Belichick To Roll With Stidham And The Receivers He's Got, Because That Was His Plan All Along

May 8, 2020

So, Bill Belichick didn't select any wide receivers in this year's NFL Draft, but at least he doesn't have Tom Brady around to bitch about it.

In reality, however, Belichick's New England Patriots are pretty stacked at the pass catching positions, so long as his wide receivers and tight ends do the job that they are capable of - but with a new quarterback under center, nothing's a given.

Indeed, the Patriots are entering the 2020 season with plenty of mystery surrounding their receiving corps, with only greybeard Julian Edelman, sophomore Jakobi Meyers and passing back James White the only known quantity - and while we got a little taste of what second-year perimeter threat N'Keal Harry and veteran Mohamed Sanu bring to the field, they are largely question marks...

...as are newcomers Damiere Byrd and Marquise Lee, both with undeniable measurables and speed to burn, but both having underachieved thus far in their brief professional football careers - and the advantage that all of them have is working with the aforementioned new, young quarterback who doesn't seem to have the same obsession with perfection that Brady did.

Not that expecting your receivers to be where they are supposed to be on the route tree is a bad thing, but Brady's heat-of-the-moment, Sam Kinison-style of explosive expression seemed to make his young pass catchers tense up so badly that Harry looked like he was running with a corn cob up his ass near the end of the season.

Stidam is young, so he also needs his receivers to be where he expects them to be, but with the fear of pissing off the greatest quarterback of all time no longer dominating their subconscious minds, maybe they can relax a little and work on their craft instead of running away from it.

I love Tom Brady, make no mistake. What Brady gave to the people of New England - to the entire sports world - was nineteen years of the most clutch performances ever seen. When Brady signed with Tampa, my wife tried to peel the Fathead of Brady off of the cave wall, but I defended it like a wolverine and finally calmed her down enough to allow me to explain to her why it was staying in it's place of honor.

I told her of my admiration of Brady and reminded her of all of the excitement and joy he was responsible for, of how he turned us both into adrenalin junkies by making us stew in anxiety during the two weeks between Championship Sunday and Super Bowl Sunday, then really amped us up by making the crucial plays on the biggest stage in sports to win six of those world titles...

...and having his team in position to steal the three that he lost. He has been the one, lone constant on the field for New England for all nine championship runs, and I am thankful and humbled to have been able to witness every single throw.

One of the best passes I ever saw Brady make was the seriously filthy timing throw on a ten-yard out pattern to Danny Amendola, who was well covered by an Atlanta Falcons' defender on the winning drive in the overtime period of Super Bowl 51. The ball exploded out of Brady's hand with the requisite zip required of such a pattern, but with just barely enough loft to evade the nickelback's fingers...

...the Patriots scoring to win their fifth Lombardi Trophy, Brady taking the opening kickoff of overtime and shoving it down the Falcons' collective throat to complete the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, perhaps the greatest of all time. I recanted the tale to my wife, who looked at me thoughtfully and said, "He's still a dumb-ass for throwing that pick-six right before halftime."

Brady. You either love him or you hate him, but no matter which way you lean, you have no choice but to respect him.

Brady epitomized the not-so-well-worn cliché uttered by the old-school "Voice of God", NFL Films' narrator John Facenda who said, "Great players aren't great all the time; they're just great when they have to be.". My wife understood this, finally, despite being an insane female hybrid of Oscar Zeta Acosta and John Cleese, who would fly into a sputtering, animated rage when Brady threw an interception (see above).

But as crazy as it sounds, the way that Belichick has stocked the offense over the past half-decade was in preparation for life without Brady - unfortunately for Brady, that meant the offensive personnel last season was geared more towards a power-based philosophy, or at least it became that way when the offense lost their center, both fullbacks and Harry for half of the season...

...while Edelman played broken after missing a few games, and Sanu never really became part of the offense, dealing with a bum ankle that required offseason surgery - the tight ends didn't do squat, leaving the undrafted rookie Meyers as the only healthy receiver, making it easy for defenses to take away the Patriots' running game as well.

That said, the caveat for this season's offense will have to be the well-worn cliché "If Healthy".

"If Healthy", the Patriots have the receivers to force any defense to defend the entire field, with Harry working the perimeter, Sanu the intermediate routes, Edelman and Meyers working the middle and either Byrd or Lee clearing out the trash as deep threats. To make matters even worse for defenses, Belichick drafted two capable tight ends to handle the seam and safety valve responsibilities.

And, of course, all of that opens up room for the real star of the passing game, running back James White, who along with his battery mates Damien Harris, Rex Burkhead and Sony Michel, will also work in the power running game behind an offensive line built to plow the row.

All Stidham needs to be is proficient, the rest has been done for him. Just get the ball to where it needs to be and let his weapons be weapons. If he can command his troops on the field, earn their respect and manage the game plans, the Patriots have as good a chance as anyone to win the AFC East.

Belichick Tanking 2020 Season? Complete And Utter Hogwash

May 6, 2020

There's a lot of talk going around in the media that New England Patriots' coach Bill Belichick is going to "tank" this season in order to get a high draft pick in the 2021 draft - and the notion is so un-Belichickian that it is prima-fascie absurd...

