5 Things the New England Patriots Must Do To Improve During the Bye Week

Super Bowl XLII aside, the New England Patriots have proved time and time again that no matter how good you look, you will never be perfect.

There will be games where Tom Brady hangs opposing defenses out to dry. There will be games where the Patriots defense kicks it up a notch and bails out a struggling offense. We have seen both this season.

The Patriots look good, but they don't look like the best team in football. As sweet as 5-1 is to start the season, there are more than a few things they can do to improve further.

Fix the Penalties

The Patriots have the 10th most penalties of any team in the NFL (39) for the seventh most yards (353).

Not exactly a stat you'd expect to see from a Bill Belichick-coached team, which are often lauded as some of the most fundamentally-sound groups in the league. 

ESPN Boston's Mike Reiss breaks it down for us, outlining who are the most egregious offenders. To date, Nate Solder and Rob Gronkowski are the two most heavily penalized of the entire team, tied with four. Leigh Bodden comes in at second with three, and a slew of others are tied with two.

It's to be expected in the cases of Gronkowski and Solder, as they are young, but a veteran like Bodden should be expected to maintain his discipline.

Continue to Work on Third Down

Albert Haynesworth's return has been huge for the third-down defense, which has given up conversions on just 30.43 percent of third downs since his return to the defense.

This is a unit that continues to find its legs and has improved over the past two weeks, but they must continue to build on those improvements if the defense is to be counted on to step up in the playoffs.

It's a bit early to deliver an obituary on the Patriots defense, but there are several areas they must continue to improve. Third-down defense is one, but the other is a bit more tricky...

Get Healthy

The Patriots have limped into nearly every game on defense, with absences from key names like Patrick Chung, Sergio Brown, Josh Barrett, Ras-I Dowling, Myron Pryor and more.

Oh, and some guy named Jerod Mayo, who's led the team in tackles three years running and also happens to make the calls for the defense on the field. I think he's kind of important.

The Patriots also have to make decisions on who will come off the PUP soon, and with names like Kevin Faulk, Ron Brace, Brandon Deaderick and others waiting in the wings, the Patriots have a lot of decisions to make in the near future.

Self-Scout

During a bye week, a team has time to look at itself through the eyes of its opponents. In that way, they can find out what their tendencies have been, how those tendencies have worked, ways to fix areas of weakness and take other steps to make sure things stay fresh and don't get stale.

When asked how much of the bye week is for self scouting purposes as opposed to preparation, Patriots personnel guru Nick Carseio said, "Yeah, I think it's really a combination of things. Today was pretty much a typical Monday for us just in terms of going back through the previous game. We'll practice this week; we'll work on a few things."

The Patriots have run a mix of the 4-3 and the 3-4, but one has to wonder when they will begin to throw in more of the 3-4, if at all this season. They bye week is the perfect opportunity to teach more of those read-and-react tendencies that he loves (and Patriots fans hate).

Prepare for the Steelers

In the same breath as the previous quote, Caserio added, "The most important thing is making sure that we're prepared to play a few weeks from now when we go down to Pittsburgh, so we'll try to balance as much as we can and start our preparations here for Pittsburgh along the way."

Despite the fact that the Patriots have owned them in recent years, the Steelers promise to be a tough opponent for New England. This is a defense that's playing as good as any in the NFL right now and an explosive offense that just hasn't turned in the points they're capable of.

New England can't afford to get too wrapped up in self-scouting and cut down their preparation for Pittsburgh, but that's not likely to happen. The Patriots rarely disappoint coming off a bye or with extra time to prepare for their opponent.

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