The New England Partiots’ 2008 season came to a crashing halt on the first weekend. Or so it would appear. Tom Brady is out for the season with a knee injury. It was bound to happen eventually – he takes more hits per season than just about any other quarterback. Fortunately, Brady takes excellent care of himself and will no doubt be back in 2009.

But where does that leave the Pats? Contrary to popular opinions at the moment of the injury, they did not go out and get a veteran quarterback to replace Brady. No Chris Simms. No Cullpepper. No Flutie, even. They stuck with Matt Cassel. For now anyway. Matt Gutierez was brought back on to the team as the 2nd/3rd QB after being released just a few days ago. So the team heads into the 2008 campaign with basically three quasi-rookie quarterbacks.

Yeah. OK. But didn’t this same team win a Superbowl with a semi-rookie quarterback in 2001? They did. And without talents like Moss, Welker, Maroney, Wilfork, Thomas, and Harrison. The bottom line being that while they are no longer The Brady Bunch, they have more talent on the team than they had on any of their championship teams. So what has to happen for the the Pats to get back to the Superbowl this year and seal the deal (and, no, I’m not high in looking at such a possibility)?

Back To Basics. Hard-nosed, relentless, opportunistic defense was the hallmark of the Patriots. A team which would bend but not break, win all the match-ups, and make the plays in the last 20 seconds of the game to win it. This isn’t about personal statistics – who can get the most sacks or interceptions to strengthen their next contract negotiation. This about going onto the field every week and keeping opponents under 14 points. Like the Patriots used to. The veterans will need to find an extra 10% in the tank, and the rookies will need to learn at double speed. But they have Belichick at the helm and he’s done this before.

Balance The Offense. Last year was an anomaly. Patriots football is about ball control, clock control, and managing the game. Not flinging it down-field to Moss at the first signs of a problem. Against the Jets they ran 33 run plays to 23 pass plays. Pretty much a reverse of last season. They have five solid running backs (six now with Eckel resigned) ranging from darty backs like Faulk and Maroney to more powerhouse backs like Evans and Jordan. If they can start churning out 150+ yards per game on the ground that will take pressure off Cassel and off the defense (run plays = control the clock).

Limit Mistakes. There is a much smaller margin for error now with Brady on the bench. Cassel will need to avoid throwing interceptions and turning the ball over. That’s pretty much all he has to do for now. Let the Moss’s and Welker’s and Faulk’s win the game. But “no mistakes” also means make every field goal, don’t give up big plays on kick returns, don’t give up big runs or interceptions. The team has to be diligent, vigilant, and mistake-free. But that’s what they preach in Foxboro, so it’s just getting back to their roots, really.

Make Adjustments. Last year they could come out and say: “We’re throwing to Moss, try and stop us.” And it worked … up until the playoffs. They can’t do that this year. If Plan A isn’t working, they better have Plan B ready before they head down the tunnel at the half. This is also something the Patriots used to be great at. Going in at half time and coming back out with a completely different look and gameplan. McDaniels has to start doing this – he has to get creative. And if he can’t, maybe they can transfuse some blood from Charlie Weiss into him or something. He can’t throw the ball every down to get out of trouble this year.

Keep The Faith. The Patriots will lose some games this year. Some will be heart-breaking. Some will cause some serious re-evaluation and possibly drastic roster moves. Like if Cassel doesn’t handle the job against a top team like the Chargers he could very well be back to being a back-up. They need to remember those earlier years when they knew they just had to get to the playoffs and then the rest would take care of itself. No one care about records. Just the championship. After last season, the first loss will seem devastating – but they’ll bounce back.

Peak At The Right Time. Last season they peaked early and set records. By the time the playoffs rolled around they’d already played their best football. Belichick and Pioli have stocked the roster this year with a lot of young players – and they’re getting playing time. Clearly they knew they had to make an investment in the next generation of players now and have them ready for the end of the season.

This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Related Posts

1. Patriots 28 : Jaguars 3
2. Nut-Cutting Time at Candlestick
3. Patriots 2006 Draft
4. Well, it’s a win (Pats 25, Bills 24)
5. Patriots Pre-Season Opener