...a fraud on it's face, and the so-called "AFC Evaluator" who started the rumor is either a complete lunatic, knows nothing about Belichick, or is a disgruntled fan who is in deep mourning over Tom Brady being shown the door - and perhaps a combination of all three. Then again, he could just be some douchebag blogger who cited this unknown and perhaps completely fictional "evaluator" just to gain page views.

The blogging community is full of irreputable frauds who pretend to have some sort of anonymous insider contact, posting outrageous claims and knowing that they have a fifty-fifty chance of being right - and if they are wrong, they can blame it all on their anonymous contact to maintain their own credibility.

At issue, of course, is the minimal trust that most fans and media have in Brady's heir, second-year quarterback Jarrett Stidham, maybe trying to make themselves feel better about the future of the Patriots' offense by presupposing that Belichick is going to tank the 2020 season in order to log such a horrible record that they can select one of the elite quarterbacks coming out of college through the 2021 NFL draft.

But here's the thing, and there's really no getting around it: Jarrett Stidham is the starting quarterback for the New England Patriots, and Bill Belichick doesn't give two shits if you like it or not.

Belichick passed on every quarterback avaiable in the draft, and wouldn't even take calls from the Cincinnati Bengals, who were trying to get any value at all out of mediocre quarterback Andy Dalton before finally releasing him. Belichick hasn't even made inquiries of free agent signal callers Jaiemis Winston or Cam Newton.

Perhaps all of this is why some ding dong started the "tanking" rumor, doing their own demented brand of math to connect the dots - but Belichick would never do such a thing, for several solid reasons...

...the most prominent of which is, well, he's Bill Belichick - and Bill Belichick is all about winning, and the amount of losing it would take to obtain a top-three pick in next year's draft would send him into a spiriling, sputtering funk - and if you think he's terse with the media now, addressing them after losing so many games would be like watching an episode of Judge Judy.

But as bad as that would be, tanking would also destroy the culture of the Patriots that Belichick has propogated for the past two decades.

Losing creates a culture that impacts everything and everyone, from the team owner to the guys cleaning the toilets. Losing is a cancer that invades the very core of a sports franchise, and although he played doctor with the Cleveland Browns back in the mid-nineties and brought the franchise to the brink of remission before being uncerimoniously dismissed, he'd rather not put himself in position where he would have to go through that again.

Not to mention that destroying that culture would have a residual effect of making New England a far less desirable destination for free agents, many of whom in the past have wanted to sign with the Patriots simply to escape losing cultures and to have a shot at a title - not to mention the effect it would have on current players, many of whom have taken less money as a free agent over the years to re-sign with the team.

To lose while being competative is honorable, if also dejecting, but to lose by holding back is sandbagging, a dishonorable ploy that no one except lawyers respect, no matter the advantage it brings.

And about that, Belichick cares very much - but even if he didn't, the idea wouldn't sit too well with the veteran players on his roster, affecting the aforementioned culture to the point that those players wouldn't be racing to get in line for new contracts or extensions to hang around.

To that point, there would eventually be some sort of pushback from the players, and chaos would ensue, eventually driving both them and Belichick himself out the door in short order.

In truth, however, Belichick may have come dangerously close to alienating the veterans on his roster last season, and did alienate Brady - or maybe it was Brady alienating Belichick by showing up at post-game pressers looking like someone pissed in his granola and not so subtly bitching about how inert the offense was...

...which wasn't necessarily by design, as Belichick brought in help in the form of Antonio Brown (briefly) and Mohamed Sanu - but Brown turned out to be a post-juvenile delinquent who was all flash (pun intended) and no substance, while Sanu broke as soon as he arrived in Foxborough and contributed next to nothing.

So, it's not like Belichick didn't try to appease his star quarterback, but injury crippled his offense in a way that nobody could have survived, not even Brady - but the good news was that the Patriots were in every game that they lost, a missed play here and there dooming them to having to play in the Wild Card round of the playoffs and an early exit from the tournament.

And I'm off subject a bit, but it is important to know that Belichick never broke stride in his plan for life after Brady - even to the detriment of the offense last season - and, if Stidham turns out to be a good-to-very-good quarterback in the system that Belichick has set up for him, the Patriots will still be in the hunt for a division title and more.

Patriots Enter New League Year Crippled By Cap-Stressed Exodus

Previously published on out sister blog, Mainely Patriots

23 March 2020

2:47am, Lewiston Maine

A heavy drizzle and sporadic fog blankets the ghost town tonight, gloom on top of gloom as the world deals with a naturally-occurring biological attack and the residents have all but hunkered down for what might be a lot longer than the two weeks that the talking heads initially preached.

I just got back from a drive in the weather, a brief but needed respite in the middle of bad craziness. Other than a small crowd gathered in a vacant lot on the corner of Bartlett and Walnut, who appeared to be drinking heavily and doing that vampire dance from The Lost Boys, the streets were bare...

...except for a few persistent, desperate-looking hookers who are discovering the hard way that there's not much job security in times like these when people know that sex could lead to death.

It's a life-altering event for every soul on the planet, and everything has changed. Everything, that is, except the well-meaning loons that run the National Football League, whose decision to open their free agency period as scheduled has proven to be a powerful respite from the nasty little bugs floating around right outside my window. Business as usual, says the league, and all while observing the social distancing mandate from the CDC.

Of course, the fact that New England's favorite son has defected for the warm climes of Florida has many football fans in the region feeling like they've been kicked in the gut while they were already down - but Tom Brady's departure and the media attention it's getting is masking the real story, that being their defense is being stripped down to bare bones, with only the essential core players remaining.

