The Patriots fell to 1-2 on the season with a stunning 26-10 loss in Detroit against former defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. Click here for the boxscore, and here to watch what the coaches, players and analysts were saying after the game.
The Patriots lost to the damn Lions. Offense was bad, defense was bad. Deatrich Wise was good. Several other Patriots were not.
Despite a dreadful start (Detroit scored on its first three drives), the Pats actually managed to hang around the whole game (as if doing that against the Lions this season is impressive). New England was within 13 in the fourth quarter, but Tom Brady threw into double coverage with 7:49 remaining and was picked. You couldn't really blame him for giving it away, given how much of the skill players on offense played.
That graphic is just Sony Michel a bunch of times, which is what the game was. Sony Michel. Over and over. Constant Sony Michel. I don't know if it's Bill Belichick or Josh McDaniels, but somebody over there is OBSESSED with Sony Michel. Crazy about him. Want to give him the ball all the time. In fact, after Michel dropped a third-quarter pass they threw it to him the next play and he dropped that, too. Not great.
Michel had a 12-yard run in the third quarter that severely aided his yards per carry, considering he had 21 yards on his other first 10 carries. He finished with 50 yards on 14 carries and one catch for negative one yard.
A mile.
How Sony Michel might be a bust. That's obviously a huge leap to take this early, as running backs can take a year or two to get really good (or, in the case of all those Billls running backs who were awesome once they left the Bills, leave the Bills).
New England Patriots
Oh, and there will definitely be some "Is this the worst Patriots team of the Brady era?" talk. That's for sure coming.
The Pats didn't force a punt until the fourth quarter. Not sure if that's technically a stat.
Also, Kerryon Johnson was the first Lions running back to rush for 100 yards in a game since 2013.
They were good! Enough about the Lions receivers, though LOL.
Josh Gordon didn't play. Philip Dorsett got hurt and dropped passes. The only touchdown catch was made by a running back (NOT Sony Michel). Rob Gronkowski wasn't targeted until late in the second quarter.
Yes indeed.