FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots are used to playing from ahead — building early leads and then coasting away from opponents.
But thanks to a porous defense and an offense that’s struggled at times to finish drives, they have not had that luxury this season.
The Patriots have not led by more than eight points in either of their past two games — both home games at Gillette Stadium — and trailed for the majority of the fourth quarter in both contests.
Two weeks ago, they needed a game-winning touchdown drive in the final minute to knock off the upset-minded Houston Texans. On Sunday, they tied the score with 3:09 remaining but could not get another stop, allowing Carolina Panthers kicker Graham Gano to boot a game-winning field goal as time expired.
Back in Week 1, New England completely shut down in the fourth quarter on both sides of the ball, getting outscored 21-0 in the final 15 minutes in a blowout loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
This trend has caused the Patriots to alter their late-game play-calling.
“The score always dictates how you play certain games,” quarterback Tom Brady said Tuesday afternoon. “It’s so important in the NFL to get a lead and feel like you’re playing from ahead. We’ve had that, but it’s kind of been back and forth. We haven’t been really in control too often. Your run-pass (distribution) probably gets out of whack a little bit, and you’re not really where you want to be there. (There’s) probably not as many play-action passes, because you don’t have the threat of the run.
“That’s just the circumstances, and it’s only been four games in. Over the course of a long season, those things probably even themselves out. But we’re all really focused on trying to do a much better job than what we’ve done. That’s what it’s going to require.”
The Patriots, who currently sit at 2-2, will look to climb back above .500 when they visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on “Thursday Night Football.”
“I mean, 2-2 is not where we want to be,” Brady said. “But if you want to get to 3-2, we’ve got to play better than the way we played the first four weeks.”
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