NFL Network rubs it in by showing every single Super Bowl appearance by Brady in their entirety, all while scrolling his name constantly across the bottom of the screen. It's nothing personal. Just the biggest news story during a period when it is needed most, even if the distraction is for a few seconds of anger, it's worth it. It was inevitable, Brady leaving. In fact, in my estimation, it came three years too late.

But that is for another time, very soon, but not now because it doesn't matter anymore. With Brady hogging the headlines, the story of how head coach Bill Belichick is going to have to build his 2020 incarnation of the Patriots has been overlooked. The roster has been stripped of so many core players that the offseason philosophy has been reduced to that of what almost all other teams have endured during the past two decades.

Because during that span, the Patriots haven't had to make wholesale personnel moves in so many different positions as they are faced with this season, what with both of their Pro Bowl quality outside linebackers and their Big Nickel safety gone to other teams.

In fact, the Patriots have lost so many impact players in the initial phases of free agency that it reminds me of a quote by the late, great Hunter S. Thompson, who once documented a trip to a doctor years back about excessive sweating, but when he told the doctor about his normal intake of illicit drugs and alcohol, the doctor responded by telling Thompson that they would wait for him to break down, then work with what was left.

That's what Belichick is faced with: Working with what's left and trying to add some pieces to at least be competitive - and maybe that's what Belichick really wanted to do in the first place. Maybe he wants to get away from the eternal chatter about how his success was not only tied to the head start he inherited from previous Patriots' coaches, but also the questions surrounding whether that success was tied in large part to Brady.

But it's not good enough to just go forward with a new quarterback surrounded by the same supporting cast, Belichick wants to build his team from the ground up. If he is successful and the Patriots somehow make the playoffs, maybe that would add to his already cemented in stone legacy.

Is that important? You bet, considering that, with six Super Bowl titles under their belts making him them winningest head coach and quarterback combination in football history, each has an opportunity to break away from the generation-old question as to whether the Patriots' dynasty was the result of Belichick's coaching or Brady's play. Really, it's a combination of both, but now that Brady is with another team with a chance to make that argument go in his favor.

It's a dumb argument, but when gearing down to the end of two certain Hall-of-Fame careers, neither man want's the question to go unanswered.

Brady will have the easier route to success, going to a Tampa Bay team that is loaded on offense and with an improving defense, while Belichick has to build off a core roster that is the most aged in the league and has lost several key players.

That is not a recipe for success, at least not short-term, but defying the odds with innovative game plans is exactly what Belichick does, and exactly the challenge he wants. Brady wanted elite weapons to throw to, and that's exactly what Tampa provides him.

There are some that felt like Belichick was limiting Brady last season by surrounding him with rookies and cast-offs, and maybe he was. He certainly did very little to replace retired tight end Rob Gronkowski, while letting proven talent at receiver leave in free agency. He did bring in Antonio Brown to catch passes from Brady, but the troubled Brown lasted only two weeks in Foxborough before being released.

Still, Brady was certainly good enough to win with the cast that he had, but injuries along the offensive line doomed the offense. That wasn't Belichick's doing, but it made Brady look ordinary and even below par - and it didn't help that Brady bitched and bristled about the anemic offense and essentially shut down the passing game by hesitating to throw to the aforementioned rookies and cast-offs.

So Brady whined and Belichick became even more tight-lipped than ever, and all the while team owner Bob Kraft, already hiding from the media due to being implicated in a massage parlor sting, said nothing. Certainly there were private conversations between all parties and all had plenty to say - but we'll never know the level of animosity.

In the interim, fans and media around the country are looking for someone to blame for Brady packing up and leaving Foxborough.

Some blame Belichick for not appeasing Brady with weapons. Some blame Brady for his publicly negative attitude and dour expressions. But the real culprit is Kraft, who considers Brady as one of his kids, and refused to allow Belichick to trade Brady three years ago and keep the one-time heir apparent, Jimmy Garoppolo.

Had Belichick been allowed to deal Brady to San Francisco instead of Garoppolo, it goes to figure that Brady would have garnered at least a first round draft pick, and the Patriots would be rolling forward with no questions about the quarterback position and with a roster that played to his strengths.

Some would argue that the Patriots wouldn't have their sixth Super Bowl title in that scenario - which is the goal, after all - but who's to say that Garoppolo wouldn't have been able to pull that off?

We'll never know, but what we know now is that the Patriots have to move forward without either, leaving second-year, seldom-played Jarrett Stidham as the quarterback and, due to Belichick's desperate wheeling and dealing last season to provide Brady with targets he would actually throw to, a significantly reduced stock of draft picks...

...not to mention (though I will), that Brady's defection carries a $13.5 million dead money hit on the Patriots' salary cap - not crippling, but almost.  The result has been a mass exodus of core players in free agency, as the Patriots just cannot afford to offer them the contracts that other teams can, and have.

The only way that Belichick could respond to this significant handicap was to start dealing players to other teams, sending Big Nickel safety Duron Harmon to Detroit for a mid-round draft pick, and there is probably more players on the way out in the same manner.

That process is still in it's infancy, and it will interesting to see how it turns out. But one thing is for sure: The Patriots will look much different this season.

Brady Frustrated Over Lack Of Offensive Production; Calls Out McDaniels?

