagree with any of it, and it makes you wonder how badly Ras-I has fallen down the depth chart to be almost completely MIA the last three weeks. Well, things better improve back there this week, because even throwing wobblers Peyton Manning is a better quarterback than any the Pats have faced this season.

Besides that, the Patriots internally have to be doubling up efforts to get things corrected in the secondary because the sub packages on defense are ripe for exposure by the right quarterback and team. It can’t be sitting well with coach Bill Belichick that his defense, despite having more talent and time in the system for some players this season, is still giving up way too many explosive plays: seven of more than 20 yards (accounting for 56 percent of Buffalo’s 438 yards), and another nine for more than 10 yards.

We can’t really turn the page to the next game until Greg Bedard weighs in with his weekly wrap up and most of what he writes here reinforces what the PFF breakdown saw, though I tend to trust Bedard’s analysis more than the anonymous PFF guy.

Biggest takeaway? The defensive performance is concerning, and though Bedard didn’t include it here, he was wondering on twitter last night whether off-man coverage can even work any more in today’s NFL. I hope he writes more on that because it’s been a main ingredient of the bend-don’t-break, but it’s like pretty much giving up free completions against teams with any offensive presence. This quote sums it up:

The question the Patriots have to be asking themselves is: Is it time to change how we do things — at least against good teams? Because an increased talent level alone doesn’t look like it will be good enough against elite teams.