Patriots-Panthers: Analysis and Comment

The more I think about Sundays game at Carolina, the worse it seems the Patriots played, the offense especially. There was hardly any blocking up front. Corey Dillon couldn't run. The other backs were nonexistent. About a third of Tom Brady's passes were inaccurate, and another third were dropped by the receivers.

Sixteen rushing attempts versus 44 passing attempts (2.4 avg.). Dillon had 36 yards on 14 attempts. Take away one 14 yarder, and he was 22 on 13 -- less than 2 yards per attempt. Kevin Faulk had 2 carries for 3 yards. Where was Patrick Pass? He obviously didn't get the ball, and I didn't see him make any meaningful blocks.

Where the heck were the tight ends? I said in my preview they'd be important. I heard either Gil Santos or Gino Cappelletti mention it right after kickoff on WBCN. New Orleans, who hardly had a right to be in the game last week against Carolina, tore the Panthers apart with their tight end play. Yet Daniel Graham and Ben Watson had only one catch apiece and I don't remember hearing Christian Fauria's number called at all.

Two false starts on Russ Hochstein, two on Graham (oh, there he is), one on Logan Mankins, one on Matt Light. Six false starts. That's bad. Really, really bad.

No, the Patriots certainly didn't help themselves. Six other enforced penalties besides (I think one other was declined) is just unacceptable. The officials didn't help them either. Forget Stephen Davis's first touchdown. Yes, the refs blew it. Yes, it "could" have swung momentum, but it probably wouldn't have.

Best case scenario, Bill Belichick throws out his red flag (which he apparently left in the locker room or something), the refs review and agree, and Carolina has the ball on the two-inch line with three downs to punch it in. No, there was no fumble. No really. The side judge signaled touchdown and blows his whistle, ending the play. Worst case, Belichick challenges, the refs review and most likely disagree -- not enough evidence -- and on top of the touchdown counting, the Patriots lose a timeout.

But there were lots of other plays. Pass interference on one team didn't appear to be pass interference on the other. Julius Peppers leveled Brady, taking at least two steps after Brady passed the ball. No call. Peyton Manning would have gotten it. Carolina cornerback Ken Lucas launched himself at Troy Brown on that broken play that Brown took down the sideline 71 yards. No call. They would have called it on Rodney Harrison.

I don't know why Belichick didn't challenge the Brady or Watson fumbles. It looked to me that Brady's arm was clearly moving forward. And if it wasn't that obvious, the play occurred at a crucial moment in the game. Same with Watson's fumble. It probably was a fumble, but down by 10 and less than 2:30 to go in the game, it seems there was nothing left to lose.

(On an interesting note, Boomer Esiason was on Dennis and Callahan on WEEI this morning and said that several teams, Carolina and Baltimore being among the more distinct, will not show replays on the scoreboards if those replays might help an opponent decide whether to throw the challenge flag.)

Belichick is a genius for not showing opponents parts of the game plan if he expects to see them later in the season (e.g. Cincinnati in the preseason and Pittsburgh during the regular season last year). If New England meets Carolina in the Super Bowl, we'll look back at this game and gaze in awe at his Seventh Sense. (He has at least seven, maybe more.)

The defense played pretty well overall. Carolina didn't score too easily. For the most part, they only scored when they had a short field. The Panthers barely had 100 yards and only 2.9 per carry rushing between Davis and Deshawn Foster. Jake Delhomme had only 154 yards passing, 41 of those on one lucky "huck it in the air" play.

As "poorly" as Brady played (23 of 44 for 270 yards, 69.3 rating), Delhomme was worse (11 of 26, 46.0 rating). New England actually outgained Carolina 288 yards to 250. But a combination of turnovers and questionable special teams play gave the Panthers the few openings they needed, and they took advantage when New England couldn't. The Panthers had a meager under four-minute time of possession advantage (31:59-28:01).

Those 39 yards rushing, 12 penalties for 86 yards, and three turnovers really killed.

Note on the CBS game broadcast: What was Dick Enberg? It was like he wasn't paying any attention at all, or couldn't see, or was being fed bad information, or all of the above. He was misidentifying players, completely missing penalty flags and describing action that wasn't happening. Dan Dierdorf had a surprisingly good game, but he needed to reel in Enberg during a break, and he obviously didn't.

Next week, New England remains on the road in what is more brutal a stretch in schedule as anyone in the league. The Patriots head to Pittsburgh for a rematch (It's just another game, right) of last year's AFC championship, which was a rematch of the game played earlier that season, which was a rematch ... OK.

The Patriots (1-1) play the Steelers (2-0), who beat Houston, 27-7, on Sunday and Tennessee, 34-7, in Week 1.