Is There Hope For The Patriots In Week Two?

By: Steve Atkinson

The Patriots loss in Week One was dreadful, to say the least. Not playing Kendrick Bourne because Matt Patricia didn’t want him out there is ridiculous. Bill Belichick should make the final call on those decisions, not Matt Patricia. It was so bad Robert Kraft stepped in and was wondering why Bourne didn’t see the field for three quarters on Sunday. It doesn’t look like that will happen again though as Kraft expects Bill Belichick to play Bourne more on Sundays starting this week against the Steelers. When is the last time Kraft stepped in about a player’s playing time? Never because he never had to.

Kendrick Bourne and Mac Jones have great chemistry

Mac Jones’s favorite target last season was Bourne. He had the most catches on the team than anyone last year and looked like the number one receiver. Then McDaniel leaves for the Raiders job and Patricia wants DeVante Parker so they get him and give him all the snaps Bourne should be getting. But Parker isn’t even Mac’s guy it’s Patricia’s who is a defensive coach that has zero experience running an offense.

The mess of the offensive coaching staff is on Bill Belichick. The potential downfall of Mac Jones is on Bill Belichick. I’ve said it before if the offense fails it falls on Belichick. They have players on the offensive line Trent Brown and Isaiah Wynn who would rather be anywhere else but playing football. Luckily, Mac Jones was back at practice on Wednesday after having back spasms on Sunday after the loss to Miami. What do we expect this week from the Steelers?

Patriots trying to get ready for the Steelers

First, expect Brian Flores to prepare the defense to attack the Patriots and get to Mac Jones. Remember, Bill Belichick, texted the wrong Brian which led to the Brian Flores lawsuit against the New York Giants. I also expect the Patriots to play Kendrick Bourne on every snap. I don’t care if it’s not Matt Patricia’s guy having Bourne out there is what is best for the team. It doesn’t matter what’s best for Matt Patricia.

A positive to come out of this week is head coach of the Steelers Mike Tomlin calling Matt Slater a legendary player.

“Matt Slater is a legendary special teams player,” Tomlin said. “I used to say legendary of this generation. I no longer include of this generation. He’s just a legendary special teams player. And so I’d be disrespectful to those two phases if I allow that to be the narrative within our ranks in preparation for this game. So that has never been the case for us”

Mac Jones and the offense is playing a defense that had four interceptions last week against the Bengals. That can’t happen this week for the Patriots offense. Which means they need to have all of their offensive players out there to make plays. Let Jones change the play at the line of scrimmage and do what’s best for the team. He spoke about this today at his press conference

 “I think it’s a super talented defense. Play a lot of different coverages, definitely fly to the ball. Obviously, Minkah [Fitzpatrick] does a great job. I had some experience, he was my former teammate at Alabama, and I have a lot of respect for him and all the guys on their defense. He makes a lot of plays out there. They’ve got play makers all over the field. It’s a really good defense to kind of go against. We don’t get to play against them a lot, but just got to be ready to go and correct the things we want to correct and focus on ourselves.”

The Patriots kind of need to win this game on Sunday. If they lose on Sunday, they have the potential to be 0-4 for the first time in I don’t know how long. It really doesn’t get any easier playing the Ravens and the Packers after this Steelers game. Having Kraft get involved which he’s never done over Bourne’s playing time is interesting. He is like everyone else why is a player he gave a $15 million deal to not playing for three quarters? I expect more of him on Sunday.