Sure, the New England Patriots took down the lowly Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday to improve to 11-3 and clinch their 11th straight playoff berth. But the 34-13 win did little to convince anyone the scuffling offense is turning a corner.
Tom Brady had two touchdown passes, but only 128 passing yards to go along with an 86.6 passer rating. The offensive line did little to hold up its end of the bargain, and the receiving corps outside of rookie N'Keal Harry didn't make much of an impact.
On NBC Sports Boston's Postgame Live, former Patriots backup quarterback Matt Cassel explained why the victory didn't make him feel any better about the offense going forward.
"No, I don't [feel better about the offense]. I've got to be completely honest," Cassel said. "I felt better about the rush offense today. It was a season-high in terms of rushing ... I think Sony Michel had his best production of the year ... However, the passing game continues to struggle.
"Tom Brady with a season-low 128 yards passing. I mean, [Mohamed] Sanu who we talked about in pregame, we wanted to see him get going. He had eight targets, only two receptions on the day, a drop ... [Julian] Edelman looked like a shadow of himself today, obviously injuries have taken a little bit of a toll on him ...
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OK, so Cassel isn't feeling optimistic. How about former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson?
New England Patriots
"Are you kidding me? I can't believe how inept this offense is at this point of the season," Johnson said. "If they have issues, they usually fix them by the end of the year. You see kind off -- at least some glimmer of hope in trying to turn things around. This offense looks as bad now as it ever has at any point in the season. This team with this offense, it's not going to go far in the playoffs. It just isn't."
Things aren't about to get any easier for New England as it'll host one of the league's best defensive teams Saturday in the Buffalo Bills.
Hear everything the PGL crew had to say in the video below: