Belichick Has A Decision To Make

Tom Brady came to New England, that was the big story. Brady versus Belichick, who's responsible for the 20 year dynasty? That was all anyone was talking about prior to the game and it's still kinda what's being talked about afterwards. Patriots fans are over looking something.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers coming into the Sunday night game were averaging 34.3 points a game. The Patriots went in with a game plan of let Tampa run and let Brady dink and dunk but don't give up the big play. Bend but don't break. While the defense never forced the needed turnover, they beat the Buccaneers offense, only allowing the Buccaneers to score 19 points. They also held the Buccaneers to under 400 yards total offense.

Mac Jones was the better quarterback on the day. Jones went 31 of 40 for 275 yards with 2 touchdowns and an interception. The Buccaneers decided they were going to take away the run and force the Patriots to beat them with Mac's arm. And that almost happened.

Mac Jones is a rookie and there were times when he could've gone elsewhere with the ball. There were also times he could've moved around the pocket but instead of focusing on the rush, he kept his focus on his pass catchers. 

The Patriots defense played a good game and while some of the defenders could've played better, one couldn't of asked for a better game from the unit as a whole.

Jake Bailey is Jake Bailey, and Nick Folk with everything working against him still boomed one off the uprights from almost 60 yards away. There is no shame in that miss or decision to go for it. Folk hitting the upright showed that he was very much capable of hitting from that range.

Overall in the loss the Patriots showed they're a better team than their 1-3 record and have room to and should improve. That should scare people as all three phases looked decent, even if Tampa's defense stopped Harris and the running game as they intended with a Patriots banged up line. The question that I wonder now is does Belichick have the team hold back a little to get better draft picks to bolster the 2022 roster or does he play for a wildcard spot and will Kraft stand by that decision?