18 November, 2019

Tom Brady is less than enthused about the New England Patriots' win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday evening.

Bill Belichick was thrilled - as are all of the Brady detractors in the Boston-area media, but for very different reasons. Many are trashing the certain Hall of Fame quarterback for not only his performance against the Eagles, but for his dour attitude in both his post-game presser and on his weekly radio show appearance on Monday morning.

Belichick, the eternal grouch, positively beamed as he stood on the podium following the game, joking around about Julian Edelman's passer rating and discussing the merits of ice cubes on sore shoulders after the receiver's scoring pass for the Patriots' lone touchdown.

But Brady, the glass-half-full, politically-correct optimist, slouched in his stylish parka at the lectern, his beard bordering on standard depression trim and with rummy-looking red eyes that translated his emotions without him having to utter a word - which is what nearly happened anyway, as Brady uttered one sentence replies to media questions.

The student, it appears, has become the master.

At issue, is his apparent displeasure with both the ultra-conservative play calling from offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and the pass catching weapons that he's been given to mete out the aforementioned play calling.

Who really knows? Not me, but I know that I was frustrated with the play calling on Sunday. I mean, how many times can you call a screen play that the other team has sniffed out every time before you realize that another plan of attack is needed? How many times will you lose yardage on toss sweeps before you realize that the bad guys are defending the edges like a pack of rabid badgers?

Those two things are related, don't you know. The Eagles' defensive game plan was apparently to ground New England's screen game, which meant dedicating resources to the edge, which is why when the Patriots ran that toss sweep, there were plenty of green shirts waiting for the runner.

The majority of Brady's passes were sent outside of the hashes - again, where the Eagles were concentrating. So it's no wonder that when Brady went over the middle, he found guys open and hit on a decent play or two.

In the red zone offense, the Patriots threw the ball on three consecutive plays when presented with a goal line situation instead of trying to mix it up with a power run or two, and ended up with a field goal. This also speaks to an apparent lack of trust in the running game, when the only way to build that trust is by practical application.

The thing that is really baffling is why Brady was sent on bootleg rollouts to the right. Talk about telegraphing. Brady has all the athleticism of a sloth, so putting him on the run to the flat puts him and the entire offense at a distinct disadvantage, and the Eagles know that. They know he isn't going to tuck the ball and run with it.

They know that running to the right hash reduces the space that his receivers have to operate in, and it limits Brady's options. So the Eagles stuck with their assignments and covered everything, knowing that there was only one thing that is going to happen once Brady is out in space in the flat.

Sure, I get that they were probably doing that to protect Brady against left tackle Marshall Newhouse's turnstile act, but that's what's called being dictated to by the opposing defense. And when that happens, seventeen points (or fewer) is what you get.

On the bright side and illuminated by the rays of sunshine emanating from Belichick, the Patriots' defense recovered nicely from a slow start, made their adjustments on the fly, and shut down the Eagles' offense for three full quarters.

And Belichick should be happy about that. And so should Brady.

But here's the thing: I know from being a chef for more than three decades that there are times that even when you create a successful dish, you can still be upset with the manner in which it was produced, and want to make changes in the process. The result will still be a phenomenal product, but you feel better about how efficiently it was created.

Maybe that's what's going on here. I don't know, but listening to Brady talk Sunday night and Monday morning, that's the feeling I get when invariably reading between the lines. Of course he likes the win, but he didn't care for the way they got it. Brady made this very clear on his radio show appearance, saying that they need to figure out how to generate more offense.

This is a departure for Brady, as he rarely if ever calls out anyone in the organization, and is usually upbeat and can find a silver lining in just about anything. His silver lining in this scenario is also an indictment on the performance of the offense, that is, his offense is now forced to ride the coattails of the Patriots' excellent defense.

That's hard cheese for Brady to swallow, as for most of his stellar career he and his offense has had at least an equal stake in the team's overall success. But now he feels that his offense is simply taking what the opposing defenses are giving them instead of pressing the issue and forcing the defense to actually defend.

Being dictated to is the exact opposite of being aggressive, and Brady has the offensive structure to be aggressive, but the play calling is not allowing for that.

For years, McDaniels has been built up as an offensive genius, solid play caller and is viewed around the league as an attractive head coaching candidate with gonads the size of coconuts – but something happened to him along the way, and Brady doesn't like it.

Those who have followed this blog over the years know that I am hardly a fan of Josh McDaniels, and may feel that my interpretation of Brady's disgust is influenced by it – and perhaps that is true in small measure, but now it seems that when faced with problems, McDaniels is folding like a cheap tent and allowing defensive coordinators to dictate to him how his offense performs...

...and reducing Brady to no more than a game manager, which is a level far below his pay grade and a waste of such rich talent.

Get used to Brady being demure and grouchy, because his countenance is not going to change until he is allowed to be aggressive and take the game to the opposition. It may be that Sunday's win over Philadelphia is just one of those anomalous instances where McDaniels comes up with a stinker of a game plan.

It has happened before, and the team usually rebounds the next game and McDaniels is back to being Boy Wonder – but Brady's reaction to this particular game plan indicates that he feels that it may not be one of those rarities, rather, that he sees no easy solution or that his hands have been tied.

The Patriots have won titles with less talent than they have now. They are getting as healthy as they can be and are primed to run the table as far as Brady can take them – he just needs to be turned loose and not tied down by conservative game planning and taking what he wants and needs by force.

