Offense struggles in week 1 loss

The Patriots had 234 total yards in the first half and were up 20-10 at halftime. Brady looked to be in a rhythm with his familiar receivers and it looked like it was going to be another opening day win for the Patriots.

The second half proved to be a different story for both teams.

Not often do you see a coach out adjust Bill Belichick at halftime, but the Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin was able to figure out what the Patriots weaknesses were based on the first half and were able to exploit them in the second half. Clearly a weakness going into the game was the Patriots offensive line, and was clear in this game. Brady was sacked four times in this game, and never looked comfortable in the second half. You could tell the rush was getting to him as his accuracy and poise clear dropped in the second half of the game. He was always looking for where the rush was coming from and not focusing his eyes down the field.

The Dolphins were by no means sending the Patriots offensive line exotic looks or difficult blitzes, many times they were rushing four defensive lineman and they were still able to rush Brady and throw off his rhythm. The line could never get a push against the Dolphins defensive line, as they were not able to move the ball on the ground the entire game. They totaled eighty nine total rushing yards (twenty one of those coming on rushes from Julian Edelman). The offensive line looked ineffective and uncomfortable the entire game and it cost the Patriots the game.

Their offense game looked vanilla as well. Brady was only able to connect consistently with Edelman and at a point you were left wondering if Danny Amendola was even playing in the game. Gronkowski made his return today and Brady looked to him 11 times, sometimes relying on him too much and waiting for him to get open too long rather then looking for another option. Brandon Lafell looked like he didn't want to be on the field and did not record a single reception on six targets. You did not see the Patriots play the way they usually play. There was no urgency in their offensive attack. In past years you would see them rush up to the line after a completed pass and keep the pedal to the metal. It would have been nice to see them attack the Dolphins defense and try to speed them up. Play calling and offensive tempo was definitely and underlying story in this game.

It was an extremely disappointing loss for the Patriots as they looked as if they were content with a 10 point lead going into half-time. They showed no urgency when they came out in the second half and they completely underestimated the Dolphins ability to come back and compete in this game.

Not often can we say that the Patriots got out coached in a game but today (after halftime) they got out coached. They could not adjust to help the offensive line and protect Tom Brady and they could figure out the running game to get Ridley and Vereen some running room.

The Patriots fell into the typical football cliche that when things go bad it is like quicksand. And today things went bad quickly and the Patriots could not slow down the game and figure out what was happening and how they could fix it. They are much more talented team then the Dolphins and they simply were not able to scheme up anything that could protect Tom Brady.

It would take way too long to get into every aspect of the game that the Patriots got beaten at today, but if they do a couple things today they win the game with not trouble.

Win the line of scrimmage on offense and defense.

Take care of the little things.

Do not make Tom Brady throw the ball 56 times.


Follow me on Twitter at @aludwig25, @patriotsmadness

For more of my articles, click here.