Patriots Drop Second Straight Game

The impossible has happened.

The New England Patriots have lost two games in a row, after falling to the Philadelphia Eagles 35-28 Sunday at Gillette Stadium.

Pretty much everything went wrong for the Patriots today. Here are some examples:

Special Teams- The Patriots were HORRIBLE in special teams, an area where they usually dominate their opponents. First, when they were up 14 points midway through the second quarter, they tried an absurd drop kick, onside kickoff attempt that was kicked by safety Nate Ebner. The failed recovery attempt gave the Eagles, who prior to the play couldn't seem to get out of their own way, great field position and a few plays later they found their way into the end zone. Then of course there's the blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown just before the half and the 83-yard punt return touchdown by Darren Sproles in the third quarter. Three plays that either ended in scores or started scoring drives for the Eagles, because of poor execution by the Patriots. With the lack of weapons for Tom Brady, they've got to be better in special teams. It's as simple as that.

Dropping The Ball- The Patriots are finally succumbing to the "next man up" philosophy, simply because every position, with the exception of Brady at quarterback, on offense is playing with the "next man" in the game. When 10 out of 11 guys on the field on offense are different then the 11 that started the season for you, it's going to be tough to function as people would expect. It also doesn't help that the receivers that played in the game today dropped a lot of passes. It's pretty simple; if you catch the football, you have a good chance of winning. For example, on the team's final drive of the game three extremely catchable balls were dropped, including the teams final play of the day. A lack of ability to make plays shown by this receiving group can probably also take the blame for the 100-yard pick six thrown by Brady in the third. Since no one else seems to be stepping up and providing reliable play Brady looked to be forcing the ball in to Amendola, who was double covered on the goal line. Of course ball was tipped, intercepted and ran back the full length of the field. The rest is history. The Eagles defense gave up 90, yes 90, points in their two previous games to the lowly Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It's crazy that even this skeleton crew for the Pats couldn't get more than 28 points on the board, but than again if you can't catch the ball it's not that surprising that you can't score more. It also shouldn't go unnoticed that this line is currently getting Brady killed. The guy is just taking too many hits. That needs to stop going forward especially with the lack of weapons to throw to.

Still Hope- The one thing to hold onto here for New England Fans is that the team is at some point going to get some of their key players like Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski and Dont'a Hightower back for the playoffs. With guys like that in the mix, I still believe this team is unbeatable, even with Brady getting pounded each week because of the sieve-like offensive line that's running out there right now. Hopefully those guys can get back sooner rather than later and this game serves as a wake up call for the guys that are playing in their place. Only time will tell, but after this disgusting game I'm still on the Patriots' bandwagon.

Here are the stats, if you're interested.