AP PHOTO/Steven Senna
FOXBORO- The Patriots defense has been a problem the past two weeks and that is not good if the team wants to make a playoff run.
The defense has been the catalyst this season for this team. Despite struggling against the run at times and giving up the occasional big play, they have played well.
It was the defense along with a physical running game and timely passing game that enabled the Patriots to win seven straight and sit atop the AFC standings three weeks ago.
Then the Patriots hit their Week 14 bye and the team hasn’t looked the same since then. The defense in particular has really struggled the past two weeks. They got run over by the Colts last week and the Bills threw all over them yesterday.
When it comes to righting the ship defensively and getting things around, the message was the same after the game from both Bill Belichick and the players.
Belichick in particular summed it up best in his opening remarks.
“Well, kind of a little bit like last week. Not a lot to say here. Obviously Buffalo made more plays than we did today, played better than we did, coached better than we did. We just didn’t perform well enough to really have a good chance to win the game. We have to find a way to do better. Again, they made more plays than we did. Give them credit and set to go back to work here for next week.”
The Bills were so efficient on offense and converted enough of their third and fourth down situations that they didn’t punt once in the game. Even in this era of analytics and coaches going for it more on fourth down, a team not punting is still a big deal. In many ways, it summed the Patriots afternoon defensively. After the game, free safety Devin McCourty talked about the team’s inability to get off the field in those situations.
“It didn’t feel like we did anything well enough. We only seem to get stops in the red area. We didn’t get any stops to give the offense field position. It was just overall not good enough.”
The Bills were without two of their three best receivers in Cole Beasley and Gabriel Davis. Both were out but it did not matter because fourth receiver and return specialist Isaiah McKenzie stepped up for Buffalo. He caught 11 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown.
McKenzie’s career day highlighted the Patriots lack of success in both man and zone coverage and their inability to get consistent pressure on Josh Allen.
McCourty pointed to a lack of adjustments for McKenzie’s success.
“I’ll have to watch the film. Josh Allen made some good throws to him. They used him well, game plan wise. We didn’t adjust and I felt like I could’ve made some adjustments on the field that would’ve helped us. We just didn’t get it done.”
Regardless of what the issue is, the Patriots have to fix it. They have to find ways to get more pressure on opposing quarterbacks and the secondary has to play better, particularly J.C Jackson who really struggled yesterday.
The Patriots are built to run the football, play good defense and special teams and win the old fashion way. They cannot play from behind. They are not built to come back. They need to be better on defense.
If they do not get early stops, give the offense some favorable field position and generate turnovers, they will make an early playoff exit assuming they get in.
Belichick and his defensive staff have two weeks left to turn things around and play better. If they don’t, what was once a promising season will end abruptly.