Have the Patriots reached rock bottom?\u00a0 The offense this week reached a new low. \u00a0\u00a0They outgained the Chargers 257 to 241 yards and they shot themselves in the foot time after time.\u00a0 The miserable weather affected both teams, but you can\u2019t use that as a crutch.\u00a0 It was the same for both teams.<\/p>\n
1) Let\u2019s start with the great game the defense played against a dangerous offense. \u00a0In the last three games the Patriots defense has allowed only 26 points and lost all three.\u00a0 The last time a team gave up less than 10 points in three straight games and lost all 3 games was 1938.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
They held Austin Ekeler to 1.3 yards per carry.\u00a0 Even better, they held Justin Herbert to 212 yards passing and no TDs.\u00a0 Keenan Allen, the leagues\u2019 leading wide receiver, was held to 5 catches on 9 targets and Jonathan Jones had a nice pass breakup of Allen.\u00a0 The Patriots should have won this game.<\/p>\n
2) Ja\u2019Whaun Bentley and Jahlani Tavai led the defense with 8 tackles each.\u00a0 Tavai had 4 solo tackles.\u00a0 However, the Patriots couldn\u2019t pressure Herbert all day and had no sacks.<\/p>\n
3) Zappe threw for only 141 yards on 13 of 25 passes.\u00a0 He threw behind three receivers in the 1st<\/sup> half, but the receivers had their hands on the ball and should have made the catches.\u00a0 He finally threw the ball to TE Hunter Henry completing 2 of 4 passes but Henry should have caught one of those incomplete passes.<\/p>\n 4) Losing Rhamondre Stevenson in the first quarter (on what should be ruled as an illegal hit \/ Intention to injure) with a hip drop on the back of his legs was devastating.\u00a0 Stevenson hurt his ankle and couldn\u2019t bear any weight on his leg.\u00a0 Stevenson had 9 rushes for 39 yards before going down.\u00a0 The injury caused a fumble at the Chargers 32-yard line and that ended that 13-play drive.<\/p>\n 5) It was reported that Chad Ryland missed 5 straight kicks in warm-ups.\u00a0 The Patriots and Bill Belichick have no confidence in Ryland\u2019s ability to make a Field Goal.\u00a0 The only reason he is still on the team is that he was drafted in the 4th<\/sup> round and Belichick doesn\u2019t want the embarrassment of having to admit he made another draft mistake.<\/p>\n 6) Ezekiel Elliott ran 17 times for 52 yards and had 4 catches for another 40.\u00a0 A productive day for Elliott.<\/p>\n 7) Los Angeles Special Teams outperformed the Patriots.\u00a0 Punter JK Scott had a tremendous day and may singlehandedly have made a Chargers victory possible.\u00a0 All 8 punts were inside the 20-yard line.\u00a0 Four of those were inside the 10, and Patriots Punt Returner Myles Bryant had zero yards in punt returns on the two punts he could return (-5 on the 1st<\/sup> and + 5 on the 2nd<\/sup>).\u00a0 <\/p>\n The Patriots never had a better starting position than their own 25-yard line (after the two Field Goals touchbacks).\u00a0 In a bad weather game with an inexperienced QB, having to go the length of the field without any chunk plays is impossible.<\/p>\n 8) If you had read my Chargers preview, I had stated that Derius Davis is a dangerous return man.\u00a0 He gave the Chargers a great starting Field Position after an 8-yard return to the Patriots 47-yard line, 7 plays later Cameron Dicker kicked a 38-yard Field Goal in the swirling rain.\u00a0 Later in the 1st<\/sup> half, with 1:34 left in the half, Bryce Baringer out kicks his coverage with a 57-yard punt that Davis returns 34 yards to the Patriots 27, setting up the 2nd<\/sup> LA Field Goal by Dicker from 38 yards.<\/p>\n 9) DeVante Parker as the go to receiver is ridiculous.\u00a0 He was targeted 9 times and had 4 catches.\u00a0 He nearly had a 5th<\/sup> on a deep ball down the sideline with 2:10 left in the game.\u00a0 He came down with the ball as he landed on top of the Chargers Deane Leonard.\u00a0 However, his left foot was out of bounds.\u00a0 Parker did have a 27-yard catch and run.\u00a0 Later he dropped another 50\/50 ball.<\/p>\n 10) JuJu Smith-Schuster was invisible with 1 catch on 2 targets for 11 yards.<\/p>\n 11) Tyquan Thornton should be cut from this team.\u00a0 He will never make it as an NFL receiver.\u00a0 He is gifted with speed as he showed on his 39-yard reverse run.\u00a0 However, he can\u2019t catch.\u00a0 Zappe throws a good ball downfield that Thornton with his speed should be able to run under and catch in stride.\u00a0 <\/p>\n No, Thornton decides to dive and lets the ball pass through his small hands incomplete.\u00a0 This season is over, it\u2019s time to cut bait on Parker, Smith-Schuster and Thornton.\u00a0 Give me three ballers off the street that want a shot in the big show.<\/p>\n 12) Zappe was sacked 5 times in the 2nd<\/sup> half.\u00a0 Khalil Mack has two of those sacks and beat each tackle.\u00a0 Trent Brown split time with Connor McDermott (who was flat out brutal) because of nagging injuries.\u00a0 I don\u2019t expect Brown to play on Thursday.\u00a0 Ezekiel Elliott blew a blitz pickup as he looked outside when the safety Derwin James came inside and had a clear path to Zappe.\u00a0 This was a key play in the game.\u00a0 <\/p>\n There are also rumors of an illness going through the locker room.\u00a0 Detrich Wise missed the game sick and Shawn Wade left the game ill also.\u00a0 That was the worst game Michael Owenu played at Right Tackle since making the switch.\u00a0 Some scribes intimated that Owenu was playing sick too.\u00a0 Sidy Sow was beat easily with a swim move and I don\u2019t remember a worse game by David Andrews.\u00a0 I can remember at least three bad plays by Andrews.\u00a0 He has had a nice 9-year career as an Undrafted player.\u00a0 However, Andrews is 31 years old.\u00a0 That\u2019s old for an NFL lineman.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n The Patriots drafted Jake Andrews from Troy University to replace David Andrews.\u00a0 The Troy Trojans reeled off 10 straight wins to take the Sun Belt conference championship after starting the season 1-2.\u00a0 They will take on Duke in the Dec 23rd<\/sup> Bowl Game.<\/p>\n It’s a short week as the Patriots prepare for a Thursday Night game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh.\u00a0 Thanks to the Steelers for losing to the Arizona Cardinals this week putting the Patriots in line for the 2nd<\/sup> overall pick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have the Patriots reached rock bottom?\u00a0 The offense this week reached a new low. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":49915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots-commentary"],"yoast_head":"\n