Week 4 Report

Patriots v. Chiefs

Well, at this point, I don't even know where to start. I mean, really, there wasn't one positive thing that happened Monday night. The offense looked inept again and couldn't sustain a drive. The defense looked like it reverted back to its old ways of getting dominated in all facets.  Brady looked defeated after the first series. The defense was a wounded duck after the first series. The moment that game was 14-0 you knew this game may not have ended well, and well it didn't, at all. This was easily the most pathetic performance I've ever seen out of the Patriots.

Offensively, I guess there are two lone positives: we didn't get shutout and Jimmy G looked pretty good being thrust into the game. And after that, wow. That's all I really have to say. The amazing thing is, the offensive line really wasn't as atrocious as it's been this season. The offense just failed to move the ball and so many dumb plays were made. Brady throwing deep to Edelman on a 2nd and 6, Brady forcing one into double coverage to Gronk, and Brady, for god knows why, deciding to throw to Edelman on a 3rd and 3 when he had 5 easy yards and a first down. Plays like that just stick out as to why this offense couldn't muster up one good looking drive. Not to mention the couple sorry picks thrown as well by Brady. But, it also doesn't help that both Dobson and Thompkins were inactive for this game too. 

It's tough to really pinpoint why the offense wasn't productive last night, because every part the offense sucked. The offensive line, while better, still allowed a couple strip sacks. Two first round picks, Solder and Vollmer, were benched at various points in the game. The run blocking wasn't consistent. Brady looked like he was ready to leave the game after one quarter. He barely made any attempt to go through progressions. You can blame that on him or the OL for failing to block continually.

I hated the run game and overall play calling this game. Why were we running all of these draws out of the gun? Why didn't we drop into and I-formation and give it to Ridley 20 times to steady the offense? The Pats were persistent on spreading out the defense and forcing draws to the edge only to see the edge easily contained by KC. The passing calls were not even close to diverse. It felt like everything was either slants or in cuts. This could be a personnel issue since we had a solid two healthy WRs. I was amazed that we saw NOTHING from Tim Wright even though Dobson and Thompkins were inactive. What did Belichick expect trotting out LaFell, Edelman and Gronk as the only viable options?  Pathetic. Everything was just a joke on offense.

Defensively, BE AGGRESSIVE. In my opinion, the biggest issue with this defense is easily it's scheme. I keep hearing people say Revis is washed up, which makes no sense. Yes, he gave up 3-4 passes last night, but they were all in a zone defense when the Pats rushed 4 and gave Smith 7 seconds to throw. Like, how can you blame Revis for this? You can't. The defense is running a vanilla ass scheme. They are being reactive. You go out and sign Revis for 12 million dollars and run zone D's and barely blitz? Pathetic. Revis thrives when you say, "alright you got this guy, take him out this week". Boom. Problem solved. Then that allows you to blitz more than 4 and actually get pressure on the QB. Hopefully the entire defensive scheme changes next week with Browner back. Hopefully BB says alright Browner and Revis on the outside man up and I'll be aggressive.

The run defense and front 7 was sorry again last night. Chandler Jones and Ninkovich looked sorry as hell against the run. Charles and Davis beat them to the edge on almost every single run. Jones especially looked very weak vs. the run. Speaking of weak vs. the run, Vince Wilfork looks done. He missed a couple easy plays last night and looks a step behind everyone. Maybe if Kelly was still here this wouldn't be an issue? With Siliga on the IR the interior line is already in shambles. Jamie Collins, up to this point, isn't what we thought. He isn't flying around the field making plays like we expected. Hightower was practically invisible last night, too. Maybe this has to do with the reactive instead of aggressive defense? Personally, I think it is. Mayo looks old and sorry in coverage. On the quick out to Jamaal for a TD, the moment he made the cut, Mayo gave up. He knew he was toasted right there.

That's another issue I've seen with this team through the first quarter of the season, they have absolutely no fire or intensity. Brady looks like he's ready to retire by the second half of each game. The defense looks defeated all the time. It's really sad to watch. There are major changes that need to be made on each side of the ball, like major overhaul of everything. This team needs a fire lot under its ass and maybe this game is the thing to do it. I can see this team going two ways: we end up a mediocre team and struggle to make the playoffs and are a one and done team or we come back from this game with some fight and turn this season around into what it's supposed to be. The talent is there on defense, but the scheme isn't. The offensive has work to do, but Gronk will be healthy eventually and then maybe the offense can be a force. I really have blind faith right now that this game lights the fire in this team to go out and get a huge win next week at home versus Cincy.