It started out as a rainy day in Foxboro but that was the last thing the Los Angeles Chargers needed to be worried about. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had another stellar 333 yard outing in the 21-13 win.
The front seven and secondary had stout performances to follow up last week’s excellent play against the Falcons.
The special teams unit was putting on a show called The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
The good, the punt team locked down speedster Travis Benjamin and forced a safety. The bad, two missed Stephen Gostkowski field goals. Gostkowski has had an issue with field goals since the beginning of last year. The bug still plagues him.
“We left a lot of points on the field” Bellichick said on the missed field goals. “The whole team did a good job coming in after an emotional week last week and putting the time and effort into preparing for this game.”
The running back situation was a committee effort once more. It’s hard for fantasy owners to use any Patriots running back because each person may have a larger role week to week. For instance Rex Burkhead was used more today than he has been all season. With 7 receptions for 68 yards, Burkhead was the second leading receiver behind James white (5 receptions for 85 yards).
Brady was not as pleased with the performance as much as other players may have been. “We need to do better” Brady said about their performance today.
The defense is still missing key cornerback Stephon Gilmore, but have still managed. Hightower is done for the season with a torn pectoral muscle and David Harris has filled the gap quite nicely.
The Patriots will have time to rest up as they head into a week 9 bye. A week off will allow them to recoup and collect themselves.
