After re-watching Sunday's game, Ben Volin says that the Patriots' offense wasn't as bad as he had remembered. In his article in the Boston Globe, Volin explains that there's a lot to build on from the Patriots lackluster week 3 win. Brady's offense picked up 21 first downs, which includes 9 third down conversions. The biggest reason for the lack of points, is due team's poor play in the red zone. The Patriots had four drives of double-digit plays, but three of them ended inside the 20-yard line instead of the endzone.
"The red zone troubles can be fixed, and I doubt the Patriots will have another game in which two drives stall inside the 5-yard line. They'll figure it out," believes Volin.
Nevertheless, there are still a number of issues that need fixing -- none bigger than the offensive line. One guy who believes they'll figure it out is Dante Scarnecchia. The Patriots former offensive line coach talked to Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald and told her that the Patriots are trying to build cohesiveness and to do that, it takes time.
"It's not an easy thing to do. But it will happen if they're patient," said Scarnecchia according to Guregian. "They're trying to get guys in the right spots. To do that, it does take time."
However, according to Greg Bedard of the Monday Morning Quarterback, the players aren't a huge fan of the team's new offensive line coach, Dave DeGuglielmo. Bedard joined 98.5 the Sports Hub yesterday for his weekly appearance on the "Felger and Mazz" show and he talked a lot about what he's heard about DeGuglielmo relationship with the players.
"The chatter that I'm hearing from around the Patriots is that he is not exactly popular with the players, and that it may have a factor in [Logan] Mankins saying, 'No, I'm not renegotiating my contract.,'" said Bedard during the program.
In his weekly 'Take 2' column on Boston.com, Erik Frenz addressed what went wrong for Darrelle Revis against the Oakland Raiders. Revis certainly didn't play up to his standard last Sunday, but it also wasn't as bad as you may have thought.
"He [Revis] was heralded as the cornerback who would blanket one side of the field and/or completely shut down an opponent's best threat. When he doesn't do that, Patriots fans want a refund. The truth is, in a passing league, every cornerback will give up his share of receptions," explains Frenz.
Richard Hill of SB Nation's Pats Pulpit says that Patriots fans shouldn't worry about Darrelle Revis. He says that in order to fairly evaluate Revis, you have to take a closer look at how the Patriots were defending the Raiders. Hill explains that the Patriots were using a prevent-style defense in the second half and were willing to give up yardage underneath. He says that 4 of the 5 receptions that Revis gave up were designed to take advantage of the cushion Revis was giving the receiver as part of the Patriots' prevent defense.
"The defense did its job of capping off any extended offensive series -- the Raiders were going to make a mistake at some point and be forced to kick the ball," writes Hill. "Revis played within the Patriots system. That's no reason to be concerned."
To take a look at the Patriots from the Chief's perspective, check out Matt Conner's article for SB Nation's Arrowhead Pride. Conner discusses whether this year's Patriots team is still the Patriots team that every team has feared since Tom Brady took over as the team's quarterback. He says that it's clear that Brady's play is getting worse, but it still remains to be seen whether the team can turn it around or not.
"It's hard to say whether or not the Pats can turn things around, but there's a bit more at stake for the Patriots as they face the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4," says Conner. "It'll either be the upturn they need to get the offense back on track, or it will be further proof that the sun is setting on one of the greats."
One guy who still believes the Patriots are going to be in the AFC Championship game is Dan Shaughnessy. Shaughnessy joined Gary Tanguay and Chris Gasper on Comcast SportsNet's "Early Edition" to discuss (and adjust) the expectpectations for the 2014 Patriots. In a column he wrote three weeks ago for the Boston Globe, Shaughnessy was very confident that the Patriots would wind up in the AFC Championship game -- surprisingly, his opinion still hasn't changed.
"What has changed since those words were written?" asked Shaughnessy. "There's only one team in the conference that has won more games than the Patriots. That would be the Cincinnati Bengals. You worried about them and Marvin Lewis in the playoffs? I don't think so."
