Foxboro Forum

The Patriots looked bad on Sunday against the Chargers.  San Diego was ranked at the bottom in terms of opposing teams pass offense yet Matt Cassel threw only 200 yards and wasn’t able to throw a touchdown pass.  The Patriots defense didn’t play much better - allowing Philip Rivers to throw over 300 yards on only 18 completions.  The only stat where the Patriots beat the Chargers was time of possession - and they still lost this bad.

The most telling point of the game came at the beggining of the second half.  In the Patriots first possession of the 2nd half they moved down to the Chargers one yar line.  You would assume its a lock - well you (and I) would be wrong.  Matt Cassel throws 2 incompletions, Sammy Morris is stopped for no gain on a run, and on fourth down Cassel is sacked.  4 downs to get 1 yard and the Pats couldn’t do it.  If they had got that touchdown the game would have been within one score and been a different game.  But they ineptitude of the offense just couldn’t get it done.

As for the defense - I’ve said this before - but I think its the lack of offense thats illuminating issues with the defense.  This is essentially the same defense the Patriots had last year - the difference is most teams are playing with a different perspective.  Opponents don’t need to play catch up which leaves things much more open for play calling.  In the past when a team got behind by a score or two it would become obvious they were going to lean on the passing game.  This year that just isn’t the case - teams are running a varied offense and keeping the New England defense off balance.  Look at the game with the Dolphins - they kept the defense guessing all game and it was ugly.