Nicholas Zakas' Personal Blog A deviation from my usual tech writing

Another horrible Patriots loss

So here I am, once again, mourning a horrible Patriots loss. This brings me back to the pre-Brady days of the Patriots where each and every week was a tossup and Boston sportswriters proclaimed the Patriots the only team in the league to have a prevent offense. Looks like we're back. The question is how long will Belichick stay will Matt Cassell? The fourth-year quarterback has looked completely befuddled and unable to do the job. Not only does he make bad decisions, but he also completely misses seeing open receivers...frequently. I watched the Atlanta Falcons yesterday with envy as their first-year quarterback, BC's Matt Ryan, cooly led his team down the field with just 11 seconds left to seal the win. I'd trust Brady to do that too, but I wouldn't trust Cassell.

I expected the Patriots offense to struggle without Brady. What I didn't expect was the complete lack of defense I've seen in the two losses. Belichick is supposed to be a defensive-minded coach, a defensive genius in some people's books, and yet the defense looks about as good as pathetic as can be. There's no pass rush. The defensive backs regularly get beat on long passes. The entire defense seems unable to adjust to changes from the offense. We first saw this in preseason, where teams were marching up and down the field on our defense with ease. It's just preseason, we said, it'll change in the regular season. We were wrong. The defense couldn't stop a slow-moving bowling ball at this point.

As much as I'd love to blame Matt Cassell for the two losses, it was really the defense that lost both games. You won't win many games giving up 30 or more points. Last year, the Patriots could overcome this because they'd just score 56 points and be done with it. However, the defense was better last year. They only gave up over 30 points once, when they played the Giants in the final game of the season. In fact, they gave up over 14 points only seven times the entire season. The defense was good if unspectacular last year; this year, they're practically non-existent.

If Brady was playing this year, we probably still would have lost both of those games. When the defense can't stop the other team...at all...it really wouldn't matter who was on offense. And given the way the offensive line has been playing, getting completely run over by the defensive line, Brady would likely be running for his life more often than not.

The big question is this: how long does Belichick let all of this go? How long does he let a quarterback who's clearly outclassed and will likely be out of the league next year lead his team? How long before drastic changes are made on the defense, perhaps benching longtime starters and throwing in some young blood to see if they can do anything? How long will Belichick allow the team to be mediocre and uncompetitive? It's really going to be a long rest of the season. Here's to six wins.