9/20 Pats at Seattle

[joe dokes]

It’s hard to tell because Wilson made some absolutely perfect throws. You take away those two TDs that were just rainbowed in there and it’s not a terrible showing. Perfect execution is always going to be nearly impossible to defend.

The special teams were also not great, but some of that seems to be coaching and fixable - like I assume they’ll stop running balls out of the end zone if they can’t find a kick returner who can constantly get them past the 25.

I don’t think this is a Super Bowl team, but we’ve looked better out of the gate than past Patriots teams that have been. It was a tough loss, but an encouraging night.

This is where I am. The Patriots are a pretty good team. Wilson was unstoppable on more than a couple of throws. Unless it turns out that seattle's defense is as bad as Wilson is good, Newton seems to be the real deal.

 

[nolasoxfan]

Not to pick you out because I've heard a few folks say this, but how is this one on the offense? Special teams and defense didn't show up and we still almost pulled it out.

My post doesn’t excuse the defense or special teams. Take it at face value.

 

[nolasoxfan]

Can we retire this forever?

Consider it done. My late-night editor failed me.

 

[rodderick]

Cam is significantly better than Brady at this point, I think.

If there's nothing wrong with Cam Newton physically, he's among the best players in football period. Dude had to deal with incompetent playcalling pretty much his whole career and when he had a good scheme he was always great. Peak Newton isn't at the level of Peak Brady, but from what I've seen Cam appears to be a loooot closer to his peak than Brady. I think the utter lack of talent at linebacker could be a huge liability for this team, but if they don't have severe injuries on offense, they'll almost certainly be more productive than they were in 2019.

 

[tims4wins]

Linebacker killed them last night. Bentley especially

edit as @jsinger121 notes Uche is hopefully an answer down the road

 

[jsinger121]

They need to get Josh Uche healthy and playing

 

[54thMA]

Yeah watching this again, even going outside Cam would've been caught by #97 probably or maybe.

It would have been a foot race to the end zone, Cam vs #97, but I'm with you, the more I look at it, #97 has the angle and I think he makes the tackle.

Great effort, Cam is the real deal, very encouraged at what I've seen so far, I trust that Josh will continue to tweak things to work to Cam's strengths.

Pretty amazing that the last three times these two teams have met, the game came down to the last play give or take.

 

[BaseballJones]

It would have been a foot race to the end zone, Cam vs #97, but I'm with you, the more I look at it, #97 has the angle and I think he makes the tackle.

Great effort, Cam is the real deal, very encouraged at what I've seen so far, I trust that Josh will continue to tweak things to work to Cam's strengths.

Pretty amazing that the last three times these two teams have met, the game came down to the last play give or take.

Seattle winning 3 of the 4.

But I'll happily go 1-3 if that one win is the Super Bowl. I bet BB agrees.

 

[Norm Siebern]

Disappointed, not discouraged. This team will get a helluva lot better as the year goes on. As always, injuries, or lack thereof, will most likely be the push factor.

 

[RG33]

I’ve never been more enthused and less upset over a Patriots loss in the Belichick era.

 

[54thMA]

Disappointed, not discouraged. This team will get a helluva lot better as the year goes on. As always, injuries, or lack thereof, will most likely be the push factor.

Same here; as Cam gets more comfortable with the offense, they will get better on that side of the ball.

And unlike any other sport, injuries for both the Patriots and other teams are indeed the push factor.

 

[Soxy]

I’ve never been more enthused and less upset over a Patriots loss in the Belichick era.

The worst Sunday night games are the brutal losses. It sucks enough losing sleep because of the late kickoff but then I can't even sleep because I'm pissed off about the game. I slept great after that one. Still was tired as hell pretty much all day, but it was worth it.

Neither team played perfect but that was a great game and only reinforces my belief in this Pats team. So long as the guys around Cam do their part, they'll be fine. Russ destroyed them but he's left a lot of bodies in his wake. Pass rush was oh so close a bunch and just couldn't quite get there.

What was legitimately concerning was the running game, on both sides of the ball. They got to clean that up. Good thing Damien Harris is eligible to come off of IR right before the KC game. Same for Beau Allen, but who the hell knows what his availability will look like as nobody seems to know what's going on with him. If they do, they aren't sharing, and the team certainly isn't.