Film Review: Finding Some Silver Linings

I was surprised that watching the All-22 of the Patriots loss to the Lions made me feel a lot better about the Patriots chances of turning the season around from the 1-2 start. This is almost always the case, because you get a sense of how close the Pats were on many plays that went against them.

It’s small consolation, but it’s a clear illustration that all is not lost and that a 23-10 loss isn’t the worst thing to ever happen to a football team even if it was the second week in a row the Pats didn’t really show up.

I had to take this one in as a total experience, not a specific play by play, drive by drive breakdown but I came away with some general thoughts that were much different than what I came away with as I depressingly crawled into bed close to midnight on Sunday.

The first good takeaway is the Ja’whaun Bentley is a keeper. Yes, he had mistakes that took away from his overall impressive play, but this is the kind of player the Patriots defense needs badly and he should only continue to improve. His reaction speed is so impressive, better I dare say than any other linebacker on the roster. Watching his interception and he sticks with his receiver like glue and effortlessly makes the pick.

I don’t know where the Patriots defense is headed, but I’m pretty positive that Bentley is going to be a building block.

The other good guy I’ll mention is Dietrich Wise, who appears to still be viewed mostly as a pass rusher at this point, but he brings great energy and is one of the only consistently disruptive players up front. Bentley and Wise are the future on defense.

Otherwise… much of it was as ugly as you remember it being but again, it’s just fundamental bad play. Not getting off single blocks and not tackling made up the great majority of the defense’s mistakes. And it was one of those games where the ball just seemed to bounce for then Lions every time. No excuses, it was bad, but take away a couple missed tackles and this is easily a one-score game.

Where things need to be fixed immediately is inside, where Brown, Guy and Shelton were consistently moved around like a little girl positioning her dolls for a tea party. Shelton was especially disappointing to me. He’s so big yet so ineffective. If he doesn’t turn it around quick I’d expect to see Vincent Valentine in there from the practice squad sooner than later.

As for the offense, as much as I don’t want to make Julian Edelman out to be a savior he’s going to make a huge difference for the passing game. Simply put, no one gets open quick. Every long passing play featured Dorsett and Hogan, and sometimes Patterson, running down the field with defensive backs glued to them.

Dorsett looks so fast yet his speed gives no one a problem. I don’t really get that. Hogan tries to run the Edelman route tree but he’s just not sudden. When Edelman returns and Hogan can go back to an intermediate role, he should be much better. As for Dorsett, I was on the fence (and leaning toward jumping off it) all summer and this game sure didn’t win me over. He’s got a long way to go to be a functioning part of the offense that contributes.

The offensive line was out of it. One play in particular featured Shaq Mason getting absolutely owned by old castoff Ricky Jean-Francois. That’s the kind of night it was, the street free agent from last year destroying the high-priced offensive lineman you just gave a huge contract to.

I also remain unsure if Trent Brown is any kind of long term answer at left tackle. He’s serviceable but inconsistent. Again, Edelman getting open quick, lessening protection times will be great for everyone.

It wasn’t Tom Brady‘s best game either. For all the talk of no one getting open, there were a few times guys were open and Brady couldn’t/didn’t get it to them. At least twice it happened with Dwayne Allen. Brady has to be better and I expect he will be.

Finally, I feel a whole lot better about Sony Michel. Again, the offensive line wasn’t great but in just his third game, Michel started to find some creases in the second half. Yes he was stopped short on third downs, but there’s enough there to think that Michel could blossom at least into a serviceable back.

The pressure will be on Michel big time this weekend, where the Pats must once again do their best to establish some kind of running game to take then pressure off the depleted pass catchers.

It’s never as bad as it seemed. Football is such a fickle game, the line between winning and losing is so thin. Seeing games like this make me realize how remarkable the Pats’ consistent success has been. There was plenty to groan about in this game, but also some definite silver linings if you allowed yourself an emotionless look at it from an analytical perspective and not a reactionary one.

My expectations haven’t changed. This is a Patriots team that is very much capable of putting it together and it’s a good bet it happens against the Dolphins.