New England Patriots' fans of the new millennium aren't used to that kind of ambiguity surrounding their team - but if every game is going to be a shoot out, maybe they should accept that reality and concentrate on finding the silver lining, if there is one.
Against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday afternoon, the only silver linings visible at first glance were to ones outlining the few clouds floating by high above Gillette Stadium as the weird playcalling on offense and the acquiescent philosophy of the defense rendered the Patriots to victims of their own personality and left them at 2-2 on the young season.
The 33-30 score has become the norm in Foxborough, as the Patriots seem to be mired in some sort of Groundhog Day-like time loop.
In the film, a Pittsburgh television weatherman played by Bill Murray is sent on assignment to nearby Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover the festivities surrounding Groundhog Day, but makes obvious his contempt for the assignment and mocks the townfolk as "hicks". After the celebration Murray wants to return to Pittsburgh, but a snow storm that he predicted wouldn't hit the area arrives in full fury, forcing Murray to stay in Punxsutawney for another night.
Upon waking, he discovers that he's reliving Groundhog Day once again, though the townspeople and his own production crew seem unaware of the phenomenon. Murray takes advantage of the situation after waking to the same song on the radio and attending the same festivities day after day, treating the locals with contempt and disdain and breaking every rule and law he doesn't feel like obeying, knowing that when he wakes up the next morning, he will simply start all over again.
Murray eventually loses his passion for the loop and becomes so depressed that he tries suicide, unsuccessfully, but then starts to embrace the good that he could do with the extra time - until he figures out that if he simply does the job he was sent to do in a professional fashion and treated the townsfolk respectfully, he can break the loop and return to his home.
The time loop that the Patriots are stuck in sees their defense give up chunk play after chunk play in allowing the opposing offense to rack up yardage and points at a clip not seen in New England in over two decades, while the offense struggles to maintain consistency, yet delivers stunning comebacks to climb back into games.
Some they win, like last week against the Houston Texans, and some they lose - like Sunday's game against the Panthers - but one thing is certain, and there's no getting around it: If the Patriots don't find a way to put a consistent, professional product on the field, every Sunday is going to be like the last.
Some may look at the Patriots' top-ranked offense and wonder how they could possibly do any more than they already do, but they miss scoring opportunities at a torrid pace and leave lots of points on the field in every game, something that the normally upbeat Rob Gronkowski addressed with reporters after the game.
"We've got to put up more points because we didn't win." Gronkowski said, matter-of-factly, adding "We want to put up points every time we have the ball. I mean, we had two great drives in the fourth quarter, but we've got to be doing that all game."
Quarterback Tom Brady echoed Gronkowski's analysis, but denied feeling the extra pressure to carry the defense.
"No, I don't feel like that." Brady bristled, "I feel like we can do a better job all the way around. We left some opportunities out there on the field and it came back to bite us."
Of course, Brady isn't the kind to throw his teammates under the bus, but it is the defense that is really struggling, going from a bend-but-don't-break entity that in years past kept the team in games long enough for Brady to pull out a miracle, to a passive, docile entity that provides seemingly little resistance to the whim of opposing offenses.
The players are accepting the blame for the poor play, but in most instances it is the philosophies and coaching that are the issues.
That might sound weird, considering that Patriots' head ball coach Bill Belichick consistently finds ways to outsmart his counterparts, and that his base playbook is ingrained with Patriots' philosophy dating back to the era when Chuck Fairbanks, Ron Erhardt and Ray Perkins haunted the sidelines in Foxborough - but this is a team that eight months ago completed the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history by staying on task with a philosophy that compares to novocaine: just give it time and it always works.
But somewhere along the line, Belichick seems to have sold out on that philosophy, naturally becoming enamoured with improving upon a team that has won at least 12 games in each season since 2010, playing complementary ball with an offense that always ranked in the top ten in yards gained and points scored but with a defense that typically ranked in the bottom half of the league in yards allowed, yet ranking in the top ten for points allowed.
Enamored, that is, with the idea of improvement perhaps after his team was dominated for over half of the Super Bowl last February by the speed of the Atlanta Falcons, being in his nature to be progressive and innovative
This season, the Patriots are once again at the top of the statistics on offense, but dead last in the league in both yardage and points allowed.
This with essentially the same key personnel that has taken two of the last three Lombardi trophies by playing disciplined ball on both sides, each player doing his job to the complement of the others - so it's hard to believe that the issue is with talent, and easy enough to believe that the philosophy has changed...
...something that has become increasingly obvious as we hear the defenders talk after games, with this one being particularly frustrating to team captains Devin McCourty and Duron Harmon.
"We've been putting our offense in a shootout every week" McCourty said on Sunday, "It's almost like they have to get points on every drive - they have to be frustrated with us. It's frustrating for us because we work hard in practice, but it's not showing on Sunday."
To which Harmon added while trying to shoot down the negativity towards cornerback Stephon Gilmore, "It definitely wasn't all him. I tell him that the whole time. You might have a mistake, but we all had mistakes. It takes 11 players to play great defense, and we're just not getting it done."
Gilmore is under intense scrutiny for his play and was benched to start the second half after being responsible for two big gainers in the first half, totaling 71 yards and a touchdown - his technique was better in the second half, but two sketchy penalties for illegal hands to the face and illegal contact extended two scoring drives that ultimately killed the Patriots.
The first one was on a third-and-eight from the New England 37 which the Panthers took advantage of by scoring on a 17 yard Devin Funchess reception in the third quarter, but the real killer was on third-and-seven from deep in Panthers' territory that negated a Deatrich Wise sack that would have given the Patriots excellent field position to drive for a game-winning score...
...but instead, the penalty gave the Panthers an automatic first down, then Carolina quarterback Cam Newton and running back Jonathan Stewart took to the ground to get the Panthers to the Patriots' thirty, where kicker Graham Gano nailed the game winner with no time left on the clock.
To a man, the defenders are all rallying around Gilmore and calling the issue one of communications and not of talent or attitude, and as for Gilmore himself he's vowing to keep playing aggressively and to get the communications issue fixed - and the Patriots really have no choice but to do just that as it just won't do to have a man making eight-figures sitting on the bench, and with all of the money that's he's guaranteed, they can't just cut him.
So, the Patriots are going to have to work through the defensive struggles.
Not all things defensively were bad, as the Patriots' pass rush pressured Newton on 24 of his 33 drop backs, Kyle Van Noy and Dont'a Hightower picking up their first sacks on the season, and Malcolm Butler forcing a fumble and snagging an interception playing over the top of Gilmore. The run defense yielded 140 yards, but 44 of those came on eight Newton scrambles - a couple of them frustrating drive extenders.
The Patriots are not playing well enough on defense to be able to survive the plethora of mistakes they are making in coverage - be it by communication issues or containment error - but the front seven are starting to show signs of life, which is a start.
And now with a short week and very little practice time to get ready for a Thursday night match up with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Patriots philosophies will be on full display for a national television audience, so if there was ever a critical time for New England to magically address their issues like they have always been able to in the past, this is it.
Because being stuck in a time loop where things are going horrifically wrong isn't entertaining - it's downright frustrating.
Where have the Patriots of old gone? Don't recognize any of these guys even tho they have the same faces as last year.
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