Attitude adjustment
After loss, Pats must get tough
FOXBORO — The muchhyped 2017 Patriots offense was unveiled last night, and it didn’t quite live up to its advanced billing.
Sure, Tom Brady & Co. scored some points, but
PATRIOTS BEAT Karen Guregian
this was a letdown to say the least. There were way too many stalled drives, with two missed fourthand-1 conversions which absolutely killed momentum and swung it in the other direction.
The Kansas City Chiefs, of course, deserve a ton of credit for keeping the Patriots offense at bay during their 42-27 upset of the Super Bowl champs, but even accounting for life without Julian Edelman and new players getting in sync with Brady, this was more of a struggle than anyone expected.
And it was a struggle because the offense fell flat in the one area Edelman provided its biggest boost: attitude and competitiveness. At least, that’s how Brady saw it.
Let’s first point out the Chiefs did a good job in coverage, handling the Patriots receivers and also handcuffing tight end Rob Gronkowski with a healthy dose of double teams featuring safety Eric Berry.
That was made easier without the presence of out-for-the-season Edelman, which was a significant storyline heading into the game. The Chiefs also did a good job clogging up the middle of the field, and unlike the Super Bowl, the Pats didn’t do the best job countering.
That left Brady — who had one of his least effective outings in a long time, completing just 16-of-36 attempts for 267 yards with no touchdowns — none too pleased and pointing to the area where Edelman’s loss is magnified.
“We didn’t make a lot of plays tonight. We just have to be better in a lot of areas, starting with are attitude our competitiveness,” Brady said. “We definitely have to play better. It’s a long year. We have 15 games (left). We have to do a better job. (Edelman’s) not coming back. So, the guys that are in there are going to have to do a good job. Every position that we have, is going to have to do a better job than we did tonight.
“Nothing really positive about anything that was done. We have to get back to work. We have nine days before next game.”
At the outset, it was important to see how it was going to work without Brady’s most trusted receiver, the player who typically jump-started the offense. The thinking was Brady had enough options to make up for Edelman’s loss. It looked that way early on, as the Pats moved the ball and Brady relied on his familiar trusted targets, Danny Amendola, James White and Gronk when he needed a third-down conversion.
In the first half, with the Patriots holding a 17-14 lead, they were 4-for-7 on third down. But as the game wore on and Brady needed a spark, or those thirddown conversions became more vital and the Patriots were suddenly trailing, that’s when Edelman’s absence was really felt. They finished 5-for-15 on third downs.
That’s where attitude, toughness and competitiveness comes in. They didn’t make two fourth-down conversions. Gronkowski couldn’t hold a ball in the end zone for a touchdown that might have turned the game around.
“I just think we need to have more urgency. Go out there and perform a lot better,” said Brady.
“It’s a winning attitude, a championship attitude that you need to bring every day. We had it handed to us on our own field. It’s a terrible feeling. The only people who can do something about it are in that locker room. We have to dig a lot deeper.”
Amendola caught six passes for 100 yards before leaving with a head injury. He was Brady’s favorite target. Brandin Cooks was next with three catches for 88 yards. The Chiefs really packed it in, but that’s also what the Falcons did in the Super Bowl and the Patriots still managed to beat them out on the perimeter.
“They packed it in pretty good,” said Brady. “We had a couple plays, we missed a lot of plays. If that’s how teams are going to play us, we’ve got to make plays where they’re not.”
The Patriots offense fired way too many blanks on opening night.
That’s not how the script was supposed to go.