Raj: I can’t understand why he isn’t happy with the offense. To me, they played really well and looked basically perfect. But hey, if Brady thinks this offense needs more work, that’s a good problem! After all, it can only get better. I think he wants to see shades of the 2007 offense with this year’s offense.
Kyle: I feel that the offense is very limited in what they can do and that is a product of not trusting their offensive line. Brady ran a high number of play in which he took a three step drop and looked for the quickest option. Ridley rushed for more than 100 yards, but it seemed like he got it on 40 carries. The offensive line needs to come together and the coordinator and the quarterback need to trust them more for that Pats to make any kind of a deep run. Also, am I the only one who sees teams giving the Pats the inderneath stuff, hoping they make a mistake or their drive simply peters out? That was exactly what happened Sunday, as they only put together one touchdown drive.
Rick: So far, the offense has left a lot to be desired. While I was impressed with the Patriots’ game plan last week in terms of getting Stevan Ridley more involved in the run game, some of it falls on the group of wide receivers. Other than Julian Edelman, none of the receivers are finding a way to make a significant impact. It also hurts this unit that Rob Gronkowski isn’t 100% healthy as of yet. Brady looks for Gronk and Edelman and as of right now, it doesn’t seem like he is confident in Danny Amendola or Brandon LaFell to make plays. New England plays a short passing game, so maybe if somebody like Amendola got more screen passes, it could give him some confidence. That being said, I look at this Patriots’ offense and in order for them to be successful, they need to have the balance of a solid running attack while the pass protection is still a work in progress.
Derek: Two games into the season, the Patriots’ offense has been far from spectacular. They got blanked in the second half of the Miami game, and a bulk of the points that the offense has put up so far have come from turnovers forced by the defense. The most concerning thing to me at the moment is the huge reliance that Tom Brady appears to have on Julian Edelman. Edelman has been fantastic, but I shudder to think what this team would look like if he ever went down with an injury. I also think this one-dimensional aspect to the Patriots’ attack will make them ripe for a bad outcome in the post-season. Tom Brady needs to get back to his old habit of dishing the ball out to a myriad of receivers instead of keying in constantly on Edleman and Gronkowski. Danny Amendola, Brandon LaFell, Aaron Dobson, and Kenbrell Thompkins are no slouches. They may not be Pro-Bowler’s but there’s no reason they should be so uninvolved on game day.
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