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Despite his best efforts, Aaron Dobson just can't haul in a Tom Brady pass. Kathy Willens/AP/Press Association Images
NFL

The Redzone: Patriots games

Brady will get a lot of flack for New England’s loss to the Jets but the Patriots’ problems run deeper.

IF YOU HAVE horns, it’s hard to pass unnoticed remarks Steven Sherrill towards the end of his brilliant debut novel, The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break.

While this is especially true when you’re a 5,000 year old mythical creature working as a line chef in a downmarket BBQ Rib joint, it’s also something that could apply to an NFL team that has made five visits to the Super Bowl since 2001, winning three of them.

That’s why it’s easy to overreact when the Patriots lose. They’ve been the dominant team in the NFL since the turn of the millenium and so their high profile means every loss is magnified, every mistake scrutinised. Normally, you expect Bill Belichick and his coaching staff to figure it out pretty quickly and improve as the season progresses but this year everything that can go wrong in New England seems destined to.

Of course, the problems aren’t insurmountable, few are in a sport as fluid as football, but there are so many of them it’s difficult to know where the Patriots’ coaching staff should start. At quarterback, despite his team having a 5-1 record, Tom Brady entered week seven as the fifth-worst passer in the NFL when it came to completing throws 10 or more yards downfield.

On Sunday against the New York Jets, he completed just one in five of his downfield passes and is now just 28% (14 of 50) on those passes in the last three games.

You could argue that Brady isn’t working with an elite receiving corp and, well, you’d be right. That said, against the Jets he welcomed Rob Gronkowski back onto the field and targeted the tight end on a career high 17 occasions. Despite the amount of balls flying his way, Gronk only managed eight receptions and dropped a crucial pass that would have given the Patriots the lead late in the fourth quarter.

But while it’s always easy to blame a quarterback for a team’s defeat — especially as Brady failed to hit wide open receivers several times in the game, especially late on — that’s just because, like a Minotaur preparing appetisers and entrées, they tend to stand out.

Instead, the problems in New England run much deeper. While a lot are out of their control — how do you plan for Aaron Hernandez being accused of murder — some are certainly of their own making.

Before the season started, Bill Belichick decided he would take away Tom Brady’s favourite offensive weapon in Wes Welker, despite the fact #83 had just recorded 118 receptions for 1,354 yards and six touchdowns, his fifth 100 catch season for the Patriots, and bring in Danny Amendola from the St Louis Rams.

After just seven weeks with Denver, Welker has eight touchdowns while Amendola has just 16 receptions in the three games he’s managed to play for New England.

Things get even more worrying, if your at Patriots fan, when you start looking at their defence. Losing Vince Wilfork for the season was huge, but suffering injuries to Tommy Kelly and Jerod Mayo means New England have gone from 4-0 to losing two of their last three with only Tom Brady’s last second heroics in week six keeping that from being three on the bounce.

Last night’s loss for New England is, of course, just one game and you should never judge an entire season on any individual encounter. However, the signs aren’t good. While the Patriots defence allowed Geno Smith and company convert 11 of 21 first downs, the Pats could only manage one third down conversion of their own — on 12 attempts — so it can’t be too much of a surprise they lost to an AFC East opponent for the first time in 13 games.

It also has to be said that, as a Raiders fan, there was something deliciously ironic about the Patriots losing a game because of a stupid rule that nobody — outside of rules junkies — had ever heard of, let alone seen enforced. I hate to mention the Tuck Rule, again, but it was nice to see that particular little wrinkle.

Of course, in a league where the Colts can lose to the Dolphins and Chargers yet beat the Broncos, anything is possible but 2013 is looking increasingly like one of those rebuilding seasons for the Patriots that most NFL teams have to go through. If you’re a Patriots fan, that might be no harm especially as they’re still probably good enough to win a terrible AFC East.

But just like a minotaur living in a trailer park can’t expect to fly under the radar, neither can the Patriots hope the standard of football they’ve produced this year to be good enough for them to actually challenge for the Super Bowl.

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