Stephen A. Smith wants New England Patriots fans to take a page out of Aaron Rodgers’ playbook and “R-E-L-A-X.”
New England’s defense again looked horrible Sunday as the Patriots fell 33-30 to the Carolina Panthers at Gillette Stadium on a last-second field goal by Graham Gano. The loss dropped the Pats to 2-2 this season, with both defeats coming at home, and some pundits are beginning to question whether Bill Belichick and Co. can right the ship to contend for another Super Bowl title.
Smith isn’t among the concerned, though. Because as he explained Monday on ESPN’s “First Take,” the Patriots still play in a bad division and several other supposed AFC contenders are dealing with their own issues through four weeks of the regular season.
“There’s no reason for panic, whatsoever,” Smith said. “The New England Patriots are going to be just fine, because by virtue of the division that they play in, they’ll be in the postseason by default and there’s so many question marks within the AFC.
“Remember when they got annihilated in Kansas City a couple of years back? I mean, they got destroyed, and then the next thing you know, they go on a tear,” Smith added. “Early-season woes with the New England Patriots, we can’t be worried about that when it comes to them.”
The Patriots’ next test will come Thursday night when they travel to Florida for a date with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Thumbnail photo via Stew Milne/USA TODAY Sports Images
