Foxborough, MA – In a game where some people may have found some new faith in the Patriots receiving core, I am holding back my enthusiasm for a bit more proof. Fans finally caught a glimpse of some offense which was honestly a nice breath of fresh air compared too weeks one and two, the Patriots turned on the lights against the Bucs with a 23-3 victory in Gillette Stadium.
The weather was absolutely perfect, something you can only hope and wish for when your football team you so dearly love has so many holes and questions, Sunday started with questions for me, and for some maybe answers were given, for myself, I am not so sure. It started exactly like week one and two started, slow, boring and ugly.
It wasn’t until rookie wide out Kembrell Thompkins caught a slant route in the middle of the field for a 16 yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady. The route was simple, and it played out simply which was a promising accomplishment.
One thing I looked for and have been looking for if and when Thompkins scored his first touchdown was how he would react when he scored. Thompkins reacted exactly how any Patriots fan should want him to react, humbly with zero celebration at all.
This for me told me a few things, A) he still needs work and understands that, and B) he hadn’t proven anything to anyone yet and knows it.
Brady again connected with Thompkins on a 5 yard touchdown towards the end of the second quarter, again no celebration, by now the Twitterverse is going insane and every pink hat fan and their mother are back to their triumphant arrogance New England Patriot fans are so proudly known for.
A few more chip in field goals for Stephen Gostkowski and you have your final score.
This was a win, and good things were accomplished here that should make Patriot fans smile, I am not sold on this win as the mind changer that the Patriots are good to go for a dominant season. A few things to consider before going crazy over this offense. This sample size of offense was against a very dysfunctional Tampa Bay Bucs team, issues ranging from their starting quarterback Josh Freeman to their star cornerback Darrelle Revis.
Plain and simple, they dislike their head coach Greg Schiano. Not only is that team in a disarray, their passing defense is 16th ranked in the NFL, allowing over 230 yards of passing per game, not exactly top-tier passing defense.
Among playing against a mediocre defense there were a few other eyebrow raising issues for myself, the offensive line again for the third week in a row seemed to let Tom Brady down, and that is meant to be taken literally.
Brady was on the ground a few more times than I would like to see. Also, second year running back undrafted Brandon Bolden, who at times showed that back field some life on Sunday, also made some pretty blatant mistakes, most impractically, stopping in the middle of running a down field route for reasons I am still unsure of, while Tom Brady threw it down field in anticipation of Brandon Bolden being there for the connection. It looked sloppy, it looked unprofessional.
I would be willing to bet Bolden doesn’t stop in the middle of running a route ever again for this team.
There were plus and minuses to take out of Sundays game, the real test is next Sunday night, no more playing the boys of the NFL, time for a match up with the men, the Atlanta Falcons.
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