New England Patriots: 5 Things We Learned from Blowout Loss to Detroit Lions

Just like the New England Patriots proved you can't win the Super Bowl in the preseason against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they also proved you don't go 0-16 in the preseason either.

The media has spent the past two weeks kissing the Patriots' butts. The Detroit Lions spent 60 minutes Saturday night handing the Patriots their butts on a silver platter.

The final score of Saturday night's preseason game doesn't do justice to the beating the Patriots suffered that night. Or maybe it just seemed worse based on the expectations they had set with blowout wins in two games prior.

So, here are just a few things to take away from the game.

Erik Frenz is the co-host of the PatsPropaganda and Frenz podcast. Follow Erik on Twitter @erikfrenz.

The Defense Isn't Perfect

Through the first two weeks of the preseason, Patriots fans were spoiled by standout performances from Mark Anderson and Andre Carter. Needless to say, neither had a solid night on Saturday and Pats fans were treated to a lot more of what we saw in 2010—the defense generating absolutely no pressure and the quarterback standing in the pocket reading the defense like a book.

One thought is that the Patriots didn't want to show their hand from a strategic standpoint last night, refraining from exposing their plans for the regular season. Still, that doesn't eliminate the concern over a complete lack of pressure with a four-man rush in the base 4-3 defense.

The coverage on the back end wasn't much better, though. Just about every Patriots cornerback gave up a big play of some sort, and practically none of Matthew Stafford's throws were even contested; the third-year quarterback had just two incompletions in the first quarter. 

To pick one player would be unfair, but Kyle Arrington specifically really had a bad night. He had lapses in concentration, was in bad position on a few throws and was turned around on others. Cornerback, once considered a position of depth, is now in question.

The Offensive Line Can Spring a Leak or Two

Wow. Not a lot of positives from this group last night.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis averaged 2.2 yards per carry last night, but the talking point of the game has to be the pressure by the Lions' fierce defensive front. They imposed their will on the Patriots offensive line, pressuring New England's quarterbacks almost every time they went back for a pass.

Much of the pressure came off the edge from Cliff Avril motoring past Sebastian Vollmer. The Lions defensive end tallied the only two sacks by the Lions defense, but interior pressure from Corey Williams and Ndamukong Suh played a huge role in influencing many of Brady's throws.

The High Octane Offense Is Capable of Sputtering out

Speaking of the All-World quarterback from 2010, Brady looked way out of sync with his receivers Saturday night. He went a pedestrian 12-of-22 for 145 yards, a touchdown and an interception, but his performance was arguably worse than that. 

Of course, part of that is attributed to an offensive line that gave him no protection, but even when Brady had a clean line of sight to the receiver and was out of reach of defenders, he was an equal opportunity misfiring machine, overthrowing and underthrowing his targets. 

The potential future talking point of talk radio shows in the northeast, though, will be Chad Ochocinco. He still has yet to catch on in the offense, and has yet to catch many balls either in practice or on the field. In fact, he dropped at least one catchable pass and had another bounce off his fingers.

The Patriots spoiled their fans with a great eight-game stretch to end the 2010 campaign, and off days like this are to be expected, but never to be ignored—even in the preseason.

Darius Butler Was the Lone Bright Spot in a Dismal Secondary

Darius Butler deservedly caught some flak for poor play in the preseason leading up to last night, but he was one of the very few bright spots on Saturday night.

Butler had solid coverage for the most part, only giving up a few catches and a rather indefensible touchdown. 

In the battle with Jonathan Wilhite for the fifth spot at cornerback, Butler made his own case Saturday night.

At Least Aaron Hernandez Played Well...

In a dreadful offensive performance, Aaron Hernandez was the lone spark plug that essentially kept a few drives going, making a couple of third-down catches for big gains to move the chains. He finished the night with five catches for 46 yards, but his value to the team was much bigger than that.

He displayed a different skill set Saturday night, showing the ability to use his quickness to break into the open field and gain extra yards even with a defender in his face. He made something out of nothing on at least a couple of dump offs.