Sunday night the New England Patriots suffered their second-consecutive loss bringing their record to 10-2. They fell to the Eagles in Gillette Stadium with the score being 35-28. The Patriots slide down to the third seed in the AFC with the Broncos and the Bengals owning tie breakers. It now becomes a race to win the rest of the season so we can have not only home field advantage, but to be the top seed in the division so that they can get that first round of play offs bye week so that they can have more time for their players to rest.
Following the loss, questions began to arise about the team. What it seems to be is that the best receivers and best defensive players are out and they have been replaced with rookies and bench players. It shows during games when we have no Amendola, no Gronk, no Edelman, no Collins, no Solder and no Lewis. What we see is LaFell trying to step up and fill the role of Edelman while Scott Chandler is trying to fill the role of Gronk. Unfortunately this doesn’t work out as well as it should.LaFell is a veteran wide receiver who the Pats should be able to rely on. But during the Eagles game, he didn’t seem to be able to connect with Brady’s passes. He was dropping balls left and right, and Chandler was receiving double coverage. A lot of fans are asking for a change in the lineup now.
Fans want Gronk back in. As many might have seen, Gronk went down and out for the game against the Broncos. At first it seemed like it might have ended his season but it turned out to only be a bruised knee bone. Now Gronk could easily come back in, but Belichick wants to rest him until the season is over so that he can be healthy for play offs. It makes sense, but fans want him back in. Gronk could have helped out in that game against the Eagles. Fans are demanding that Belichick takes the risk with Gronk and put him back in and try to salvage our chance at home field advantage,
Another issue the fans are upset about is LaFell. What they have seen is that since LaFell came back mid season, he hasn’t been a big playmaker. In fact, in his first game back this season he dropped 9 passes. It certainly is hard to fill the shoes of such a great wide receiver of Julian Edelman, but it seems to the fans that LaFell isn’t even coming close. A possible solution for Terrell Owens. T.O. has been saying that he actually would like to play for the Patriots and fill in for Edelman while he is nursing his broken foot.
There are solutions for these issues, but one thing is for certain. The Patriots need to focus on bettering the players they have at the moment otherwise we might not make home field advantage or get that bye week.