An overtime field goal by the Seahawks was the difference in the Patriots starting the season 2-0 for the first season since before Tom Brady left in 2019. While their performance last week left a lot of people wondering if the Patriots would be better than advertised and have an elite defense, this game against the Seahawks have brought them back to reality.
Not to say the Patriots will be a Bottom-3 team like most expected before the season, they certainly have a ceiling this season but Jerod Mayo's coaching and a tough defensive group should be able to win them more than a handful of games this season.
The Seahawks game had many intricacies to dive into, mainly regarding how the Patriots defense kept them in the game for as long as they could. Let's get into the good and the bad from both sides of the ball.
Defense
"What happened to the defense? We let Geno Smith pass the ball all over us. Was last week a fluke?"
After holding Joe Burrow to only 164 yards last week, Geno Smith had an outstanding day against the Pats' defense, throwing for 327 yards and a touchdown on 33/44 completed passes. Thanks to the two-headed attack of D.K. Metcalf and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, (who both had over 100 yards through the air) the Patriots looked like a completely different defense this week. With this dominant duo, the Seahawks were able to take advantage of the lack of depth at cornerback in New England. The Patriots were successful last week because the only dominant receiver was Ja'Marr Chase, but this week they showed that when facing multiple elite receivers this defense is susceptible to shotty coverage.
Here's why you shouldn't freak out as a Pats fan.
This game of football is all about putting points on the board. Yes, Geno threw for 327 yards on Sunday but the Seahawks were SHUT OUT in the second half until a last-minute field goal in the 4th Quarter to send the game to overtime. The defense did a great job of bending and not breaking against the Seahawks. Besides one terrible lapse in coverage that led to a wide open 56-yarder to D.K. Metcalf, the Patriots only allowed 1 20+ yard play in the game and allowed ZERO rushes of over 10 yards all day.
Elsewhere on defense, the D-line played well again this week against both the pass and run. The Seahawks were without their top-ball carrier Kenneth Walker and they could've really used him, only rushing for 46 yards with a 2.4 yards per carry average. Also able to rush the passer, the Pats recorded 3 sacks and 7 QB Hits on Geno's 47 dropbacks. Standout defensive end Keion White got 1.5 of those sacks bringing his total to 4 already on the season.
In summary, yes the Pats needed to do better in coverage. Anytime you allow a team to complete 75% of its passes it'll be hard to stop them. However, the defense still had a good day especially against the run and in deep coverage. There is still a lot of potential for them continue form and be regarded as one of the best in the league.
Offense
The offense looked very similar to last week with a commanding run game and 0 turnovers again. Unfortunately, for the second week Jacoby Brissett has failed to pass for over 150 yards, meaning defenses will be keying in on the run and already have started to.
The Patriots offense continued to be reliant on the run game against the Seahawks. A much better Week 2 for Antonio Gibson who ran for 96 yards on only 11 carries. Rhamondre Stevenson would add 81 yards and a touchdown with the Patriots in total running for 185 yards on 36 carries throughout the game. Antonio Gibson ripped a 45-yard run in the 4th quarter that padded his stats for sure, but was visibly running harder all game which is a great sign for the Pats to be able to mix it up throughout the season.
In the passing game, the standout was Hunter Henry, who got 109 yards on 8 catches and accounted for 73% of the team's total passing yards. Brissett also connected with rookie Ja'Lynn Polk for the his first touchdown of his young career. Brissett has been under a lot of pressure so far this season and has shown he still has the ability to evade it in and out of the pocket. Unfortunately for him and the team, he wasn't able to avoid all of it going down 3 times with 2 coming from the interior pass rush of the Seahawks.
The offensive line has been a work in progress for years now and have solidified themselves as an above-average running line. The real test for them will be their progress in pass blocking with pass-blocking PFF grades of 53.5, 55.9, 66, 54.8 and 57.3 across the line. Brissett has already looked shaken up more than once in their first two games and if the line isn't better will likely have to leave the game up to the 20-year old backup Drake Maye.
Short Week
The Patriots don't have much time to reflect on their Week 2 loss with a TNF matchup upcoming against the Jets. The travel will be less than what away teams are used to for Thursday nights only traveling to New Jersey. This matchup will be the Pats' first divisional game of the season against a middling Jets team that seems to be worse than what was expected before the season.
Aaron Rodgers at the helm the Jets were one of the dark horse Super Bowl contenders in the preseason. Fast forward to Week 3 and the Patriots have a very good chance at winning this game in New Jersey. The Jets defense has been subpar at two things; defending the run and rushing the passer, both of the Patriots' specialties. On offense, the Jets have ran most of their offense through Breece Hall who will be a problem for New England. Hall's averages of 103.5 yards from scrimmage and 1 touchdown per game are both high marks on the Jets and higher than anyone on the Patriots as well.
The Jets head into the game 6.5 point favorites over the Patriots and I'm here to tell you the Patriots are being overlooked. With their talented and strong defense clicking already and the offense heading into a matchup they can definitely exploit their strengths in, this game should be even in odds through my eyes.
Will the Patriots take their loss to Seattle and use it as fuel against the Jets? Or will the Jets and Aaron Rodgers take advantage of the Patriots short travel week? The winner of this game will be 2-1 and likely be either first or second in the AFC East. For a Week 3 game, the stakes are extremely high for the Patriots.
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-Z.D.