What the Patriots need to do is fairly simple in my mind. They need an offensive coordinator and they need a new defense.
The Patriots have not won a postseason game since Bill Belichick took over offensive coordinator duties (they are 0-2 in that span). What’s worse, the team that knocked them out this year was the same team they had thrashed 45-3 six weeks earlier. Clearly their offense wasn’t clicking in their divisional round game as it had been during their 8-0 run to end the season.
Their defense didn’t look much better, though. They gave Mark Sanchez way too much time to find open receivers. Even an average quarterback like him will shine when faced with little to no pressure.
But the defense struggled during the regular season, too. Their defensive line never looked worse than in the divisional playoff game, but they also never looked particularly good. More concerning was the secondary. New England ranked 30th against the pass during the regular season. Devin McCourty is a good, young player for the Patriots, but they need another good corner and should replace at least one of their safeties.
That said, no one should be too concerned about this team going into next season. Anything they need to work on can be done through the draft so any delay in the start of free agency shouldn’t impact their team too badly. The fact that they went 14-2 without a good pass defense should give any New England fan confidence that the team will still be good next year. They just need to find a way to get over that postseason hurdle they’ve failed to clear for the past two years.
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