That is the Patriot Way, after all.

Patriots Top Eagles In Punt-Fest; Brady, Offense Seeking Answers

18 November, 2019

The typical method of operation for the New England Patriots this season is to survive their opponent's best shot early, make the necessary in-game adjustments on the fly, then simply outclass them at winning time.

Never has this m.o. been more stark and obvious as it was against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday evening.

The Patriots spotted the Eagles a ten point lead in the first quarter, then the New England defense made their in-game adjustments and shut down Philadelphia's offense the rest of the game. The only thing missing from the equation is the part where the Patriots' offense was supposed to outclass their opponent...

...relying on three Nick Folk field goals and a trick play for a touchdown to take an early third-quarter lead over the Eagles, the Patriots' defense and special teams making that lead hold up to take home a 17-10 victory in a brutal slugfest at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

Perhaps "slugfest" isn't the proper term for what occurred between the Patriots and Eagles. Instead, given the number of punts between the two, perhaps "snoozefest" would actually be a more appropriate moniker to lay on the CBS Game of the Week, a three-hour sleeping pill prescribed for the national television audience.

It was like watching a bad prizefight, featuring a series of horrible beatings to start the matchup, followed by a few jabs and a lot of clinching in the corners in the late rounds with the good guys hanging on to win on points.

The jabs came courtesy of the Patriots' defense, which sacked Eagles' quarterback Carson Wentz five times and forced two turnovers; The clinching on the ropes courtesy of punters Jake Bailey for New England and Cameron Johnston for Philadelphia, pinning down their opponents in their own territory in a field position battle.

Neither offense came close to even sniffing the end zone after Julian Edelman connected with Phillip Dorsett early in the third quarter on a double pass play for a touchdown - in fact, crossing midfield after that point became cause for celebration before Wentz nearly connected with Nelson Agholor in the back of the end zone on a final-play desperation throw from the New England 35-yard line that would have potentially sent the game into overtime...

...which likely would have been more of the same three-and-out. flipping of field position struggle that plagued both offenses almost the entire second half – so, perhaps mercifully for the bleary-eyed television audience, the desperation heave went incomplete.

How bad was it? Bad enough to make Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady look and sound like someone had just killed his dog before the post-game press conference, his countenance clearly despondent after completing just fifty-five percent of his passes, the longest pass play of the night a dump-off to running back Rex Burkhead that went for 30 yards – not to mention that the lone touchdown pass of the evening came off of the arm of Edelman.

Brady had plenty to be dissatisfied with, from the play calling to the execution – but the player he should be most disappointed in is himself.

While it is true that Brady took more hits than Rocky Balboa while running for his life against the Eagles' monstrous pass rush, it is also true that his game regressed as the contest wore on, choosing to try and fit fastballs into tight windows, including a couple that should have been picked off as he ignored open receivers on intermediate routes and continually dumped off throws to his backs...

...which netted him close to nothing as the Eagles' defensive game plan obviously was to take away the screen game that is a staple of the Patriots' offense and forcing Brady to target receivers that he wasn't fully comfortable with.

He again saw little help from his running game as Sony Michel averaged a dismal 2.3 yards per carry and dropped two passes in the flat. James White had the hot feet for the runners, averaging four yards a pop and also converting a two-point conversion on the ground, yet White only saw five carries for the entire game.

Burkhead didn't fare any better on the ground than Michel did, but also fell victim to the play calling, as McDaniels called numerous pitch plays to the left corner, which fell right into the laps of the Eagles' game planners and gained no yards at all.

Yet the Patriots still found a way to win the game and improve their league-best record to 9-1, good for a one-game lead over the surging Baltimore Ravens for the top seed in the AFC, who hold the tie-breaker over New England in light of their win over the Patriots two weeks ago.

The win over the Eagles followed a similar pattern to their loss against the Ravens in that they spotted each team double-digit early leads, then fought back to gain all of the momentum – the difference being that New England didn't give up the ball on turnovers against the Eagles, nor did they make the mental errors that crushed them in Baltimore.

The bottom line is that with a date against the Dallas Cowboys looming next Sunday night that opens a three-game stretch against some of the best the rest of the NFL has to offer, Brady needs to find a comfort zone with his entire pass catching corps or they could lose their top spot in the conference to the Ravens, who look unbeatable in Baltimore.

The good news is that neither the Cowboys, the Houston Texans nor the Kansas City Chiefs have defenses good enough to cause the amount of uncertainty that caused Brady to become skittish in the pocket against Philadelphia – not to mention that on the other side of the ball, New England sports the best defense in the league.

Can the Patriots ride that defense to another title? Probably so, but the offense needs to contribute as well, and with the offensive line being close to being incrementally better with left tackle Isaiah Wynn set to return against the Cowboys, perhaps Brady will find time in the pocket and the runner will find creases to run through.

Perhaps. But with head coach Bill Belichick living by the axiom that his teams build up across the first few months of the season to become what they are around Thanksgiving, the Patriots are a spooky good defense protecting an offense that is still trying to find an identity – and if they can't find that continuity and chemistry on offense, one can only expect more ugly games like the last two...

...and that probably won't make the nut.

Good Stuff:

1.      Jake Bailey's right foot: Bailey punted eight times for an average of 47.6 yards on each – not bad, but what that average doesn't tell you is that he pinned the Eagles inside their 20-yard line six times, once just outside the twenty and once more inside the twenty after a personal foul penalty on the Eagles that took the ball half the distance to the goal line. If there is a game ball to be had, Bailey was clearly the best weapon on the field for New England.

