Patriots defense has every right to be frustrated with ‘same thing, different week‘ offense

For a second straight game, the Patriots held their opponent to 10 points and still lost.

Through the first 179 games of this year’s NFL season, 52 teams have been able to hold their opponent to 10 points or fewer in a game. A vast majority of those teams — 50 to be exact — eventually came away victoriously.

The only two exceptions belong to the New England Patriots, who managed to accomplish the feat of losing such a game in back-to-back weeks.

The Patriots defense surrendered a mere 10 points each to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 10 and, coming out of its bye, to the New York Giants in Week 12. And yet, the team as a whole is 0-2 in those games courtesy of an offense that managed to put up a combined 13 points between the two contests.

New England’s defense always was expected to be the better of the two groups heading into the season — it was among the best in the NFL in 2022 and managed to return most of its starting lineup, while also adding some high-upside pieces over the spring. With the first 11 games of the regular season in the books, however, it has become clear that it is the only competitive unit on what is now a 2-9 team.

Naturally, the Patriots defense has every right to be unhappy with its offensive counterpart. And while its players do not say so publicly, it is hard not to sense a level of frustration.

“We gave up 10 points, and lost the game two weeks in a row,” safety Adrian Phillips told the Boston Herald after Sunday’s 10-7 loss to the Giants. “So now, we’ve got to give up zero; whatever we can to get our offense the ball back and get a chance to win. If 10 ain’t enough, then we got to bat 1.000, and give up zero.”

Phillips is factually correct, but under normal circumstances a defense should not have to allow zero points in order to give its team a realistic shot at victory. However, the 2023 Patriots have proven themselves anything but normal as far as playing offensive football is concerned.

Sunday’s loss to the Giants was more of the same in that regard. Not only did the Patriots manage to score just seven points via a Rhamondre Stevenson touchdown run, it also turned the ball over three more times to bring its season total to 19 in 11 games; only once all year did New England manage not to give the ball away.

That game was another of those 52 sub-10-point games; a 15-10 victory over the New York Jets in Week 3. All other contests, including Sunday’s, have seen the club play too loose when in possession of the ball.

This, in turn, has put even more stress on New England’s defense.

“If we don’t let them score, we can’t lose,” said safety Jabrill Peppers in the MetLife Stadium locker room. “There are a couple of plays that we wish could have back on defense, but it is what it is.”

Statistically, the Patriots defense played another fine game against the Giants. Besides surrendering just 10 points, it also had a takeaway (a Peppers fumble recovery), and sacked Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito six times. New York ended the day with almost as many punts (8) as first downs (10).

And yet, it was not enough to overcome what continues to be an anemic offense.

“Just same thing, different week,” said tight end Hunter Henry about his unit’s outing versus the Giants. “It’s not good enough at all, at any level. Just killing ourselves. It was just bad.”

For the Patriots’ defensive captains, meanwhile, the focus continues to be inward — at least when speaking with the media.

“At the end of the day we’re just trying to do anything to win,” said linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley. “If that means us getting a turnover and scoring with it, we’re just trying to put points on the board. That’s definitely our main priority. We come into the game trying to force turnovers. If we score off it, that’s icing on the cake.”

The Patriots have lost the turnover battle in six of their games this season, all losses. They are 2-2 in the four games when they managed to generate more takeaways than giveaways.

Their margin of error is slim even when they come out ahead in the turnover department. It virtually disappears when they do not.

The Patriots defense has lacked in that area, especially compared to a 2022 season that saw them score a league-high seven defensive touchdowns. Nonetheless, defensive lineman Deatrich Wise Jr. sees a unit that is showing signs of improvement overall.

“We look at what do we have to do to win. We have to take the ball away and score on defense. We have to get more takeaways, more turnovers, and score on defense, too” the team captain said after Sunday’s game in New York.

“There’s a lot of things we have improved on. We did a lot of great things today. Stopping [running back] Saquon [Barkley]. Stopping the run. Just 10 points after they scored a lot of points against Washington. I think as a defense we’re improving.”

That improvement is a positive for the Patriots, but in the grand scheme of things has been worthless: New England continues to waste its defensive efforts and pile up losses, thanks to the “same thing, different week” offense that simply cannot get out of its own way.

For Wise Jr., Peppers, and the rest of the defense, that has that hurt — even if they don’t say so.