Patriots have issues to address after 2 straight losses
FOXBOROUGH, MASS. (AP) >> The Patriots were able to downplay the significance of their defeat at Miami in Week 14 mostly because of the crazy final play it took for the Dolphins to grab the victory in the closing seconds.
But after showing multi- ple shortcomings in its 17-10 loss at Pittsburgh on Sunday , New England suddenly looks nothing like the dominant force it’s been at this point of the season in most years.
The Patriots are still in position to earn their 10th consecutive AFC East title. But with two games left in the regular season, New England (9- 5) enters Week 16 as the No. 3 seed in the AFC behind Kansas City and Houston.
While much can still change before the postseason, it’s left the Patriots facing the possibility of having to open the playoffs in the wild- card round for the first time since 2009. The Patriots have never started the postseason on the
road during the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady era.
New England finished 3-5 on the road this season after Sunday’s loss. The Patriots have also lost consecutive games in December for the first time since Weeks 15 and 16 of 2002. That was also the only season Brady has missed the postseason after starting at least two games.
The good news for the Patriots is that they play their final two regularseason games at home, beginning with Sunday’s matchup with Buffalo (5-9) before closing their schedule on Dec. 30 against the New York Jets (4-10).
Whether home or away, Patriots receiver Julian Edelman believes they have plenty of time to figure things out despite losing the past two games.
“We’re definitely confident,” he said following
Sunday’s loss. “We have a group of guys who work hard. We have a coaching staff that puts us in great situations and puts great plans together, we just gotta go out and really focus on the little things. It starts with snapping the ball and not having penalties. If we do that, we’ll get better.”
What Edelman was eluding to was the seasonhigh 14 penalties for 106 yards that New England was called for in Sunday’s loss, which included five false starts. The mishaps negated long gains by the offense and led to five consecutive punts after scoring its lone touchdown.
The biggest mishaps occurred in the fourth quarter
railing 14-10 and facing third- and- 8 on the Pittsburgh 13, Brady completed a pass to Rob Gronkowski to the Steelers 5. But the play was negated by a holding penalty on Marcus Cannon.