The Patriots went to Carolina for the regular-season dress rehearsal. It did not go well.
New England lost to the Panthers and, more importantly, the head coach isn’t happy about it.
“The Panthers obviously did a good job tonight,” Bill Belichick told reporters after the game. “Coach Rivera, his staff, their team played well in all three phases of the game and outplayed us across the board for four quarters. We have a lot of work to do, it really wasn’t any part of the game that was very competitive. We just have to go back to work, and see if we can find a way to do a few things better that we did them tonight.
So is this a wake-up call, Coach?
“We just have to go back to work,” Belichick said. “Obviously have a lot of work to do, weren’t able to accomplish much tonight, didn’t play well in any three phases of the game. Just have to go back to work and do a better job than that. . . . We have been in camp for a while, three preseason games, there have been some positive things along the way, but tonight we just weren’t very competitive against a good team. We did a few things, made a few plays in the red area, gained a few yards, but in the end couldn’t really do much.”
It’s Belichick’s job to find the negatives, especially on a roster with so many positives. None of it really matters until Week One, when the Texans roll into town with a team that may be capable of doing what the Chiefs did to start the 2017 season -- win at Gillette Stadium.