2.      Boogeyman Defense: After giving up 103 yards and ten points on the first three series of the game, the New England defense yielded only 148 total yards the rest of the way, forcing eight punts – including 4 three-and-outs -  forced a fumble and held Wentz to an abysmal 11 of 28 for 149 yards, all but 40 yards of that coming on the final two drives against the Patriots' two-deep zone designed to prevent any big plays. Take away sack yardage, and Wentz threw for only 174 net passing yards for the game.

3.      Danny Shelton goes beast mode: The big boy is quietly having the best season of his career, and against the Eagles, he had his finest game as a professional, and did so loudly. Shelton had seven tackles, one sack, a quarterback hit and a forced fumble. He was instrumental in the Patriots' performance against the run, limiting the normally potent Philadelphia running game to 3.8 yards per carry.

Curious:

1.      What was up with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels rolling Brady out into the right flat multiple times during the game? Brady is never better on the rollout than he is standing tall in the pocket, as rolling out into the flat eliminates half of the field and causes his receivers to try and gain separation in a phone booth. To be fair to McDaniels, he most likely had that in his game plan to keep the Eagles' blind-side edge rushers from getting to Brady before he had time to set in the pocket, as left tackle Marshall Newhouse played as a matador for most of the night. That said, there is hope on the horizon as starting tackle Isaiah Wynn is eligible for return off the IR against Dallas.

Bad Juju:

1.      Brady's trust issue with his receivers: Brady has always been distrustful with pass catchers that are new to him, particularly rookies, so it's not an anomaly that his targets went primarily to Edelman and his backs – but once the Eagles proved they could take away New England's screen game, he left himself  no options other than trying to fit rockets into tight coverages to Edelman. Only six of his 47 passes went to rookies N'Keal Harry and Jakobi Meyers, both of whom Brady seemed to ignore though they appeared open in the pattern.

Defense Dominates Yet Again As Patriots Annihilate Jets

Sam Darnold claimed that he was seeing ghosts on Monday night while his New York Jets were hosting the New England Patriots and their bedlam-based defense.

Actually, Sam, you weren't seeing Ghosts; you were seeing Boogeymen..

The Patriots' self-dubbed "Boogeyman" defense had the second-year signal caller so wide-eyed and rattled, that he looked like a teenager in a bad slasher flick, forced into making the type of fatal decisions that cause the audience to grip their arm rests in suspense, knowing that the poor geek was doomed.

No matter how fast he ran, he knew the Boogeyman was going to catch him - and in true thriller fashion, the New England defense terrorized the young quarterback, wearing him down psychologically to the point that his throwing mechanics broke down and he started throwing off his back foot and floating balls to where he thought his receivers would be...

Devin McCourty returning an interception

...but no one except Patriots defenders were there, picking him off four times enroute to their second shutout of the season, a 33-0 blowout that elevated New England to 7-0 on the season and caused Jets' fans to flee MetLife Stadium in horror.

A common term for when a quarterback starts feeling so pressured by the pass rush that he sees targets that aren't really there, "Seeing ghosts" is the only explanation for why the second-year signal caller was throwing passes to places on the field where there was not a receiver in sight.

Hallucinatory episode aside, Darnold simply suffered the same fate of every other quarterback thus far on the Patriots' schedule. Pressured by a relentless, shape-shifting pass rush that was in his face all night long, Darnold completed only eleven of his thirty-two pass attempts, four of those misses ending up in the hands of New England defenders, who have now logged 18 thefts on the season.

The superlatives being tossed around about the Patriots' defense – and deservedly so – have clouded from most folk's view that the offense has its stake in their success.

When quarterback Tom Brady entered the field of play after the Patriots received the opening kickoff, he didn't leave it until nearly nine minutes of game time had elapsed 16 plays later and with a the eventual winning points on the board.

The Jets were doomed after that, their defense already exhausted. But Brady and the Patriots' offense continued to pour it on, with a huge assist from the defense.

Once the Jets' offense finally saw the field, their first possession lasted a whole two plays as Darnold saw his first ghost and was picked off by safety Devin McCourty, who returned the ball deep into the red zone. That possession resulted in only a field goal but the Jets' defense had little time to rest and recover, now on the field for 10 minutes and only twelve minutes into the contest.

By the time the second quarter rolled around, New England already had a 17-0 lead when two plays in, linebacker John Simon strip-sacked Darnold, and fellow 'backer Kyle Van Noy recovered at the New York 38 – but rather than going for the quick strike, Brady opted for keeping the Jets' defense on the field for another five minutes, eventually taking a 24-point lead on a Sony Michel one-yard blast.

In the end, New England held the ball for nearly two-thirds of the game, their grinding, move-the-chains style a perfect complement to the manic defensive entity – and if the offense does bog down, which it did after taking a three-score lead, there's always Jake Bailey and the Stormtrooper punt coverage team, who routinely pin the opposing offense deep in their own territory, forcing them to cover the length of the field to obtain any points at all.

That's not happening for the opposition – and if the other guys happen to cause a turnover to get great field position, the Boogeymen shift into high gear and drive them backwards.

