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Ouch! Last night the Baltimore Ravens drubbed my beloved New England Patriots to the tune of 37-20. Is this the time to go into full panic mode and take that flying leap off the bandwagon? Or should I tell myself that throwing in a stinker now and then fits the classic tradition of Patriots Super Bowl Patriots teams? Taking a deep breath and summoning my long-standing trust in Belichick and Brady, maybe that glass is half-full after all.
If I wanted to abandon those guys from Foxboro, they gave me lots of reasons to do so. At 1:35 of the second quarter, the formerly invincible Patriots defense had already given up 17 points, having been gashed for large gains both on the ground and in the air. On third and fourth down conversions, the Ravens were 6 for 11. And in the fourth quarter when we had hoped for Brady and company to mount a last second charge, the offense had no choice but to watch from the sidelines as the Ravens mounted a 14 play, 81 yard drive that lasted for more than eight minutes. Great defenses, as we thought this one was, simply find a way to get off the field during crunch time, and this one couldn’t.
And, by the way, when TB12 and crew made it onto the field, their performance was spotty at best. When Sony Michel, who is supposed to be your featured back, carries the ball four times for a grand total of 18 yards, well…so much for the run game.
Okay, okay, what’s the other side of the coin? First of all, it’s hard to know whether the NFL scheduling gods did the Patriots a favor or a disservice by scheduling eight weeks of patsies at the beginning of the season. On the one hand, thePats record is still better than any team in the AFC, so they’ve built a nice cushion to soften the blow of games like his. On the other hand, the Patriots usually use the first half of the season to find themselves by identifying their strengths and correcting their weaknesses. Maybe it’s strange to be doing this more than half way into the season, but if it takes adversity for this team to find its true identity, then so be it.
Looking at the loss to the Ravens, you also have to recognize that the Ravens and Lamar Jackson present a set of unique challenges that are hard to prepare for. The Pats took away a lot of the Ravens’ strengths, as Bill Belichick always does, but those guys from Baltimore found a way to pound it on the ground and to get the ball consistently to their corps of little-known tight ends. As much as last night’s game was painful to watch, I’d bet that Bill and company are already plotting ways of filling those gaping holes when and if these two teams meet in the playoffs.
On the offensive side, the patriots did roll out the no-huddle for the first time this season, and it looked as if they had the Ravens on their heels for much of the second and third quarters. And Mohamed Sanu already looks like a keeper. Not many newcomers figure out the Pats complex offense so quickly, in this case to the tune of 10 receptions from TB12. And, as long as we’re grasping for positive signs, new kicker Nick Folk has yet to miss one, although his lone field goal try was a mere 22 yarder.
So, yes, I’m a little shaken. But no, I’m hardly giving up on these guys. Last year at this point in the season they were 7-2, then went a mere 4-3 before heading into the playoffs. And we know how that campaign ended. The season always has its ebbs and flows, its ups and downs, its peaks and valleys. Right now I’m down in the valley, but I figure there’s nowhere to go but up.
