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Following a difficult loss to the New York Jets, where the Patriot offense was unable to manifest any offensive power, the team beat the Atlanta Falcons with a balanced and lethal offensive attack. Fred Taylor compiled 105 yards and a touchdown on just 21 carries while Tom Brady threw for 277 yards including a touchdown. Brady did have to throw the ball 42 times, but the total could have easily been closer to 35 had there not been dropped passes by Patriot receivers. Tom Brady's lone touchdown pass came on a 36-yard pass to newly acquired tight end Chris Baker Defensively, the Pats managed to shut down the high flying Falcons' offense, holding the NFL's reigning Rookie of the Year to just 199 yards passing, with no touchdowns. Also, the front seven proved worthy of stopping a powerful running attack in Michael Turner, making a necessary statement after allowing the Jets to run through the throats of the New England defense. Turner only gained 56 yards on 15 carries and lost a fumble. Vince Wilfork was injured in the 2nd quarter, but the injury is likely short-term, and the man who filled in for him (Myron Pryor) played very well. Pryor will likely be a capable back up to Wilfork, giving the Pats' necessary depth on their defensive line. While the Patriots have played solid defensively (not yet allowing any team to surpass 300 yards of total offense) and allowing an average of 16 points per game, they have not been able to force a single interception, and are just one of three teams in the NFL yet to do so. The other teams include the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns. Of course, New England's secondary has been very good thus far, but simply have not been able to make interceptions. Be it a lack of havoc wreaking pass rush or a ball hawking safety, players such as Jonathan Wilhite, Shawn Springs, Brandon Meriweather, Leigh Bodden, James Sanders and eventually Patrick Chung, Terrence Wheatley and Darius Butler will have to step it up. Overall, the Patriots have an excellent team, and have just started to put the pieces together. Once the team is fully healthy (Mayo and Welker have been injured), they will continue to improve even more. |
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