Pats Week Five Recap: What the Heck Happened vs. the Broncos?!
Well…let this do the talking for you.
Foxboro final. pic.twitter.com/j082ZoIyrB
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 18, 2020
Yeah, that happened. The New England Patriots had the chance to go back above .500 against a struggling team against the Denver Broncos. Sure, there were a lot of factors going against the Patriots. The lack of practice time came into play. Their offense looked sluggish. Let’s just get into it.
Turnovers and Lack of Offensive Consistency
A lack of ball security and offensive consistency cause Patriots to fall to the Broncos.@MeganOBsports's breakdown. pic.twitter.com/U4srl94Fod
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 18, 2020
Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. That’s the name of the game. The Patriots looked careless and sluggish on offense. I mean Cam, buddy, pal. That screen to James White that got intercepted? Didn’t look great! I get he had COVID symptoms and what not. But if that’s the case, maybe he shouldn’t have played at all on Sunday. The offense scored 12 points at home. Is it a case where the practice time showed or is this offense in that much trouble? Next week will be very telling.
The Defense Didn’t Let Up a Touchdown
This is the most upsetting part. The Patriots didn’t literally let up a touchdown. The defense has let up 37 points in the last two games (not counting the KC pick six). That means the Patriots have given up 18.5 PPG. You’re telling me the Patriots can’t score 21 points with Cam Newton at quarterback? C’mon! That should be automatic. The defense is playing really well right now and you’re throwing away their efforts.
The Broncos ALMOST Choked the Game Away
Drew Lock literally almost threw this game away. He had two interceptions late that gave the Patriots a chance to steal this game away. The Broncos proved that they aren’t that good. They almost gave up a sure fire win. This was a case where all of the factors fell right for the Broncos. Good for them for taking advantage of the situation.
In Conclusion
What a horrific loss! Thank goodness the Bills lost today. Otherwise, it’d be more of an uphill climb in the AFC East. Now you have a San Francisco team next week that seems to have gotten their groove back. Plus, Jimmy G can have a revenge game for being traded away from the Patriots. Hopefully, a week of practice and more reps gets them back to normal. For now, we have to deal with the fact that the Patriots haven’t been under .500 at this point in the season since 2002. Think about that. That’s how spoiled we’ve been. Hope for good things Sunday afternoon because it’ll tell what type of team we have here at the moment.
-Al Nahigian (@BigAl2793)
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Feat. Image courtesy of bostonglobe.com/