Tom Brady put up another 300-yard game, and his New England Patriots are right where you’d expect them to be — in first place — in the middle of the NFL season.
But something seems so off.
Brady and Co. finished off the Los Angeles Chargers 21-13 but had to sweat out another finish on their home turf as Philip Rivers’ final pass was intercepted at the goal line. The Patriots took four drives into the red zone and produced just one touchdown. Three other drives advanced to the 25-yard line, and two of those were squandered with missed field goals.
Rivers’ Bolts were even worse. Travis Benjamin was stopped for a safety on one of the worst punt-return experiences you’ll ever see. Tyrell Williams’ would-be 42-yard touchdown catch was wiped out because he stepped out of bounds while running his route. Another would-be TD, this time by Benjamin, was negated by Williams’ penalty for an illegal pick.
This, people, was Exhibit A for the mediocrity that has stained the first half of the season. Or maybe it’s just parity at its worst — because almost any team can be exposed on any given Sunday.
“Bill always says, ‘You can’t win until you can keep from losing,’ " Brady, referring to coach Bill Belichick, told USA TODAY Sports as he left Gillette Stadium.
“Every team, when you lose, you always think, ‘If I could have just made that one play.’ And even when you win, you think, ‘Man, if a couple of plays could have gone the other way.’ That’s football — unless you win 50-0. But that’s rare.
"We’re trying to figure out right now what we’re good at, what we can do consistently. It’s not easy.”
As tempting as it is to expect the Patriots to live up to their brand as a dynasty with dominating performances every week — some even projected a perfect season before it began with a loss in the opener — this is clearly a different team in search of its own identity. Sure, Brady and Belichick are constants. But so much changed from 2016. They are defending champs, but this is a new season, which the coach preaches every year.
But these Patriots, who have already lost two games at home this season, seem to be just as vulnerable as anyone when it comes to the cross-section of mediocrity that exists league-wide.
There are no undefeated teams and just one with a single loss (Philadelphia). There are two winless teams (Cleveland and San Francisco). Of the remaining 29, 19 have two or three losses.
New England (6-2) hasn’t even scored 30 points in any of the games of its current four-game winning streak.
“It’s like Barry Bonds getting up to home plate, and it’s ‘Why didn’t he hit a home run?' " Brady quipped.
“I don’t know. Barry usually did hit home runs, but it’s hard. A lot of things need to happen.”
Belichick grunted when asked if he preferred the low-scoring, grind-it-out games.
“We prefer to win," he replied.
For the Patriots to become the first team to repeat since they did it in 2004, there are glaring areas of concern to be addressed.
“We’re giving up too many big plays on defense and can’t convert on third down in the red area,” Belichick grumbled. “Those are two huge issues.”
Entering Sunday, the battered Patriots defense had allowed 21 passes of at least 25 yards, including five TDs, and four runs of at least 20 yards. Then it was stung by Los Angeles’ Melvin Gordon for an 87-yard TD run to open the scoring Sunday. The red zone offense that Belichick mentioned came into the week tied for 15th in the NFL with a 53.3% TD rate (16 TDs, 30 possessions).
Typically, New England is better than most at adjusting to circumstances and improving as a season unfolds. That, along with Brady, is how they overcome parity.
But their margin of error currently seems diminished.
Ask the Chargers, who started this season 0-4 and just had a three-game winning streak snapped as they, too, start a bye week.
“Sitting at 0-4, I said, ‘If we somehow get to 3-5 at the bye, we’ll be in the hunt,’ and we did that,” said Rivers. “Should have been 4-4, but we aren’t. There is little room for error, but ... everything is still out there.”
