After leading the New England Patriots to another thrilling comeback in week 3 against the Houston Texans, Tom Brady has proved once again that he can continue to be relied upon to help the Patriots win in any adverse scenario no matter what the odds look like.
However, it’s important to point out that perhaps Brady wouldn’t have needed to pull up such a comeback had the Patriots defense played better and not put them in such a complicated scenario as they allowed 301 passing yards and 417 total yards to a Texans team that ranks 24th in the league with 295.3 total yards per game.
The Patriots, which were ranked first in scoring defense last year are ranked 30th in first downs allowed (69) and dead last in the league in both total defense (461 yards allowed per game) and scoring defense (31.7 points allowed per game).
Although the unit is missing linebacker and captain Dont’a Hightower, these numbers are mind-blowing. It’s no secret that despite having Tom Brady on the team, head coach Bill Belichick has always put a strong emphasis on playing disciplined and punishing defense, which has helped the Pats win Super Bowls in years past.
It’s even more puzzling because on paper it looked like the Patriots did all the right moves in the offseason (among them signing 2016 Pro Bowl cornerback Stephon Gilmore from the Buffalo Bills) and despite Hightower’s injury they seem to have the right personnel to perform much better than this.
No matter what causing New England’s defense to underperform, the Pats have to fix it as quickly as possible because the AFC this year seems to have a wide number of teams willing and capable of contending with them for the AFC crown.
In the AFC West the undefeated Chiefs (3-0), the Oakland Raiders (2-1) and the Denver Broncos (2-1) all look capable of scoring a lot of points on anyone despite the fact that both the Broncos and Raiders sputtered in week 3 as they both lost.
The AFC South may not have teams ready to contend with the Patriots for the AFC Crown, but they all have great running units and the Patriots are also struggling in that regard as they rank 26th in the league allowing 130 rushing yards per game.
In the AFC North the Baltimore Ravens (2-1) and Pittsburgh Steelers (2-1) are as usual ready to put up a fight and in their own AFC East, the Bills (2-1) could present a problem if the Patriots defense keeps sputtering like it has in the first three weeks of the season.
The Pats have to quickly correct what ails them in defense because several AFC teams have improved exponentially compared to last season and could derail them in their effort to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.
