CLEVELAND — Ladies and gentlemen, direct from Cleveland, Ohio, we present to you…the worst 4-0 team in NFL history.<\/p>\n
You don’t need to be a Phi Beta Kappa to realize that the Patriots are a team with tons of problems and questions. At least the players know that.<\/p>\n
Oh, sure, Bill Parcells will tell you that “Your record says who you are!” The Patriots are 4-0. Tuna is a liar. The New York Jets are 0-3 (and perhaps 0-4 after Denver wins the First To Worst Bowl today). Is that who you are, Big Bill?<\/p>\n
The Patriots are 4-0. Okay, we’ll take it. No one will offer to give these wins back.<\/p>\n
But it’s time to set aside those rose colored glasses, if any of you dared to put them on this year. Or this week.<\/p>\n
Any of you expecting a blowout win today by the Patriots against the expansion Cleveland Browns are perhaps delusional. Either that, or you reasoned “Yeah, they had some close calls, but jeez, they can’t possibly help but demolish those poor Browns today!”<\/p>\n
The Patriots defy reason. Throw it out the window.<\/p>\n
There is a phrase to describe the Patriots. It’s called “playing down to the level of your competition”. Trap game syndrome, for short.<\/p>\n
At the root of the problem is the inexplicable slow starts for the Patriots. The Patriots come out, go through the motions, then wake up and find they’re actually playing a real game instead of a practice. Suddenly, they shut down the opposition cold and Drew Bledsoe becomes half Joe Montana and half John Elway.<\/p>\n
Against Indianapolis, Ty Law leads the cast of first half stinkers by allowing three touchdown passes to Marvin Harrison. Then suddenly he plays man-to-man and Harrison is shut down. Bledsoe figures out the Colt zone blitz and puts 24 second half points on the board.<\/p>\n
Early last week, the Pats allow an impotent Giant offense to cruise down the field, and leave a running back uncovered in the end zone for a touchdown. That was it for the rest of the game until the Prevent Nothing defense allowed a late score. Bledsoe again had to deal with blitz packages and somehow guided the offense to just enough points to do the trick.<\/p>\n
Now today against sickly Cleveland, you saw things today that you wouldn’t even see in your worst nightmare.<\/p>\n
Bledsoe was victimized by a lousy day by his offensive line. They allowed five sacks, two of them by Jamir Miller (why didn’t Pats sign this guy when they had the chance?), and four of them were on account of missed blocks. On two of the sacks, right tackle Max Lane left blitzers totally unaccounted for. This at least wasn’t just a first half problem, but the sacks were more annoying in the first half than the second with the Patriots trailing most of the way.<\/p>\n
You try and figure out Terry Glenn’s day. How can he go out and set Patriot records for most catches and yards receiving in a game, and suffer two damaging fumbles in the process? On two occasions, both in the first half, Corey Fuller was able to strip the ball away from Glenn after receptions, the latter wiping out a 44-yard sideline bomb. Glenn did haul in a 46-yard TD in the fourth quarter, but his fumbles cost the Patriots perhaps ten points.<\/p>\n
Tim Couch won’t take away fond memories of his latest learning experience. But early on, the Patriots were filling the box with eight men, daring him to throw. Gulp. After watching Kevin Johnson take off on a 64-yard touchdown pass play off of a bootleg, you hoped beyond hope that Steve Sidwell might change his mind. He did, and Couch was never a factor again.<\/p>\n
The Patriots once again showed that they are pitiful at running the ball. Poor Terry Allen is being asked to do more than he originally thought. Allen did manage 68 yards, but only a 3.2 average. Most of his yards were all on his own. His touchdown run in the third quarter was a nifty left end run where he beat the containment. That was easy. He didn’t have to rely on blockers to pull it off.<\/p>\n
Against Cleveland, the Patriots can get away with this. Against Kansas City and Miami, the next two Patriot opponents, this will be suicide.<\/p>\n
Whether this can be blamed on the coaching staff is not clear. It seems that the Patriots have the plays to win games, they’re just not getting the execution. The Browns threw the goofiest defensive alignment schemes at the Patriots, and they did great in confusing Bledsoe when they weren’t confusing themselves. Bledsoe did misfire on three throws when not under pressure. Ben Coates had no catches today, the first time since the loss at Dallas in December 1996 that Big Ben has been shut out.<\/p>\n
When the Patriots see urgency, they rise up. When they don’t, they stink.<\/p>\n
But sometimes it takes more than urgency. The next two weeks should bear that out.<\/p>\n
The Patriots could very easily take Kansas City for granted, as they are still adjusting to new coach Gunther Cunningham and are still waiting for Elvis Grbac to settle in as QB. Plus, the Pats killed the Chiefs last year at Foxborough. This year’s game is at Kansas City, where they haven’t won since 1964, so that will help the urgency.<\/p>\n
It may be that the Patriots just don’t have the personnel to block well. The absence of Ted Johnson is also a factor. But given the fact that the Patriots have perhaps the best passing attack in the NFL, close games against teams like Cleveland are totally unacceptable.<\/p>\n
The Patriots are heading into dangerous waters in the Pete Carroll Era, otherwise known as October. Hobgoblins come early at Foxborough. Will they this year?<\/p>\n
No one has to tell the players what they need to do. They know. They just have to execute. And do it in quarters one and two, for starters.<\/p>\n
And Patriot Nation will also feel a lot better when the Patriots begin to “dominate” and “put opponents away”, not just “play well enough to win”. Great teams dominate and go deep in the playoffs. Teams that eke out wins get bounced in the first round.<\/p>\n
4-0? Run this to 6-0, then we’ll talk about the “greatness of the Patriots”. Not until then.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Patriots stagger through still another lackluster first half at Cleveland. This will hurt the when the tougher part of the schedule kicks in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"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":[22301],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1999-patriots-season"],"yoast_head":"\n