Monday, October 07, 2002
The Patriots go from rocking to reeling
Goldberg on football
By DAVE GOLDBERG
AP Football Writer
MIAMI — After two games, the talk was about New England going unbeaten in its quest for a second straight NFL title. After five, the talk is about surviving.
The Patriots lost their second straight game Sunday, losing 26-13 to the Miami Dolphins, with whom they are supposed to compete for the AFC East title. It wasn't so much that they lost; it was the way the did it — gaining just 26 yards in the first half, falling behind 16-0, and never putting in a more than halfhearted effort to get back in the game.
“We just have to move on,” linebacker Mike Vrabel said afterward, reflecting the mood of the team. “All you can do is look ahead, get healthy and go.”
A number of things have contributed to the Patriots' two-game losing streak, as well as a sloppy win over Kansas City.
For one thing, they're not as good as they were perceived to be after running over Pittsburgh and the New York Jets in their first two games. That's because it turned out that neither of those teams was as good as they were perceived to be going into the season.
Bill Belichick's defense has holes. In the win over Kansas City and the loss in San Diego, New England allowed Priest Holmes to run for 180 yards and LaDainian Tomlinson for 217. So they brought eight men to stop the run and held Ricky Williams to 105 yards on 36 carries, an average of just 2.9 yards per carry.
But that led to breakdowns in the secondary. Miami's little-used James McKnight blew by Otis Smith for his second reception of the season, a 35-yard catch that helped set up the touchdown that put the Dolphins ahead 23-6 in the third quarter.
“What can you say? I just got beat,” said Smith, who has spent 13 seasons in the NFL either making big plays or giving them up. “I bit on a fake and he blew right by me.”
That's the attitude that keeps New England going.
A year ago, after all, they started 0-2, and at this point had just beaten San Diego in overtime to move to 2-3. In fact, those two losses at the start of last season marked the last time New England had lost two straight.
“It's a difficult feeling to lose two,” linebacker Tedy Bruschi said. “But there's no sense of panic here. It's the way thing go in the NFL. If we wanted to, we could approach it from the perspective that we're better off than we were at this time last year.
“But you can't do that. This is a different season with different elements in play. We just have to think, 'Hey, who's up next week?' It's Green Bay, so that's who we deal with.”
No one's even blaming it on the injury to the Patriots' best receiver, Troy Brown, who bruised a knee while making 16 catches against Kansas City and missed Sunday's game. That limits the options of Tom Brady, who threw two interceptions and was sacked three times for 32 yards, all of them in that dismal first half.
“With Troy or without Troy, we have to make plays,” Brady said. “We didn't do that.”
The whole attitude was summed up after the game by offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, who is still recovering from what should have been routine off-season surgery.
As Brady spoke to the media, Weis limped up to the back of the pack and asked Brady, “Hey, are you OK?”
A reporter turned around and said, “Sure.”
“I was asking him,” Weis said, pointing at the quarterback.
“I'm fine,” Brady replied.
For now, so are the Patriots. At least they hope so.
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The Patriots go from rocking to reeling