It's now a familiar refrain in New England, but there is much work left to do, particularly on the offense, which leads the league in points scored, but tend to bog down for long stretches. At issue is the 30th ranked ground game of the Patriots, which is collectively gaining just just 3.3 yards per carry...

...which sucks, but the main culprit is Michel's get-only-what's-blocked-for-him style, which also is an indictment of the play of the offensive line, a unit that isn't getting push when Michel is in the backfield because the opposition stacks the box due to his one-dimensional opportunities – and dropping a screen pass that had touchdown written all over it doesn’t help how defenses perceive him.

That's a topic that needs a little more attention, because it happened again on Monday night, as after the Patriots had taken that 24-0 lead midway through the second quarter, the Jets' defense rose to the occasion and forced seven punts and one interception of Brady the rest of the way...

...mostly due to the Patriots attempting to dictate to the Jets in the four-minute offense against the aforementioned stacked box - the only glitch in their effort another clock eating drive by the Patriots that resulted in Michel's third rushing touchdown of the game and the final points of the game.

Good Stuff:

1. Jakobi Meyers blocking ability: Meyers is tall and thin, but certainly not frail, nor afraid to take on defenders while blocking down the field. Twice on Monday night Meyers exhibited excellent technique in opening the edge on screen plays, solidifying his status of an up-and-coming talent, especially in light of the fact that he catches everything thrown at him and appears to have Brady's confidence. This rookie looks to be another great bottom-of-the-barrel find by Belichick.

2. Patriots may have found a new "Fullback": Or maybe three or four, as linebacker Elandon Roberts, reserve lineman James Ferentz and tight ends Ben Watson and Eric Tomlinson all had turns at lead blocking from the fullback position. Roberts offered up the best audition tape, as on the last of Sony Michel's three touchdown runs, Roberts leveled two defenders, taking them high and low and clearing a path for Michel. Belichick may choose to use a by-committee approach for the position, but for the moment, Roberts appears to be the best option.

3. Ben Watson's seamless debut: After Watson caught a third-down chain mover on a slant route, he rose from the turf with an “I told you so” scowl on his face, perhaps sending a message to Belichick that he should never have cut him in the first place. We'll probably never know if there was a message to be had for anyone, but Watson looked both pissed off and redeemed at the same instant. Regardless, New England now has a legitimate NFL tight end again.

4. A Damien Harris Sighting: Finally. It was in garbage time – well, the game was in garbage time after the Patriots' initial drive, but you get it – and the kid ran with purpose. A third-round draft pick out of Alabama, the Patriots have the luxury of bringing him along slowly, and that's exactly what they are doing. That said, he needs real-game reps, so let's hope that Monday night's appearance isn't an anomaly.

Curious:

1. Why do the officials continue to pick on J.C. Jackson? In last season's AFC Championship game, Jackson was flagged three times on one drive, leading to a Kansas City touchdown. On Monday night, Jackson was again flagged three times on one drive, but the Patriots' defense emerged unscathed when safety Duron Harmon intercepted Jets' quarterback Sam Darnold at the one-yard line. Just as last year, the penalties seemed a bit ticky-tack, or even downright wrong. No harm, no foul I suppose.

Bad Juju:

1. Sony Michel still bogged down: He scored three touchdowns, but only averaged 2.2 yards per carry and dropped a screen pass that probably would have gone for a touchdown, given the wall of blockers that were set up to escort him into the end zone. He broke off a couple of tough runs, but continues to get only what's blocked for him.

Early Morning Pondering Of The Patriots' Offense

2:17am, Lewiston, Maine

I stay up late when it's raining. I love the weather here, especially this time of year when we get a good rain storm a couple of times a week and the temperatures dip into the 40's at night. I sit out on the deck that during the daytime treats me to an explosion of color as the leaves turn, but tonight, nothing but the cool blackness that brings me comfort.

I just finished watching the Patriots' victory over the New York Giants for the second time and made many notes, now sitting on the deck, a canopy protecting both man and machine from the weird misty rain that is indigenous to Maine. Every week, I watch the replay twice - first to study the offense and the second to do the same with the defense.

The last three weeks have been a struggle for the Patriots' offensively, but we've seen this before.

In 2015, the New England Patriots made it to the AFC Championship game against the Denver Broncos with Julian Edelman being the only healthy receiver left on the roster and with no lead back to try and take all of the pressure off of quarterback Tom Brady and the passing game.

Brady took an epic beating, yet nearly prevailed anyway on sheer determination and by riding one of the main tenents of Belichickian philosophy, that of wearing down opposing defenses with large snap counts and superior conditioning that eventually gives him the upper hand.

And that's what the Patriots are all about. How many times have we seen the offense seem like they are an 11-man mosh pit early in games and then come on like gangbusters late to overpower their foes?

The most vivid example of this was in Super Bowl 51, where the Patriots were completely dominated by the Atlanta Falcons through most of three quarters, then staged the greatest comeback in NFL post-season history - erasing a 25 point deficit in eighteen minutes of game time...

...the turning point coming at the end of a 13-play drive in the second quarter, Brady throwing an interception in the red zone that was returned by the Falcons for a touchdown - then the Patriots taking the ensuing kickoff and driving down the field again on a 12 play drive.

By the time that 25 play sequence ended on a Stephen Gostkowski field goal to make the halftime score 21-3, the Falcons' defense was so gassed that they just couldn't keep up with the relentless Patriots' offense in the second half, scoring at will after Atlanta had taken a 28-3 lead coming out of the room at halftime - to the point that when the Patriots won the coin flip to start the overtime period, there was no doubt that they would drive the length of the field and win the game.

