It's November and as you might've noticed from yesterday's NFL game action, teams are starting to play their best football. The Patriots bye came at a great time, as they now face five games that will determine the 2009 season.
Tom Brady has had three months of football without missing so much as a practice. While he showed some signs of rust in September, he also flashed the icy cold composure that won him three Super Bowls. The fact is that the Patriots, at 5-2, are under the radar, and their best players are just starting to get healthy and play their best.
The defense is young and still unproven in big games, and the injuries on offense have left them thin at running back and wide receiver. Hopefully they will get Matt Light back sooner than later, they will need him with the top-flight pass rushers that the Pats are about to face like Joey Porter, Dwight Freeney and Calvin Pace.
Three biggest questions still to be answered:
1. Is the defense legit? The days of old and slow have been replaced with young and unproven. Bill Belichick's Patriot defense version 2.0 will be built around Jerod Mayo, Brandon Meriweather and hopefully a soon-to-be extended Vince Wilfork. Three playmakers at each level of the defense. We've seen a consistent rotation in the defensive backfield, but it looks like Jonathan Wilhite, Darius Butler, and Leigh Bodden are the top three cornerbacks.
Is the defensive line able to shut down the Wildcat and vaunted run game of the Dolphins? Are the defensive backs able to shut down top flight passers like Peyton Manning and Drew Brees? We're about to find out.
2. Can they pound it on the ground? The best way to protect the high-flying passing game is to remain committed to running the ball.
Will Laurence Maroney, Benjarvus Green-Ellis, and Kevin Faulk be able to get it done against the best teams in the NFL? Will Sammy Morris and Fred Taylor return and contribute in time to help for a homefield/playoff bye push? If the run game is shut down, the Pats become one-dimensional and as we saw in the first game against the Jets, that is a recipe for disaster.
3. Who's the third receiver? We're seeing now why Donte Stallworth and Jabar Gaffney were so valuable to the 2007 Patriots team. They might not have had huge numbers but they came through with clutch catches when they were needed to (see the Colts and Ravens games in '07 for proof of that).
With the Joey Galloway experiment over it now remains to be seen if Sam Aiken or Brandon Tate can step up and contribute in crunch time against the best teams. Julian Edelman should help once he returns from a broken arm as well. But the Patriots will need a reliable third option at WR if they are going anywhere.
Keywords: Bill Belichick, Brandon Tate, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, Tom Brady
