Major Themes: Belichick remains an elite defensive mastermind goat, Brady remains a clutch QB goat, Mac Jones has sky-high franchise QB potential, the OLine continues to suck.
1. Patriots' Defense played great. Really stepped up especially the secondary. JC Jackson held his own against Evans. J.Jones was solid. Judon is mini-LT. Brady only had a 70 QB rating.
2. Loved Steve Belichick calling the defensive plays and also making wild animal faces on the sidelines. He called a great defensive game. Mad Dog Steve. Mad Max Steve.
3. Mac Jones is the real deal QB as I've been saying for a year. Elite accuracy, toughness, decision making, leadership, he's a legit franchise QB with a ton of potential. Very tough kid who keeps taking vicious hits.
4. OLine continues to be garbage. Why keep Karras on the bench. Herron and Durant kept swapping at RT in the game, 4th straight week of ineptitude. Fire Cirillo the OLine coach who was a D3 college coach before coming here.
5. Both TEs finally got a chance to get some red zone TDs. Only took 4 weeks to figure out.
6. Patriots offense and OC could only score 17 against a terrible Bucs secondary missing its 3 starting cornerbacks. Disappointing how often the offense was stopped and unable to take advantage of a very bad Bucs secondary. Way too many Pats drives ended in 4th-and-25.
7. This game felt a lot like the 2001 Superbowl where the Pats defense held up its end in stopping the explosive Bucs, but this time around we have a way sh-ttier offensive coordinator. McD is no Charlie Weiss. Last Pats series was 3 straight incomplete spread shotgun passes.
8. A 1-3 record really hurts and the Pats should change the fraud OC next year, as well as think about trading some old vets now for picks and let younger guys play.