The same thing happened during last year's AFC Championship game, when New England wore down the Kansas City defense to keep pace with the powerful Chiefs' offense, then scored easily in overtime to advance to Super Bowl 53, where they used the same ploy to wear down the Los Angeles Rams' helter-skelter attack to eventually pull out another title.

It has worked so well for so long that head ball coach Bill Belichick always builds his teams with superior depth on both sides of the ball so he is able to rotate players in and out of the lineup to keep them fresh, maintaining his game plans throughout with the knowledge that his well-conditioned and fresh players will eventually gain the upper hand and crush their opponents into submission in the latter stages.

Other than Brady, the Patriots feature no superstars, just a collection of players who buy into Belichick's philosophy, knowing that if they just continue to stay the course during games, that they will have a chance to win, no matter the opponent - and that's exactly what we are witnessing six games into this 2019 season...

...the main difference between those teams of the recent past and this years' incarnation is that Belichick has finally built a defense that will not allow the Patriots to fall behind, no matter how incongruous the offense looks - and knowing that sticking with their offensive game plan will eventually cause the opposing defense to wear down enough for the aging Brady to work his late-game magic.

That said, the start to this season is the personification of this Belichickian philosophy.

Three yards and a cloud of dust is not just the calling card for the running game, but applies to the offense as a whole. For all of Belichick's tenure, he has stated matter-of-factly that the short passing game is simply an extension of the running game, and he employs running backs who can produce in both facets.

With one notable exception, his receivers have always been of the variety that finds the sticks and make good use of the field between the hashes - his longest gainers usually down the seam, but those are shots taken just a few times per contest, and normally only after Brady has lulled the defense to sleep with his methodical, incessant approach.

The results stemming from this approach usually has the Patriots' offense at or near the top of the league in both plays run and time of possession. You see where this is going.

For example, in last Thursday's match up with the New York Giants, New England ran a whopping 75 offensive snaps, compared to 46 for New York, and the time of possession was fully double that of the Giants. New York played admirably, but deep in their hearts they knew it was for naught...

...that Brady, for as docile and ordinary as he looked, was just setting them up for the kill by running 44 plays in the first half, then finishing them off with an absurd 16 play, sixty yard drive in their only third-quarter possession that kept the Redskins' defense on the field for nearly ten minutes.

That drive resulted in a missed field goal attempt, but the damage was done and the purpose well taken.

That's what New England does to people. That's what they did to Denver in that AFC title tilt in '15 and to Atlanta in Super Bowl 51 and to the Rams last February - and what they have done to every single opponent so far this season, and what they will continue to do to the rest of the teams on their schedule.

And good thing, too, as injuries have dictated to the Patriots' offense in much the same fashion that they did in 2015. In fact, the hurts have left the Patriots' pass catching corps so thin that in the second half against the Redskins, they were left with only one personnel package featuring Edelman and rookies Jakobi Meyers and Gunner Olswezski - not to mention that they were trying to function with only one healthy tight end and no fullback, both staples of the offense.

Even Belichick will have a tough time grinding out yardage and scores with such a bare cupboard, but with ten days off before their Monday night showdown with the hated New York Jets, he has time to develop a game plan to attack a decent Jets' defense.

Time is also on the side of receiver Josh Gordon, who suffered what was apparently an MCL sprain to his left knee on Thursday night - or even work out a pass catcher or two, or maybe even swing a trade for a veteran receiver on another team as Belichick has plenty of capital to barter with, but not a lot of cap dollars to spend.

There is also the presence of rookie wide out N'Keal Harry on the I/R with a bad hammy, who has a designation to return and can do so this week should the team choose to activate him - and there's really no reason not to bring him back to the active roster, unless the hamstring hasn't healed. If it has, he gives the offense a large perimeter target with the skill to haul down those back-shoulder throws that Brady loves.

If nothing else, he's a physically imposing target who specializes in fighting for the ball in the air, with the size and wingspan to collect a good percentage of 50/50 balls - and once he establishes himself as a legitimate threat, just his presence will free up more room for Edelman, Gordon, Meyers and passing back James White to operate in.

It also helps the running game by forcing defenses to eliminate a linebacker in favor of a fifth defensive back, making one less big body for the patchwork offensive line to deal with - and with left tackle Isaiah Wynn eligible to be activated off the IR as well, the protection of Brady's backside and run blocking on the edge would become a strength rather than the weakness that it is now.

Some even want the Patriots to bring back troubled Antonio Brown, citing the fact that New England owes the mercurial receiver a lot of money, so they may as well bring him back and make him earn it. For Brown's part, he has requested that the NFL hurry up and make a decision in regard to punishment for alleged sexual abuse allegations so that he can continue his career without that storm cloud hanging over his head.

Will it happen? Who knows? Certainly none of  us know what goes on behind the closed doors at One Patriots' Place, but the odds are in favor of Belichick running with what he has, using superb running backs James White and Rex Burkhead as wide receivers, which will most likely give the Jets all kinds of knots to untie.

But what they have now should do fine against the Jets, particularly given that the offense shouldn't have to score an exorbitant number of points with their "Boogeyman" defense suffocating opposing offenses.

But that is a topic for another night...