New England Patriots running back Sony Michel (26) makes a long run that was called back on a penalty last Sunday in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
It’s been nine years since the New England Patriots lost at least five games in a season, 16 years since they lost back-to-back games in December.
Last Sunday’s 17-10 loss at Pittsburgh made it two in a row following the final-play debacle in Miami the week before.
Yet with two games remaining in the regular season, New England is 9-5. And Patriots fans are squirming in their seats. They don’t see a Super Bowl appearance this year, let alone a Super Bowl championship.
It could be worse. You could live in Detroit. Or Tampa. Or Atlanta. Or New York (a double whammy for fans there this year). Or Oakland. Or Green Bay. Or San Francisco. Or Phoenix.
Fans in those cities won’t be rooting for a playoff team this year.
The Patriots? Well, barring the unimaginable, they’ll win their last two games, at home, against rookie quarterbacks leading the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets. New England will finish 11-5 and secure a 10th consecutive AFC East championship.
Let that sink in. A 10th consecutive division title. In this salary-cap era where parity is embraced, the Patriots have become the standard for NFL greatness.
Maybe that’s why 9-5 is so unsettling, because the Patriots don’t look like the Patriots we’ve known.
This year’s team is good, sometimes very good, occasionally dominating. But they’re also beatable — especially on the road.
They’re 3-5 away from Gillette Stadium, with several clunkers: a 26-10 loss at Detroit, a week after being mauled on the road by Jacksonville; a 34-10 stunner at Tennessee; allowing Miami to win on a double-lateral we’ve all defended in the school yard; and last week’s loss at Pittsburgh, in which the Patriots looked disinterested at times. New England committed a season-high 14 penalties against the Steelers, five of them false starts, three for offensive holding. Julian Edelman dropped two passes, Josh Gordon another.
These are uncharacteristic mistakes for the Patriots, especially at this time of year. Since Bill Belichick became head coach in 2000, New England’s December record is 65-15.
There are a lot of things the Patriots need to fix. The offensive line has been inconsistent, but when healthy — and when Shaq Mason is at right guard — this group is pretty darn good.
The offense often has struggled to get into a rhythm, which sounds weird to say about a unit led by Tom Brady. But teams have found ways to negate tight end Rob Gronkowski and the running game is inconsistent, even with the likes of Sony Michel, James White and Rex Burkhead. And now Gordon, who leads the team in receiving yardage, is gone.
Defensively, the front seven has been awful against the run lately. Pittsburgh, which is ranked 30th in the NFL in rushing and was without its best back last week, ran for 158 yards against the Patriots, averaging 7.3 yards a rush. The week before, the Dolphins ran for 189, averaging 9.0. Before that, Minnesota averaged 7.3 yards while gaining 95 rushing yards.
The run defense ranks 17th among the NFL’s 32 teams, giving up 116.2 yards a game, not far off the NFL average of 114.7. But in terms of yards per rush, the Patriots are woeful. They give up an average of 5.0 yards per rush, tied with the Los Angeles Rams and Kansas City Chiefs for last in the NFL. The NFL average is 4.4.
Combine that with a lack of pressure on the quarterback — New England’s 26 sacks are 29th in the NFL — and you can see why the defense has received so much criticism.
Belichick knows his team has to improve.
“Well, look, it’s a bottom-line business,” he said. “We’ve lost two games on the last play of the game. It’s not good enough. Hopefully we can do things better and have different results. I think we’re definitely getting better as a team.”
If the Patriots are to get to the Super Bowl again, they’re going to have to win at least one playoff game on the road, possibly two. But New England did put up 38 points on Chicago’s vaunted defense on the road. And it defeated Kansas City and Houston — currently the AFC’s top seeds — though both games were at home.
This year, every contender has flaws. The Los Angeles Rams and the Chiefs have incredible offenses, but rank 20th and 31st, respectively, on defense. The Bears and Texans both lost to the New York Giants. The New Orleans Saints were held to 12 points by Carolina on Monday night and 10 by Dallas three weeks ago.
Can the Patriots find a way to regroup and finish strong? History shows they can. But there’s plenty of work to do.
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