One of the things I hate most about how football is covered is the constant need to rank each and every team, player and element after each week’s games.
The Patriots won yesterday, but it was against Tyler Palko so how good are they really? Are they the best team in the AFC? Is this still the worst pass defense in the NFL? Who’s better Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady? If the 2007 Pats played the 2011 Packers who would win? And so on. It’s all meaningless speculation that makes you lose sight of where your team is right now, where they’ve come from, and where they need to go.
I don’t care about arbitrary opinions of retired coaches and players as to who ranks where. Much like the organizational philosophy in Foxboro I don’t ride that roller coaster. So let’s regroup on where the Pats are right now and what they’ll need to do to get back to the promised land.
Amazingly the offense has really sputtered at times since the first two weeks of the season. Part of it has been a strangely inaccurate Tom Brady, who has been affected by a bone bruise in his elbow. Part of it has been suspect run and pass blocking. And yes, part of it is not having the proverbial “deep threat” or at least an outside receiver who is a cause for concern for defenses.
Most troubling for me on offense is the play of the line. With the size and experience they have they should be dominating a lot more than they are. The Pats playoff hopes will ride or die on how well they play, and as evidenced by the Dan Connolly-Ryan Wendell revolving door at center it looks like the loss of Dan Koppen is a still a major factor for the ‘11 Pats.
The conversations surrounding the Patriots defense today are predictable and boring. They are 10th in the NFL in points allowed, but the pundits like Trent Dilfer are still murdering them every chance they get. I’m not going to make a big deal out of holding the Chiefs to 3 points, but we’ve seen plenty of NFL backups have success against the Pats in recent years, so it does count for something.
What is not debatable is that this defense has been steadily improving all season long despite getting hit hard with injuries. When they get Chung, Spikes and McCourty back they’ll get a boost, while also having gotten players like Sterling Moore, Antuan Molding and Philip Adams some really good experience.
Would anyone out there really argue that this ’11 Patriots defense isn’t the best we’ve seen since 2007? There’s no doubt they still have issues, but when you look at the improvement that’s been made and the personnel that they’ve done it with, it’s hard not to be impressed.
The Patriots are finally playing complimentary football for the first time in a long time. The defense has had to pick the offense up numerous times over the past five games, and that’s not something we’ve seen a lot of in recent years. The struggles of the offense are disconcerting, but all the elements are still there for a squad that can light up any defense in the NFL.
Both sides need to continue to improve, and then it’s just a matter of putting together three great games in January and February.
