The Patriots were served a big piece of humble pie in Detroit for a second time in three years Thursday night. Fortunately, both experiences have come in the preseason.
Tom Brady and the Patriots’ offense managed just two scoring drives against the Detroit Lions in their third game of the preseason, turning the ball over four times in the process. Brady wasn’t as razor-sharp as he had been in the first two weeks of the preseason, finishing 16 of 24 passing for 185 yards, but he didn’t play poorly either. The offense as a whole, though, didn’t look in sync all night — and Brady made note of the ugly play after the game.
“We just have to play better football,” Brady said to reporters in Detroit. “We had a couple good weeks against Tampa and Philly. We had some good practices and then we have a week like this when you figure out that we aren’t anywhere where we need to be. If we are going to kick off in two weeks, we are going to have to play a hell of a lot better than this. That’s a good lesson for all of us, I don’t care who you are. It’s the NFL. It’s a very humbling game and if you don’t bring it every single night, every week, you get your butt kicked.”
The Lions kicked the Patriots’ collective butt on Thursday night, wiping the field with them in a 40-9 blowout. New England’s four turnovers certainly didn’t help its cause, nor did the defense allowing 331 yards of passing offense from the combination of Matthew Stafford, Kellen Moore and Thad Lewis. You can be sure that Bill Belichick will chew into Brady and the boys for the gruesome performance during film review this weekend and that they won’t soon live down this loss.
That sort of tough love might be just what the Patriots need heading into the regular season. A hefty piece of humble pie goes a long way sometimes.
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