There's no shortage of issues for the New England Patriots to work out ahead of their anticipated Week 4 meeting with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Bill Belichick's bunch looked overmatched in pretty much every facet of the game during Sunday's 28-13 loss to the New Orleans Saints. From the offensive line to the expensive tight ends and the blunders on special teams, almost everything that could go wrong for New England went wrong.
Curran: Brady's return coming at the wrong time for Patriots
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On a brand new episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast, Tom E. Curran and Phil Perry broke down the loss and voiced their biggest concern with the team going forward.
Patriots Talk Podcast: With Tom Brady returning, it’s a bad time for the Patriots to be a bad team | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube
"What's scary to me is the mistakes that are being made and who is making them," Curran said. "They've gotten to 1-2 with the kinds of mistakes that bad teams make, and the people who are making them are a little jaw-dropping. This was supposed to be an outstanding offensive line on paper. This was supposed to be an outstanding front seven on paper. The running back room was supposed to be outstanding. We expected better production from the tight ends who were added, a lot of money spent there. Jake Bailey's an All-Pro punter and kicker.
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"All of them, though, had a hand -- some just a fingernail, others a whole fist -- in that Patriots loss (to the Saints). Just on the face of it, 1-2 is not a stagger you can't come back from, but 1-2 with self-inflicted wounds from your best players is much more concerning than a normal 1-2."
Perry has an optimistic outlook on the Patriots' issues long-term.
"I would say we're verging on having a substantial amount of evidence now this season that would suggest this is a problem," Perry said. "If it was one game and these players were having a hard time, that would be one thing. We'd say 'they'll get it figured out.' And I still do think it will get better. ... I don't know how much better the offensive line is going to get."
Also discussed in this episode: When can we expect the offensive line issues to be fixed? Why have the WRs and TEs lacked separation? Reaction to Belichick’s comments that it was Brady’s option to leave New England. And Scott Pioli discusses his time with the Patriots and the rise of Brady.
Check out the latest episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast on the NBC Sports Boston Podcast Network, or watch on YouTube.