Do you guys really not think that the Patriots offense has been inconsistent? Obviously they have played well, but not well enough to beat a team like the Browns... Or the games where we just didn't show up for 2 quarters.
Yesterday, nobody played well, not offense or defense or special teams or coaches.
But overall, I think we've done pretty well. Obviously there have been times we've struggled, and we could certainly improve. But in terms of points, I think the offense has been very consistent when you break it down.
First, we need to understand what we're looking for. In terms of scoring, the average team gets 10 to 13 possessions per game, which can vary dramatically on a lot of different factors. But it's unrealistic to expect huge quarters all the time. Consider that even averaging one TD drive per quarter would tie us with the highest-scoring team in the leaague right now, so that's a bit unrealistic to hope for.
If we assume 12 possessions per game, 3 per quarter, and can score 33% of the time, a mediocre red zone performance of 50% TDs would still be good for 20 points per game (2 TDs, 2 FGs). If we score once per quarter and squeeze in another score somewhere, that's 24 to 27 points, a top-5 performance.
Now look at our season. In games 1, 3, and 6, we had a score in all 4 quarters. In games 4, 5, and 7, we scored in 3 of 4 quarters. All 6 games were wins. Out of those 24 quarters (not including the OT against the Ravens, though it only strengthens these numbers), we scored in 21 of them (87%). Of those 21 quarters with scores, only 2 quarters had 3 points. That means 19 times, or 79% of the quarters, we were able to either score multiple times with FGs or score at least a TD or even better. That's a very consistent offense that doesn't rely on huge quarters or swings of momentum.
Only twice have we failed to score in at least 3 quarters, and no surprise, they were our two losses (two TDs over two quarters vs. the Browns, two TDs in one quarter vs. the Jets).
The 3 and outs are a killer, I admit. And we need to get better at that for TOP and to help out the defense. But in terms of putting points on the board, we've been very consistent about it. When we haven't, we've lost.
