Coming off of a dominating 27-0 Thursday night win last week, the short-handed New England Patriots were blanked by the Buffalo Bills, 16-0 Sunday. 

Both Ends Of The Spectrum- After shutting out the Texans last Thursday and looking unfazed with a rookie at quarterback and on a short week, the Patriots found themselves on the other end of the spectrum Sunday. Things started off poorly for the Pats, on a poor decision to return the opening kickoff by rookie Cyrus Jones, and got worse from there. The New England defense, which looked dominant against Houston, was toyed with all day by a below average Buffalo offense and penalties on both sides of the ball never got anything going in the right direction for the Patriots.

Beating Themselves- While the Bills pretty much had their way with New England all game long, the Patriots shot themselves in the foot a number of times. The Pats were penalized nine times for 74 yards on the day, including some inexcusable infractions like lining up in the neutral zone on defense and illegally shifting along the line of scrimmage on offense. Along with those nine accepted penalties, there were a handful more that could have been enforced on the Pats, depending on how plays went. Nonetheless, you're not going to win many games, when you have that many penalties.

Defensive Dysfunction- After a brilliant performance last week, the New England defense was flat out bad today. They were able to keep the Bills out of the end zone after their first drive of the game, but were unable to keep them off the field all game long. Buffalo's offense, which entered the game reliant on the run and at the absolute bottom of the league in passing, pretty much did whatever it wanted against all three levels of the Patriots defense. Up front, the Buffalo line bullied New England's rushers and minimized the amount of pressure the Pats were able to apply to on quarterback Tyrod Taylor all game long. In the secondary, the team seemed to play off of the wide outs all day, allowing easy completions underneath the coverage the whole game. The most problematic aspect of the defense's game, however, was it's inability to wrap up and tackle Buffalo's shifty backs. Both Taylor and lead back LeSean McCoy put on a clinic juking and shaking would-be Pats tacklers away from start to finish. The big problem now is that this defense has now under-performed in three of the first four weeks of the season, so far. That is something that will surely have to change for this team to have the success they planned on heading into the season, regardless of how the offense is working.

Offensive Issues- The Pats had a wealth of issues offensively today, starting with some inabilities blocking up front. After looking pretty good the first three weeks of the season, the New England o-line was handled by the Buffalo front and struggled to open up running lanes and keep the pocket clean for rookie quarterback Jacoby Brissett. Another issue for the team was that they seemed to run a rather vanilla game plan out there today. With Brissett making just his second career start and dealing with a thumb injury on his throwing hand, it seemed as though the team wanted to limit his workload and not make him a huge factor in the game. Overall, the offense was lackluster all day, gaining just 277 total yards and 13 first downs on 10 total drives. They also were hugely ineffective on third down, going just 1-12 on the day.

Not Just Patriot Struggles- While the Patriots struggled in all three phases of the game, the referee's for the game were pretty bad as well. A number of poor calls and missed calls left them looking as incompetent as ever. Add in the fact that the refs left the mic on once during a private conversation and failed to get in position on a big third down play for the Pats in the first half and they did themselves no favors in salvaging their already low public image.

He's Coming Back- Good news for the struggling New England offense is that at 12:01 a.m. quarterback Tom Brady's 4-game suspension is officially over and he will be back with the team Monday. Adding in the future Hall-of-Famer should easily elevate the offensive output and get the team back on line, where many expect them to be. Another plus heading into next week, is that the Pats will be traveling to Cleveland to play the lowly Browns next Sunday. Expect Brady and company to come out guns blazing, looking to set the tone early.

Trouble Returning- Rookie defensive back Cyrus Jones was a top punt returner while in college at Alabama, but the youngster has struggled to show anything close to the same skill set so far in his Patriots career. In today's game, Jones made poor decisions on the first two kickoff returns of the game, which led to terrible starting field position for the offense. Add in a muffed punt later in the game, which he did recover, and Jones' returning duties could be short lived.

All in all, the Pats are 3-1 with Brady about to step foot back in the building. Of course, with the sour taste of a 16-0 beating fresh in their mouths, Pats fans are going to be flustered, but let's not forget that if 3-1 was offered up prior to the start of the season the majority of Patriots Nation would have taken that number and run. They are still on top in the division and now have their top quarterback back to lead the offense in the right direction. The defense should definitely be a concern after another tough week, but they will also get a leader back this week, as defensive end Rob Ninkovich returns from a suspension. Clearly this game is not one that will be in the New England archives of top performances, but in the grand scheme of things they're in a good position entering week five.

All stats, here.

 

 

 

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