| Tom Brady says the Patriots lost that "killer instinct." (US Presswire) |
Somewhere between playing the Baltimore Ravens last January and facing them again Sunday, the Patriots lost their killer instinct. It used to be a death sentence to give Tom Brady the ball with a chance to win.
Now, if a team is patient enough to wait it out, New England will likely find a way to shoot itself in the foot. Brady has had enough of it.
"When you win, you don’t get questions about the four-minute offense, or stuff like that,” he said. “It’s not like we sit here in the locker room and say, ‘God, we’re terrible, we can’t make any plays, we’re not even in these games.’ We’re right in them. We just have to do a better job in certain areas. If we do that, we’ll start winning close games. If we don’t, we’ll have a miserable year. No one wants that around here.”
The biggest areas of concern is, as Brady classified it, a lack of killer instinct late in games and the inability to score touchdowns in the red area.
The Patriots choked against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2 by missing a last-second field goal, and then lost on one against Baltimore after failing to run out the clock and then by failing to get a stop on defense. But the Patriots wouldn't have been vulnerable to those situations if they had been more efficient inside the red zone (four touchdowns in eight trips).
Those shortcomings are big part of the reason that the Patriots are under .500 for the first time in 145 games.
"We haven't been in it, but does it feel weird? It's the league," Branch said "If you don't go out and take care of business on Sunday, then chances are you may lose. Sometimes you may get lucky enough to pull off a game here and there, but you're playing against a lot of great teams, we can't make any more mistakes. We've got to correct the ones that we have made, so that we dont have this situation occur again."
Belichick fined: Coach Bill Belichick was fined $50,000 for grabbing an officials arm following Sunday's game against Baltimore. He refused to speak about the situation during his news conference, but later issued a statement through the team. "It was inappropriate for me to contact the official. I take responsibility for what happened. I accept the discipline and I apologize for the incident Sunday night in Baltimore."
Practice report: Brady was limited in Wednesday's practice with a right shoulder injury. It was the first time this season that he appeared on the injury report, and the first time his right shoulder, which used to be a mainstay on the list, showed up since the 2010 playoffs. The feeling here is that this is nothing to worry about, though Brady reportedly left the field shortly after media departed.
Did not participate: DL Brandon Deaderick (ankle), WR Julian Edelman (hand), DL Justin Francis (ankle), TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle), OL Logan Mankins (hip). Limited: Brady, CB Alfonzo Dennard (hamstring), OL Nick McDonald (shoulder), CB Sterling Moore (knee), RB Shane Vereen (foot), OL Sebastian Vollmer (back).
Nick Underhill covers the Patriots for MassLive.com. Follow him on Twitter @CBSPats or @nick_underhill.