KRYK SLANTS
Patriots aren’t passing the test so far as receiver-hurting aerial attack among NFL’s worst ... Bills much better off with Allen than Taylor ... Breida running wild for Niners ... Brees falls one-hundredth of a per cent shy of another record
The Cleveland Browns have a better record than the New England Patriots after three weeks of the 2018 NFL season.
The Browns are 1-1-1; the Patriots, 1-2.
No better, more startling stat than that can lead off an item on the early-season struggles of the two-time defending AFC champion Patriots. But other stats similarly open one’s eyes and paint the same uncommon picture, as you’re about to read.
All point to this: What the hell is wrong with New England? The defence can’t stop the run (only Detroit is worse at it) and the offence can’t pass worth a lick.
The only clubs so far with less prolific passing attacks than New England’s (202 yards-per-game rate) are those with QB starters who are either too inexperienced, too old or too banged-up: Cleveland (191), Chicago (178), Tennessee (162),
Buffalo (148), Dallas (145) and Arizona (132).
Ever think you’d see a Patriots offence in the Bill
Belichick/Tom Brady era swimming in such a pool?
“It’s no way to play football,” Brady said following New England’s 26-10 thumping Sunday night at the hands of the previously winless Detroit Lions. “It’s no way to execute at a very high level, and we’re just not doing anything well enough.
“It wasn’t like (the Lions) reinvented the defence out there. It was really just us not doing a good job of anything. Run game, pass game, we didn’t do enough to advance the ball forward.”
A malignant passing attack is a big reason the Patriots now have lost back-to-back games by double digits for the first time since December 2002 — a
stretch of 244 games, per ESPN Stats & Info. And Ben Volin of the Boston Globe tweeted that the Patriots tied a Belichick/ Brady era low with only nine first downs against the Lions.
But know this: The last time the Pats opened with two September losses, in 2014, they went 10-2 thereafter, before running the table in the playoffs to win another Super Bowl.
Indeed, the Pats have started 2-2 only three times since 2006; all three times they not only reached the playoffs but advanced as far as the AFC championship game, twice reaching the Super Bowl, once winning it.
Even if the Pats lose on Sunday at home to the 3-0 Miami Dolphins, to drop to 1-3, know that the only other Belichick/Brady-era New England team to lose three of
its first four was the first, the 2001 team. It finished 11-5 and won the Super Bowl.
Next Monday, the offence returns one proven difference-maker at wide receiver, Julian Edelman, when he comes off his season-opening four-game PED suspension. Newly acquired, super-talented but serially troubled wideout
Josh Gordon could be added as soon as this week from a hamstring injury. Each should provide an immediate boost to the passing attack.
Perhaps the most indelible takeaway beyond Foxboro from the Pats’ poor start is that not even Brady can look good when he has nothing but career Nos. 3, 4 and 5 wide receivers to throw to.
Never under-appreciate this crucial factor when assessing either a passing
attack or a quarterback. For the opposite this season see Fitzpatrick, Ryan.
“We’re not executing well enough on a down-by-down basis,” Brady said. “Certainly at a high level, we should have our expectations set in. The process has been the same. There’s been a lot of talk about it in practice, and we’re going through it and watching the film and correcting stuff. It’s just not getting done on the field. And we have to get it corrected soon.”
JOSH, BY GOSH
Those still clinging to their belief that the Buffalo Bills would have been better off sticking with the discarded
Tyrod Taylor over rookie Josh Allen at QB might want to digest these numbers.
Each has played 2½ quarters so far this season, Taylor with the Cleveland Browns. Here’s how their aggregate stats compare:
ALLEN: 55.7% completions, 515 pass yards, two TDs, two interceptions, 76.8 passer rating, 11 sacks taken, four run/pass TDs, 97 rush yards, 612 total yards.
TAYLOR: 48.8% completions, 462 yards, two TDs, two interceptions, 63.7 passer rating, 13 sacks taken, three run/pass TDs, 125 rush yards, 587 total yards.
What’s more, since Allen was named starter two weeks ago, he has thrown for more passing yards than Brady (441 to 367) and personally accounted for more touchdowns, passing and running (four to three).
Tiny sample size, granted. And the Pats are in a funk offensively, granted.
In Buffalo’s shocking 27-3 win at Minnesota on Sunday, Allen did much more than merely flash great promise. He played great, period.
Can he keep it up? That’s always the toughest nut to crack for young QBs who seemingly portend greatness — doing it for more than a few career-opening outings, after defences not only figure out
their weaknesses on tape, but perhaps even more importantly discover the throws they won’t even attempt.
Look, no one knows yet if Allen will pan out. That said, Sunday’s performance had to have gone a helluva long way toward convincing even his most stubborn doubters that he’s farther along than any of us would have thought possible before the end of his first month in the league.
FIVE FAST FACTS
Before Monday night, Florida teams were a combined 7-1 on the season: Tampa Bay 2-0, Miami 3-0, Jacksonville 2-1 ... After Sunday, Baltimore PK Justin
Tucker now has six career games with multiple field goals of 50+ yards, most in NFL history ... Not only has K.C.’s Patrick Mahomes thrown a record 13 TDs in Weeks 1-3, he has yet to be
intercepted ... Arizona QB
Sam Bradford is the earlyseason Checkdown Charlie champion, averaging a paltry 5.0 yards per attempt, lowest of all Weeks 1-3 starters ... San Francisco’s Matt Breida not only co-leads the NFL in rushing yards (274) but is alone on top with an 8.6-yards-per-carry average.
DEAL WITH IT
No one’s talking enough about Miami’s 3-0 start, and the primary reason for it: Perennial QB punching bag
Ryan Tannehill is playing the best football of his career, coming off last year’s ACL tear. No stats say that better than the following.
Among QBs with three starts under their belts in 2018, the seventh-year passer ranks fourth in the NFL in fourthquarter passing efficiency (110.4), on a league-leading 14.27 yards-per-attempt.
Omar Kelly of the South
Florida Sun-Sentinel points out that Tannehill has an impressive 98.0 passer rating in the 16 games he has played under head coach and QB guru Adam Gase.
In Sunday’s 28-20 homefield win over Oakland, the Raiders jammed the box and defied Tannehill to beat them through the air. With the aid of a couple of sweet trick scoring plays, he did just that — completing 17-of-23 for 289 yards, three TDs and a passer efficiency rating of 155.3.
“Are we there yet? No,” Tannehill said. “But the patterns we’re establishing are going to take us there.”
It might be time to stop belittling Tannehill.
TAKING A KNEE
It’s too bad Drew Brees didn’t set another NFL passing record on Sunday.
In Sunday’s 43-37 overtime win at Atlanta, the New Orleans Saints QB completed
39-of-49 (.7959). That’s less than one-hundredth of a percentage point shy of making Brees the first league passer to complete 80% of at least 30 throws in three consecutive games.
The NFL always defers to sports statistics compiler/ arbiter Elias Sports Bureau, and was told that, no, Brees did not complete 80% of his passes vs. the Falcons. That’s because although a .7959 percentage rounds up to 80%, it does not actually meet that numerical threshold.
Same as when a baseball player who finishes the year batting, say, .2996 is not considered to have had a .300 season.
No worries, though. The most accurate passer in pro football history, who on Sunday broke the NFL career completions record, is now just 417 yards shy of breaking
Peyton Manning’s career passing-yards record.