The Good And Bad: Patriots Win Ugly Versus Carolina

The post-Adalius Thomas era began with a win. Now the Patriots are 2-0 without their disgruntled, overpaid, and underachieving linebacker.

Was the win easy? No.

Was it pretty? Far from it.

The Patriots turned the ball over 3 times.

Brady is battling injuries and it showed in his accuracy and comfort level in the pocket. The Patriots quarterback had a pedestrian performance going 19 for 32 for 192 yards and a touchdown.  Brady also had his weekly bad interception.

He needs to heal up and improve if New England plans on going anywhere in the postseason.

Randy Moss was virtually invisible the whole game. He only had one catch for 16 yards and a costly fumbled. He never seemed in the game, perhaps there are lingering effects from “Lategate.”

Well that was the bad and now the good.

The running game was effective. Maroney, Morris, and Faulk combined for 185 yards on the ground. Kevin Faulk scored the game tying touchdown with a 3 yard run in the second quarter. However, Morris put the ball on the ground.

Well, Wes Welker is Wes Welker. The team’s offensive MVP continues to save the Patriots bacon.

Timely catches.

Hard faught yards.

Taking jarring hits.

Welker finished the game with 10 catches for 105 yards.  He did his job yet again.

Wes Welker joined Marvin Harrison (4), Jerry Rice (3), and Herman Moore (3) as the fourth player in NFL history with three consecutive 100-catch seasons.

Tom Brady finally found the tightend . Ben Watson had a productive game. He had 3 catches for 37 yards and a very important go ahead touchdown.

The offense overcame their miscues and saved face with their 13 play, 96 yard drive which was capped by Watson’s touchdown.

Brady and the boys need to work out the kinks before they face division foe Buffalo. Remember that the Bills had them out the ropes opening night.

The Adalius Thomas-less defense played well but they had their weekly mental breakdown. Carolina back up quarterback, Matt Moore found Steve Smith for a 41 yard strike to give the Panthers the 7-0 lead.

The potent Carolina running game was contained somewhat even though they amassed 126 yards.  

The New England defense got some pressure on Matt Moore something they couldn’t do against Miami’s Chad Henne last week. Gary Guyton and Derrick Burgess, who were members of the “Tardy Tribe”, came to play. Burgess finally recorded a sack and Guyton was flying around the field all game.

It was a matter of bend and don’t break.

The Patriots need to correct their ways before the playoffs. Against good teams their miscues will be converted into points. There will be no room for error.

However, the Patriots find ways to beat lesser opponents (unlike Pittsburgh) as good teams should. 

New England was good, bad, and won ugly today in Foxboro.

Come January, an effort like this will snuff their Super Bowl dreams pretty quickly.

Joe Gill is a featured blogger for Boston Sports Then and Now, Rootzoo.com and Trufan.com