The Pats have opened the season with 3 blowouts against 3 terrible teams. But the story hasn't been the same for the defense and the offense.
The D looks like it may be a historically great unit. Hard to know for sure until they play some teams with good offenses, but there is nothing more the D could have done against the teams they did play beyond holding all 3 teams to one FG between them.
With the offense, it is different. They have been beset by injuries and other personnel issues (most notablty at OL and WR), leading to struggles in both the running and passing games. Yes, they have put up 92 points (not counting the defense's 2 TDs) in 3 games, but at times they have struggled.
On the line, they have been missing 2-3 starters (Andrews, Wynn, and sometimes Cannon) and running with a starting LT picked up off of the waiver wire.
The running game, such a key part of last year's team, has been a disappointment. Maybe due to the line? Specifically, Sony Michel has struggled mightily in 2 of 3 games. Rex Burkhead has been much better - but as a Patriot, Burkhead has had trouble staying on the field
At WR, they seem overly dependent on a single point of failure (Julian Edelman) now that the Brown saga has played itself out. (Very easy to see why the Pats went for him). Edelman is the one guy Brady feels he can count on to get open in any situation, and the difference between the Pats offense with Edelman in the game vs out of it was night and day. Gordon was awesome yesterday, but he looks more like a big play guy vs a steady move the chains kind of guy like Edelman. And he had his own injury issues in yesterday's game. Dorsett has made some big plays but he has yet to show that he can be the consistent option Edelman is.
This might be an overly negative view due to the Pats offensive struggles after Edelman went out. After all, they were playing without another key passing game option (White), and Brown's release on Friday means that they must have gameplanned around having Brown, Edelman, Gordon and Dorsett as their WRs. Finding themselves down Brown, White, and Edelman are planning to have at least 2 of those guys on the field for most of the week has to be a problem.
But at this point I still see an offense that might be overly reliant on a couple of guys, Edelman (whom the offense is built around in a lot of ways), Gordon, and Burkhead (to get anything at all out of the running game), none of whom can be viewed as reliably able to stay on the field.
On the plus side, with the defense being what it is, the offense doesn't need to be elite and they have plenty of time to sort out their issues.
The D looks like it may be a historically great unit. Hard to know for sure until they play some teams with good offenses, but there is nothing more the D could have done against the teams they did play beyond holding all 3 teams to one FG between them.
With the offense, it is different. They have been beset by injuries and other personnel issues (most notablty at OL and WR), leading to struggles in both the running and passing games. Yes, they have put up 92 points (not counting the defense's 2 TDs) in 3 games, but at times they have struggled.
On the line, they have been missing 2-3 starters (Andrews, Wynn, and sometimes Cannon) and running with a starting LT picked up off of the waiver wire.
The running game, such a key part of last year's team, has been a disappointment. Maybe due to the line? Specifically, Sony Michel has struggled mightily in 2 of 3 games. Rex Burkhead has been much better - but as a Patriot, Burkhead has had trouble staying on the field
At WR, they seem overly dependent on a single point of failure (Julian Edelman) now that the Brown saga has played itself out. (Very easy to see why the Pats went for him). Edelman is the one guy Brady feels he can count on to get open in any situation, and the difference between the Pats offense with Edelman in the game vs out of it was night and day. Gordon was awesome yesterday, but he looks more like a big play guy vs a steady move the chains kind of guy like Edelman. And he had his own injury issues in yesterday's game. Dorsett has made some big plays but he has yet to show that he can be the consistent option Edelman is.
This might be an overly negative view due to the Pats offensive struggles after Edelman went out. After all, they were playing without another key passing game option (White), and Brown's release on Friday means that they must have gameplanned around having Brown, Edelman, Gordon and Dorsett as their WRs. Finding themselves down Brown, White, and Edelman are planning to have at least 2 of those guys on the field for most of the week has to be a problem.
But at this point I still see an offense that might be overly reliant on a couple of guys, Edelman (whom the offense is built around in a lot of ways), Gordon, and Burkhead (to get anything at all out of the running game), none of whom can be viewed as reliably able to stay on the field.
On the plus side, with the defense being what it is, the offense doesn't need to be elite and they have plenty of time to sort out their issues.