Pats Posits: We’re Not in 28-3 Land Anymore

The electric celebratory atmosphere inside Gillette Stadium was slowly strangled to death before our very eyes on Thursday Night as the Chiefs poured in on late to blow out New England 42-27. The Patriots asked fans to get there early for the celebration, and well they left early too and even I, someone who yelled at people for walking out of the 2009 opener, hit the exits early.

I’m not sure what’s worse, that the Patriots laid a total team turd or that two critical players who couldn’t get hurt, got hurt. The injuries make the second blowout loss in four seasons to the Chiefs taste even worse than the original in 2014.

This one was historically bad with the most points the defense has given up under Belichick. Yes, it’s still only week one and my golden rule is to never overreact to a game in September, but there were certainly some cold hard truths revealed on Thursday Night — they miss Edelman, and without Hightower the defense was lacked both rudder and tooth.

The two players that had to go the distance this year were Danny Amendola and Hightower. The game was competitive when they were upright. When both were lost, the offense and defense were lost.

What’s clear is this team has no identity yet, and they’ve lost much of what’s made the tick the last few seasons. New players must emerge but it’s going to take time.

After a season where the team really didn’t face much adversity until 28-3, the 2017 Pats got an instant dose of drama at the outset.

Thoughts on how it’s all going to turn out in the Posits.

— First, I want to start this on a positive note because until the bottom fell out, Thursday night was an awesome night. The number of Comeback tees was staggering. To see flags of the scoreboard flying over the parking lot where I used to tailgate was pretty cool. Meeting up with so many awesome fellow fans and friends (thank you to Jeremy Mastro for the ribs as always!) then getting to see the new banner unveiled…it was a special night no matter how the game worked out. So, perspective.

Now let’s murder the Patriots…

— Amendola and Hightower getting hurt feels like a cruel joke. I don’t know how long either will be out, but every snap missed hurts. Hightower came into camp banged up and recovering from knee problems, and now one game in he’s got another new knee problem. Meanwhile, our worst fears with Amendola were realized as he got his concussion returning a punt, something Cyrus Jones would’ve been doing had he not got hurt in the finale. Every time someone gets a concussion I don’t know how to react since yeah, should be back sooner than later but you know, might’ve gotten some brain damage. Amendola caught six balls for 100 yards and stepped into the Edelman third-down trusted buddy role. These injuries are the headline of this gross game. The play on the field will improve, but without Hightower and Amendola these Patriots might be in for a long season.

— The Chiefs played press man a lot, challenging the Patriots to beat them deep, despite the presence of Cooks, Gronk and Hogan, and no one could get open quick. They seemed to shift tactics later in the game, focusing more on the outside and shifting Cooks and Hogan inside the formation. It, like most of what they did, didn’t really work. The obvious deep shots were underwhelming and it was all just a stiff reminder that this Patriots offense has always been fueled by the short passing game. Chucking it deep repeatedly has never been who they are and they looked completely disjointed. We’ve all just assumed the “bombs away” offense with all the deep threats would be instantly devastating. Instead it sputtered more and more as the game progressed.

— The offense did bust out a James White/Dion Lewis backfield for some third downs but again, after big expectations, the results were blah. White had a solid game, getting a career-high with 10 carries, but the backs overall were underwhelming. Gillislee picked up some Blount touchdowns but averaged just three yards-per-carry and came up short on a critical fourth down carry. Live, it looked to me like the offensive line wasn’t exactly opening up many holes, even when they sent Nate Solder over the right side with Cannon.

— Defensively welcome to the Kyle Van Noy/Cassius Marsh era! I’m not sure where to start, the two 75-yards-plus touchdown passes, the no-stops-in-the-red-zone, or the 148 rushing yards a rookie hung on them, including a 58-yarder. By every important metric outside of third down (4-11), the Patriots were atrocious. The two basic laws of the defense are don’t give up big plays and stop the run. Nope and nope.

— The defensive headline for me that sums it all up was Jordan Richards playing linebacker. This one felt like an extension of the preseason in so many ways, and none more glaringly than Richards’ heavy play load (60.3 percent). I really have to look at the film to posit why they might’ve stuck him there, clearly that should’ve been Shea McClellin‘s spot. Richards wasn’t effective but is that really a surprise to anyone? Part of me feels like this was one of those one-time experimentation things that we’ll never see or hear from again. But with the linebacker depth so thin, especially lacking athleticism now, maybe they’re going to have no choice but to continue the experiment. Eeek.

— One bright spot was (generally) Devin McCourty, who seemed like the only guy to come up with any big plays in space. The tackling was bad overall, but McCourty did have a few gems. He’s stepped into more of a coverage role, going against Kelce a lot in man coverage. His value to this defense without Hightower in there is so critical.

— Another defensive bright spot was rookie pass rushers Dietrich Wise and Adam Butler. For third down passing situations the two were part of the pass rush package and delivered some consistent pressure around Alex Smith. Again, it was a good day on third down. So if you’re looking for a slight silver lining it’s that Butler has a quick trigger and Wise has length reminiscent of Chandler Jones. Both looked ready to cause chaos all season long.

— Really, once the defense stops giving up big plays and tackle better they’ll be miles better. I can’t see McCourty and Gilmore blowing coverages like that for very long. The potential critical problem is that they are very average at the second level of their defense. The Chiefs exposed them underneath and teams will continue to attack there until they can stop it.

— Maybe that will be the weird duality of the 2017 Pats, can’t pass underneath, can’t stop underneath passes.

— This one felt a lot like one of those 2009/2010 Jets losses where there’s just nothing short open and Brady’s forced to force the ball downfield. If there’s one thing we know, this offense absolutely can’t become it’s a purely vertical offense. That’s not Brady. That’s not how you consistently win in the NFL. Give me the death-by-1000-cuts with Brady’s scalpel!

— All our Hogan-is-the-new-Edelman-trusted-buddy takes were blown to smithereens in this one when Hogan had more carries than catches. It was clear to me last night that Hogan just isn’t that quick shifty receiver that Brady loves on third down. He’s long and he’s at his best outside, i.e. the long throws, not the third-and-four catch a quick one over the middle ones. This offense needs someone who can get open quick, and no, Austin Carr was not that guy.

If the Patriots powered through the offensive turnover and injuries of 2013 and make the AFC Championship, there’s no reason they can’t do the same in 2017. This was a cold-slap-in-the-face loss. All memories of Super Bowl 51 and 28-3 were beaten out of us last night. Now it’s 2017, and the Patriots are 0-1 and looking for answers.

Of course, they’ll likely find them, but with a conference loss already on their record things are already in motion in the AFC playoff race. The extended time off until next week’s game in New Orleans is a good thing.  There’s some extra time to take a step back after a whirlwind end of preseason, start of season that happened in just a few days.

The Patriots have looked terrible in quite a few openers over the years. By now we should all know the season is a process and that the Week One Patriots might barely resemble the Week 17 Patriots.

For those who took the 19-0 seriously, the result is bitterly disappointing. For the rest of us, the 2017 season already has some intrigue, and overcoming adversity and drama is what makes seasons truly exciting. The train’s left the station (and Super Bowl 51) behind. We’re definitely on to 2017 now.