The New England Patriots aren’t as good as we thought. The Baltimore Ravens delivered a sobering blow to New England, beating them 37-20 in Week 9.
A regression seemed possible and perhaps even probable for New England. It’s always dangerous to be too negative about New England, particularly when they entered Week 9 as undefeated. They have proved doubters wrong (even when those doubters don’t exist).
Still, there were signs. The defense hadn’t faced an offense better than the Pittsburgh Steelers, who currently have the 19th-most points per game. New England’s offensive line was struggling to create running room — and a pocket for Tom Brady. The tight end position is a nonfactor in the passing and running game.
They have problems — it’s true. It’s also probably true that the Patriots are one of the league’s best. And it’s probably also true that their defense is one of the league’s best, even if they aren’t on of the best in the organization’s history. That’s the overarching thing we learned this week.
Here’s an itemized list of the other topics we’ll address.
1. Tom Brady’s quote that tells 1,000 words.
2. Film study shows the scars, the stars and a door ajar.
3. The Ravens are unlike any other team the Patriots will face all season.
4. It’s clear why the Patriots coveted Mohamed Sanu so much and for so long.
1. Tom Brady’s quote that tells a 1,000-word story
It’s going to be a long two weeks with the Patriots on bye. Judging from Belichick’s disposition on the conference call and in the postgame press conference, he’s not in a good mood. In fact, he’s probably in the mood to let out his anger over a tortuous film study session.
And while he has already spouted ample amounts of negativity — and the talk radio heads will follow suit — there’s reason to believe they can and will turn things around, particularly when considering something Tom Brady said during an interview on WEEI on Monday.
He laid out a challenge for his teammates.
“We’re 8-1, so the whole football season is ahead of us. That’s the reality. That’s not an emotional thing. We put ourselves in a decent position here. It’s not going to be about what we’ve done in the last nine weeks. Our season is about what’s going to happen in the next seven weeks. It’s going to be about the guys in the locker room to determine what we want to be,” Brady said. “Do they want to dig deeper and fight harder and play better and prepare harder and play tougher? Or do we not? And if we do the first part of that, I think we’ll be in a great position.”
Over the years, Brady has made a habit of making comments like this one when he feels his team needs a kick in the butt. He’s not going for tough love to a Belichickian degree. But Brady knows — better than anyone aside from Belichick — what it takes to win a Super Bowl, and he knows that New England didn’t show those qualities on Sunday night.
But something tells me that he thinks they have what it takes to win a Super Bowl. When the six-time Super Bowl champion is in the mix, the Patriots always have a fighting chance. With their defensive skill and experience and an offense that has great potential, the Patriots might just get their act together in the ways they’ve done so many times.
The Patriots will have a chance to show if they’ve accepted Brady’s open challenge in the coming weeks. They will play the Eagles, Cowboys, Texans and Chiefs — a tough streak of opponents who will show New England’s true mettle, much like Baltimore did.
2. Film study shows the scars, the stars and a door ajar.
Scar: That opening drive by the Ravens will leave a mark.
There hadn’t been a single drive like it for the Patriots defense. For a long time, the Patriots have prided themselves on taking away the best piece from an opposing offense. Yet they seemed to fail to limit anything in the Ravens offense.
Mark Ingram hammered his way up the middle. Lamar Jackson and Marquise Brown found room to run along the edge — Jamie Collins and Kyle Van Noy got outrun on three different plays.
When the Ravens’ drive faltered near the goal line, the Patriots gave Baltimore another opportunity with a neutral zone infraction before the ball was snapped for a field goal. On the following play, Jackson rushed in untouched for a 3-yard touchdown.
The worst play? There were a few, but it’s always a bad sign when a player can get the ball behind the line of scrimmage and go almost 25 yards downfield before getting touched.
Stars: Mohamed Sanu (more on this later) and Sony Michel.
We’ll dive into Sanu’s big game later in this post. But let’s talk about the mystery of Michel, who got five impressive touches in the first 20 minutes and then never saw the ball again. Michel had one bad play, where he may have run an incorrect route on a target from Brady. The quarterback looked visibly frustrated on the play, and considering Michel’s history of struggling to run routes Brady’s way, it’s entirely believable to think Michel should have been where Brady fired the ball (a few feet closer to the sideline) rather than the spot Michel was in.
Putting that aside, Michel was efficient on the ground with four carries for 18 yards. He had one reception, a 12-yarder on a screen pass, during which the running back showed impressive patience. And to top things off, Michel looked competent as a pass protector.
The Patriots instead liked what they were getting from Rex Burkhead on early downs. Did it come down to route-running and the passing game? That’s the only explanation.
Door ajar: The left tackle position remains unsettled in New England.
Marshall Newhouse was better, particularly after he got through the first half, when he allowed three pressure and was flagged for holding. But the fact that it’s an improvement to allow three pressures in a half is not a great sign for Newhouse. That has left the door ajar — and frankly, wide-open — not just for would-be sackers but also for Isaiah Wynn. He can make his return in Week 11 against the Dallas Cowboys. That return can’t come soon enough with Newhouse giving up plays like this one.
3. The Ravens are unlike any other team the Patriots will face all season.
There are plenty of teams that are superlative. The Baltimore Ravens, Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs have offenses that are outstanding and unlike anyone else’s in the league. So as teams get ready to face those three teams (all of whom have different offensive identities), they have to devise an entirely unique game plan to prepare for the unique offenses built around these superior athletes: Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson.
So it’s not crazy to think the Patriots defense is still outstanding, even if they couldn’t put together a game plan that stumped Jackson.
4. It’s clear why the Patriots coveted MoHamed Sanu so much and for so long
Perhaps more than Tom Brady and Josh McDaniels, Julian Edelman has to be thankful for Sanu. Sanu served as Brady’s safety valve for the Patriots offense as they attacked the Ravens defense with a horizontal attack passing attack. Edelman and Sanu combined for 20 receptions, 170 yards and a touchdown. They had a similar playing style, and yet there was no overlap. They worked in concert with one another.
In his second game with the Patriots, Sanu made safety-valve work look easy. It isn’t, not when Brady is the quarterback. The Patriots offense has intricacies, which you’ve surely heard all about. In short, pass catchers have option routes, which means they may not know what route to run until they read the defense in the moments before the snap. Essentially, they’re doing a pre-snap diagnosis at the same time as Brady — and it needs to be the same diagnosis or else the pass catcher will be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
And yet, Sanu seemed to find himself in the right place and very open. For example, he scored his first touchdown as a Patriot after creating effortless separation with his defender.
But there was something even more impressive than his casual acclamation to the offense. He also terrific job catching a short reception behind the chains and running it past the chains. On six of his 10 catches, he made extra yards to create a first down after the catch.
It wasn’t a passive process of getting first downs. He was breaking tackles and using space to generate them.
“I am just being me,” Sanu said on Sunday. “If they want me to do something, I am going to go ahead and do it. I am a competitor, so I am going to find a way to do the best at it that I can.”
That was enough for Sanu to be one of the bright spots in an otherwise dark night for the Patriots in Baltimore.
