Former New England Patriots executive Michael Lombardi took a blowtorch to his old team this week, blasting New England’s defense after it put forth another miserable performance Sunday.
“They’re going to have to go back to basics,” Lombardi said on The Ringer’s “GM Street” podcast. “It’s going to be very difficult, but this is unlike any Patriots team I’ve ever seen. … To me, the Patriots’ defense, that’s not a playoff-caliber defense right now. That’s not a playoff-caliber team.”
Saying the Patriots aren’t a playoff-caliber team might be a bit of a stretch — that Tom Brady guy still is pretty good — but they have been downright woeful defensively through the first month of the season. They’ve allowed 33 or more points in three of their four games, including Sunday’s 33-30 loss to the Carolina Panthers, and enter Week 5 ranked second-to-last in the NFL in average points allowed.
“It’s not getting better, and it’s not going to get better anytime soon,” Lombardi said. “… You can’t go into a game and have everything lay at Tom Brady’s feet. Thirty points should win a game for you. And now they’ve lost two home games because their defense can’t stop anybody.”
The Patriots’ biggest issue on defense this season has been communication in the secondary, as busted coverages have resulted in numerous big gains. Lombardi calls these “free-access” plays, and New England allowed a slew of them against Carolina, with Cam Newton completing five passes of 25 or more yards.
“They’re not good in the red area, and the one thing you can’t give in the National Football League is give free-access touchdowns,” Lombardi said. “They don’t give you free houses in Beverly Hills; they shouldn’t give you free accesses. And the Patriots are good at giving free-access touchdowns.
“We’ve seen it every week. We saw it in the opening week against Kansas City. It didn’t happen in New Orleans, but it happens every week. And there’s a huge communication problem. There’s a complete disconnect that I’ve never seen before in my career around Bill Belichick in terms of the back end.”
The 2-2 Patriots, who currently sit in second place in the AFC East behind the 3-1 Buffalo Bills, don’t have much time to fix their defensive flaws before their next game. They’re set to visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on “Thursday Night Football” this week.
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
