This game had "let-down" written all over and "let-down" is definitely what I felt after an embarrassing 34-14 defeat by the Browns. What was interesting was Adam Schefter, an NFL insider and writer for ESPN, predicted on the Friday before the game that the Browns would upset the Pats on his weekly appearance on the Dennis and Callahan show on WEEI sports radio. Fans killed him for it but the man sure knows his football. Anyways, onto my thoughts...
Offense
Brady was awful in this game. His trademark accuracy has been MIA for several weeks and he was wildly inaccurate. With all of these balls landing at the feet of his receivers, Brady has looked more like McNabb than he has himself.
This post-Moss offense has looked horrible. There is no explosiveness. Not only are there no big plays, the Pats don't even try to throw it deep anymore to at least keep the other team's defense honest. Without Moss bringing an extra defender down the field with him, there has been noticeable less operating space for the other WRs. Welker's production has taken the biggest hit.
The Pats could not establish any kind of running game either. BJGE was ineffective with only 14 rushing yards. I wonder if Fred Taylor can ever stay healthy.
Last but not least, Gronkowski had a horrible game and looked like...well, a rookie. On a short kickoff to open the game, he signaled for a fair catch but ducked out of the way at the last second. The Browns were able to recover the loose ball and resulted in great field position for them. When the Pats finally got the ball back, Gronkowski had at least 3 drops. It felt like Brady kept trying to force the ball back to him to get him back mentally but only resulted in more bad things happening. Just when the Pats looked like they were finally able to move the ball at the end of the first half, Gronkowski fumbled along the goal-line while fighting for extra yards. It was a forgettable performance.
Defense
As bad as the offense played, things looked even worse on defense. The Pats wanted nothing to do with RB Peyton Hillis and seemed afraid to tackle him. He scored 2 TDs while racking up a ridiculous total of 184 yards rushing and 36 yards receiving.
Rookie QB Colt McCoy outplayed Brady. That's right, a rookie! The pass-rush was non-existent and McCoy was never touched.
Once again, the Pats showed why they are last in the league in 3rd-down defense. They could not get any stops to get off of the field. If the Pats play this poorly against a rookie-led offense, how can they stop QBs like Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers?
Special Teams
Gronkowski's miscommunication which led to fumbling the opening kickoff set the tone for the day.
Ingram skipped another snap at the feet of punter Zoltan Mesko. It's not a good thing when a long snapper gets noticed and his job may be in jeopardy. Speaking of punts, another punt was almost blocked this week as well.
And when it rains, it pours and Gostkowski's leg injury was just icing on the cake. Let's hope it's not something more serious. Losing him would be devastating on kickoffs and field position. Also, the coverage of Gostkowski's injury was horrible and I only found out about it while catching up on Twitter.
Other Thoughts
The Pats were out-played, out-coached, and were dominated in all 3 phases of the game. The Pats hold a share of the best record in the league but it doesn't feel that way. I know we can't get too high after a win or too low after a loss but this loss was embarrassing. Things don't get any easier next week with a road game against the Steelers.
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