FOXBORO, MA -- For the second straight week Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and his coaching staff spent Monday breaking down film, and trying to figure out what went wrong during Sunday's 23-16 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
Because whatever they've been doing for the past two weeks just hasn't worked.
It's lead to two straight defeats along with frustration both on and off the football field, both for the players as well as their coach. Belichick endured watching his defense spend nearly 40-minutes on the field while his offense failed to sustain a drive for most of the afternoon. He saw the Dolphins make plays while watching his team turn the football over.
Belichick admitted that he and his coaching staff aren't completely immune to some of the blame while his team continues to struggle.
"Yesterday, the Dolphins out-coached us," said Belichick on Monday. "They out-played us and their football team was better than our football team. I think that everybody on our team is accountable and takes accountability for every aspect of the game, playing, coaching, all the things that we were involved in."
"As we do every week, we'll look at what we planned, what we did and what happened and address it honestly. Not anything other than trying to find what we think are the honest answers to those questions."
Questions like why they're struggling on third down, or why instead of scoring touchdowns when they get into enemy territory, they've instead been turning the football over.
All of which are things they didn't used to do, but now Belichick's problems are with a different group of players in a different year. They are the defending Superbowl Champs, but if they are unable to get things turned around and continue struggling both on the field and with injuries, they'll finish the year as another statistic of a team proving how difficult it is to repeat.
To make matters worse they're getting ready to face the 4-1 Green Bay Packers who are coming off of a 34-21 victory over the Chicago Bears on Monday night. Quarterback Brett Favre was near perfect in the Packers victory, completing 22-of-33 for 359-yards and 3 touchdowns, with a QB rating of 133.3. Former Patriots wide receiver Terry Glenn had a big game, with 8-catches for 154-yards in their victory over Chicago.
Ahman Green also rushed for 107-yards on 27-carries (4.0 avg.).
Needless to say things aren't about to get any easier.
Their defense is going to have their hands full. The Patriots may be ranked number one in the NFL in pass defense, but they'll probably have a tougher time facing a team like the Packers who are currently third in the league in yards passing, oddly enough right behind Buffalo and New England who are ranked one and two respectively.
Belichick already conceded that he and the team didn't do enough last week against Miami, and as nice as it was to be labeled as a "genius" after last season, the coach is only focused on where his team sits at this point in time. At 3-2 it's too early to hit the panic button, but with Green Bay, Denver, and Chicago (who played the Packers tough) all up next, they're going to have their work cut out for them to defend their title.
By the way, don't ask Belichick about last year. Because the joy of a World Championship only lasts until the next training camp opens, and frankly Belichick isn't feeling too happy about where his team is right now. Last year is history, and what they did last year certainly isn't going to help them right now.
"You know what? I don't even care about last year. I really don't," said Belichick. "I don't even care about last year. Right now we're 3-2, that's what we are."
"We can talk about last year. We can talk about 1987. We can talk about 1950. I don't care about last year. I don't care about 1950. All I care about is right now, we're 3-2."
"We play Green Bay this week. That's all I care about."
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