Last week, the Patriots allowed the Green Bay Packers to dictate the way they played the football game. The Packers controlled the time of possession heavily. The Patriots abandoned their run game early and became one dimensional. The New England defense refrained from going hard at Aaron Rodgers and gave him all day to throw. It almost seemed as if the Patriots, who had spent their previous seven weeks mowing down their opponents, weren’t really sure how to react when things stopped breaking their way. By the time they mustered the strength to fight back, it was too little, too late.
Things did not go well for the Patriots on Sunday Night. In fact, in many ways, you could argue that things may have actually gone worse in San Diego than they did in Green Bay. The Patriots didn’t surrender a fumble and have it returned for a touchdown against the Packers. Tom Brady didn’t throw a red zone pick in Lambeau. Last week’s referees didn’t nullify a defensive touchdown with an absolutely ridiculous penalty that handed the ball back to the opposition at mid-field. In Green Bay the Patriots scored touchdowns on 100% of their red zone trips, as opposed to a meager 25% in San Diego. By my count, bad decisions and bad bounces altered the score negatively for the Patriots by a good 20 points.
Philip Rivers may have summed it up best in his post-game interview. He said that if you had told him before the game that the Chargers were going to hold the Patriots to 23 points and that San Diego would be the beneficiary of a defensive touchdown, he would have like their chances. I think most people would have agreed. However, the New England Patriots, particularly the defense, threw chance out the window and created their own luck. For 60 minutes, they only allowed the Chargers one scoring drive. Darrelle Revis took away Keenan Allen and didn’t allow a single completion to come his way. Jamie Collins, Akeem Ayers, and Rob Ninkovich swarmed Philip Rivers all night, amassing four sacks in the process. On offense, the team maintained its commitment to the run, with that dedication ultimately paying off in a 69-yard play action pass to Julian Edelman for the game-clinching score.
We’ve seen a similar story play out far too many times over the past seven years, often in the playoffs. The offense struggles out of the gate, they hang around at half time, but by the fourth quarter things have gotten out of hand and the Patriots end up falling. The difference this time, was that when Tom Brady and the offense ran into some difficulty, the defensive and special teams units were able to step up their game and keep the Patriots within striking distance until the offense eventually figured things out. This was a complete team win and a major stepping stone as the season draws to a close. Winning a game when every break goes your way and you’re up by 20 points is one thing. Clawing your way from behind in spite of mistakes and injustice is quite another. Hopefully the Patriots can draw something from this experience down the road when they meet some adversity in the playoffs and a victory now can lead to an even bigger victory then.
Risers:
Darrell Revis (CB) – Forget Revis Island, Keenan Allen was placed in the Revis Black Hole. That game may have been Revis’ finest performance as a Patriot. He completely shut down the opposition in a complete and utter display of dominance.
Jamie Collins (LB) – No Mayo. No Hightower. No problem. The 2nd year player stepped up big time as the defensive signal caller and managed to rack up two sacks as he terrorized Philip Rivers all evening.
Akeem Ayers (LB) – It’s hard to believe the Titans were looking to give this guy away. Ayers came up with another big defensive play, nabbing a much-needed interception following the Browner pentalty debacle.
Rob Ninkovich (DE) – A week removed from getting torched by Aaron Rodgers, Nink bounced back and laid the wood on Philip Rivers with his pass rush
Brandon Bolden (RB) – His punt block came at an excellent time and shifted field possession and momentum heavily in New England’s favor at a time when the Chargers could have really started to pull away.
Julian Edelman (WR) – It wasn’t any easy day at the office for Julian or any of the Patriots wide receivers. Minitron persevered, however, icing the game with his long touchdown run.
Rob Gronkowski (TE) – He became the only tight end in NFL history to have ten receiving touchdowns in four different seasons.
Special Teams in General – We’ve already highlighted Bolden’s block, but in a game that was so tightly contested for over three quarters, the ability of the New England special teams unit to shift field position dramatically in the Patriots favor was an invaluable advantage.
Fallers:
Tom Brady (QB) – While it may seem unfair to dock a fairly decent performance due to one horrendous pick, that’s the standard we’ve come to expect from Brady. Giving away three points in a 13-14 football game is just not acceptable.
Brandon LaFell (WR) – An overall nice game was sullied by his fumble that was returned for a touchdown.
Nate Solder (OT) – We saw Solder get owned too many times last night. As the “gem” of the New England offensive line, we need to be seeing more out of Solder. One of these days, his mistake may just cost Tom Brady dearly.
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