Remember last Thanksgiving? The Pats were the Thanksgiving game and I didn’t like it. With dinner when it was I missed some of the game and as you all know, I don’t like to miss a down of Patriots football.
What I remember of the Thanksgiving game, besides the fact I had to watch it on DVR, was that the Pats got their helmets handed to them in the first half. I hate to go back to it all the time but the Super Bowl following the undefeated regular season showed that the Pats were vulnerable. It seems any team that puts pressure on Tom Brady and the offensive line really disrupts the Pats offensive flow.
So the Lions have Ndamukong Suh anchoring a young, aggressive, defensive front that last November disrupted the Pats offense and continued to do the same thing on Saturday night. Brady had very little time to get the ball off and the few times he did, his receivers didn’t seem to be on the same page.
With the Pats down 20-10 (their lone touchdown coming on a great Wes Welker TD) Brady got into his two minute offense and was driving down the field. Then he attempted to hit Ochocinco (four targets, no catches) and instead threw a pick and the Lions piled on from there making it a 27-10 halftime lead.
The Pats didn’t score again for the rest of the game while Detroit added on another touchdown for a 34-10 final. It was really tough to watch.
Just like Thanksgiving, I was forced to watch this one on the DVR as well. The wife asked me, “if you know they got their ass kicked, why watch?” to which I replied, “I want to see if there were some good plays.” And there were. The Welker touchdown and the Pats interception in the endzone were two of the big highlights for me. Other than that, the wife was was right, pretty bad.
So for all that people were saying that this team is gearing up for a huge “eff you” season, this was certainly a reality check. The team certainly has work to do before the Monday night opener in Miami. Here’s hoping they play better in their final preseason game this week.
