[ad_1]
What happened Sunday in Miami was a failure of the first order. It's almost useless to talk about what the New England Patriots did to dismantle the Dolphins, because Brian Flores' team is essentially a JV football team at the moment. Instead of talking about what worked well, I thought of looking at some areas in which the Patriots will have to focus on moving forward.
Offensive line health
The first is the health of the offensive line. David Andrews is away for the season and, up to now, with the exception of the extremely slow session, Ted Karras has managed well in the middle. Marcus Cannon was injured in the shoulder and was missing last week, but I hope he'll be back soon. Isaiah Wynn left with a toe injury and we do not know the extent of the injury yet. Joe Thuney was also upset for a moment, but he emptied it.
It's four out of five players, and if you listen to Greg Bedard and Pro Football Focus, they've never liked Shaq Mason this season. The most important thing is to keep Tom Brady up and healthy this season, but New England can not do it if everyone is injured or does not exploit his potential. It has not hurt the team yet, but it could certainly be a dangerous game.
Antonio Brown
Obviously, there is still a lot of work to be done to fit perfectly into the offensive, but the race began well Sunday. The concern is his off-road problems. If there are more people in the tube, as some have suggested, or if he decides to go back to his habits, this could be a problem for the team. If the Patriots spend a lot of time devoting a lot of their work to it and it ends up being suspended or cut, it could certainly put them at a disadvantage.
Stephen Gostkowski
Look, I know Gostkowski stinks in Miami, but this performance was just terrible. Combine that with some shaky but ultimately successful kicks at the opening night, and I do not know how you can have a lot of confidence in him to move forward. I know it's a new holder, so it's possible that the whole thing just takes a little time to develop, but I did not notice anything extraordinary this Sunday. Whatever the question, no help will arrive, so the Patriots must do it as soon as possible.
I can not go through the whole article without mentioning something good – it was, after all, a 43-0 win. The defense looks so good. They have a lot of speed, play basic football and have not allowed a touchdown in three consecutive games. 76-3 is a good start to the season and, with Trevor Siemian for a short week next weekend, good times should continue. There is still a long way to go, but this team is becoming one of the most dominant we've seen in years.
Pat is a host of The podcast of the Patriot Nation
Interact with him on Twitter @plane_pats
[ad_2]
Source link