They’re brimming with confidence after walloping the Tennessee Titans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers by a combined 94-7 margin, and despite the ineptitude of New England’s competition, the Patriots served a pair of blowouts while overcoming some uncontrollable elements — a game in the snow and a trip to London.
The focus is there, and the Patriots’ improvements through their first seven games are noticeable. New England’s defense has played with remarkable consistency, and the Patriots have held opponents to 14.0 points per game. Even further, the Pats’ defense hasn’t allowed an opposing offense to score 20 points in regulation all season.
Offensively, the Patriots look much more in rhythm now than they did a month ago. Tom Brady is delivering the ball with more assertion, and wide receiver Wes Welker is abusing defenses, averaging 9.2 receptions and 96.8 yards with four total touchdowns in five games.
Even still, Bill Belichick will have some things to work on with his team once they all return from London on Monday. Surely, the Patriots lead the AFC East and have plenty of reasons to be optimistic, but they return Nov. 8 with a tough game at Gillette Stadium against the Miami Dolphins, who are playing infinitely better after their 0-3 start.
“I’d keep rolling, two wins in a row,” Brady said when asked about the bye week. “We’ll take time to do some self-scouting to reflect what we’ve done, what’s been successful and what hasn’t. There are certainly a lot of good things to take from being 5-2. We’ve played two poor halves of football against the Jets and Broncos, or those outcomes may have been a bit different.”
Here are five things the Patriots can expect to hear from Belichick before the Dolphins game:
Too many flags
The Patriots entered the Bucs game averaging 5.7 penalties and 46.8 penalty yards per game, but they were flagged 10 times for 66 yards against Tampa Bay. The Patriots’ offensive linemen contributed to a majority of those penalties, particularly left guard Logan Mankins, who was penalized four times for 25 yards. He was whistled three times for a false start and once for holding. The Patriots failed to get a first down after Mankins’ first three penalties (one occurred on fourth down when they were attempting a fake punt).
Belichick was asked during his postgame news conference if the crowd noise was a factor in the procedural penalties, and he didn’t buy it.
“We play in noisy stadiums on the road in every week,” Belichick said. “That’s no excuse. We’ve got to do a better job than that. We’ve played in stadiums where it’s deafening. We’ve just got to execute that better. We’re going to have to silent count every time we’re on the road. We just didn’t do a good job of it. We’ve got to be better. We’ve got to coach it better. We’ve got to execute it better.”
Brady’s execution
Brady will likely be tougher on himself than Belichick after the quarterback doubled his interception total on the season. He improvised on his first interception on second-and-6 from the Tampa Bay 11-yard line in the second quarter. After the play had broken down, Brady made eye contact with Randy Moss, who was in double-coverage, and Brady directed his receiver toward the back-left portion of the end zone. It would have taken a nice throw to hit Moss for the touchdown, but Brady came up short and was intercepted by safety Tanard Jackson.
Two possessions later — with the Patriots leading 21-0 — Brady tried to hit rookie receiver Brandon Tate deep down the middle. It was a good throw by Brady, but cornerback Aqib Talib made an excellent play to jump in front of Tate and haul it in. It didn’t come back to hurt them, but with the Patriots leading by 21 points, it’s worth wondering if Brady made the downfield gamble because there didn’t seem like there was much to lose.
Who’s on third?
Sam Aiken has had his best two-game stretch during his two-year stint with the Patriots, hauling in six catches for 96 yards and the first touchdown of his six-year career. Aiken’s role has expanded in recent weeks due to Julian Edelman’s injury and Joey Galloway’s ineffectiveness and eventual release. At 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, Aiken has a good body type to be an outside receiver, and the special teams captain is clearly putting in the work to make an impact with Brady.
But is Aiken the best option as the Patriots’ third receiver? The team will work hard to implement rookie Brandon Tate into the offense. Tate is an explosive athlete, and his skills will give the Patriots a real asset in their screen game. Tate gained 11 yards on an end-around Sunday against the Bucs, and he was also used in the running game during his college career at North Carolina. After suffering a knee injury during his senior year, Tate was finally able to start practicing last week, and Belichick said Sunday “this is training camp for him.”
Obviously, the Patriots use players to best suit their game plan, and they don’t need a traditional third receiver in this offense. But with the way the depth chart is currently stacked, Aiken and Tate need to continue evolving to provide some relief for Welker and Randy Moss.
Keep Maroney comfortable
With injuries to running backs Fred Taylor and Sammy Morris, the load has again been placed upon the shoulders of Laurence Maroney, who rushed 13 times for 43 yards (3.3-yard average) and one touchdown. Maroney said last Thursday he was relaxed again, and he attributed that to his recent success — he had 123 yards and one touchdown last Sunday against Tennessee. It will obviously be important to keep Maroney is his comfort zone in order for the Patriots to maximize his production.
Medical ward
Defensive end Ty Warren injured his right ankle Sunday, so that is the latest in a harrowing string of injuries for this Patriots team, which was already without Taylor, Morris, Edelman and left tackle Matt Light. This is an important stretch for the Patriots to get some extra treatment for their wounded players.
