Stats without context are as useless as tits on a bull. Trubisky straight up missed Miller in the end zone, underthrew Bellamy who had multiple steps on Gilmore, misplaced another ball to Bellamy that was intercepted that otherwise would have gone for decent yardage and put them into FG range, and then had another sloppy pass to Miller (who was open) that was otherwise intercepted. Those were all throws that were not overly impacted by pressure. Belichick clearly concentrated on taking Gabriel out of the game but the Bears’ wideouts were taking casual strolls through our zones. Trubisky was simply missing them, pressure or no pressure. Meanwhile, the defense still cannot cover TEs or RBs.
These hilariously bad takes on the defense are surprising (considering we all know what a good Belichick defense looks like) and really are beginning to remind me of this board circa 2010-2011 when people were doing everything they could to convince themselves that those were good units. What ended up happening in both seasons, again? That’s right. That the Patriots were even going that zone-heavy in the secondary indicates that the coaching staff knows the issues aren’t communication. We would see more man if that were the case. Instead, the issues are personnel-related. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. They’ll have to be schemed around until or if they can be improved.
As of where we sit right now, October 22, 2018, this team is basically the 2003-2004 Colts. Lethal offense and a defense that is at its best when it plays with a lead but is otherwise extremely underwhelming. If some of you are happy with that, then good for you. I’m not and I would highly suspect that our head coach isn’t either.