The New England Patriots enter the AFC Championship Game on the heels of their most complete effort of the season. After dismantling the Los Angeles Chargers by a final score of 42-28, New England has to take on the Kansas City Chiefs. While their high-powered passing attack poses its own problems, New England has another major obstacle to overcome. The New England Patriots road struggles are a very legitimate problem that the team will need to overcome in the AFC Championship Game.
Counting the playoffs, the 2018 Patriots are 9-0 when playing in Foxboro but just 3-5 when playing on the road. Their points per game drop from 32.88 to 21.63 while their points allowed jumps from 16.6 to 19.75. Quite frankly, New England plays like a different team outside the confines of Massachusetts. Let’s take a dive through each and every road loss to see if the New England Patriots road struggles are fixable, or if it’s an inherent flaw with this team.
AFC Championship: Breaking Down the New England Patriots Road Struggles
Loss One: Jacksonville Jaguars, Week Two
New England never stood a chance in this one, as literally every obstacle in the world stood between the Patriots and victory. For one, Julian Edelman was suspended for this game and Sony Michel clearly wasn’t healthy in his professional debut. Rob Gronkowski suffered an ankle injury and hobbled to the end of the game. Meanwhile, Trey Flowers and Patrick Chung both left the game early with injuries.
As if all that wasn’t enough, the Jacksonville Jaguars played this game as if it was their Super Bowl. Still frustrated after dropping the 2017 AFC Championship Game, Jacksonville put everything on the line to win this game. Some players even said after the game that the win felt like winning the Super Bowl. Throw in some 90-degree heat and it’s hard to imagine even the 2007 Patriots winning in this scenario.
Loss Two: Detroit Lions, Week Three
This game was just weird. The Detroit Lions entered the game 0-2 and looking like one of the worst rosters in the NFL. New England was coming off an ugly loss in Jacksonville, but they should have bounced back against this subpar roster. Instead, New England dropped a 26-10 stinker to fall under .500 for the first time since 2017’s season opener.
New England shouldn’t have lost this game, but the current iteration of the roster bears no resemblance to September’s Patriots. Just like the week earlier, Julian Edelman was suspended and Sony Michel was still fighting through injury. Additionally, the Patriots weren’t utilizing James White nearly as much as they should. White, Edelman, and Michel are arguably the three most dangerous weapons outside of Tom Brady and, for various reasons, each player wasn’t optimally utilized. These issues have since been resolved, and the current version of the Patriots would beat these Lions 100 times out of 100.
Loss Three: Tennessee Titans, Week 10
This was the first road loss that was genuinely worrisome. The Tennessee Titans were a decent team, so it would have been understandable if New England lost. However, they shouldn’t have been blown out of the water. New England suffered their most lopsided loss of the season, losing in embarrassing fashion by a final margin of 34-10. The defense somewhat did its part, but the offense just couldn’t get out of its own way. Tom Brady looked in on Josh Gordon and Julian Edelman while completely ignoring James White, Phillip Dorsett, and Chris Hogan. The offensive line, normally a team strength, couldn’t hold a block and Brady was constantly under siege.
If you’re looking for excuses, you can blame fatigue. New England played ten straight games to start the season and the unit was clearly worn down. You could call it a trap game, as New England might have overlooked the Titans after taking down the Chicago Bears in Chicago one week earlier. However, those are weak excuses. The Patriots were horrible, and there wasn’t a clear reason why. Anyone afraid of New England’s ability on the road should cite this game as their primary example.
Loss Four: Miami Dolphins, Week 14
Plain and simple, the New England Patriots should not have lost this game. If Stephen Gostkowski makes a chip-shot field goal, the Patriots win. If Tom Brady doesn’t forget how many timeouts he has before halftime, the Patriots win. Or, if Rob Gronkowski doesn’t play free safety, the Patriots win. This game was lost on a series of ridiculous, one-time scenarios which, by nature, are not repeatable.
Gostkowski may miss a kick (no kicker is perfect), but Brady’s one of the most cerebral quarterbacks in history. He’s not going to forget how many timeouts there are at any point during the playoffs. Likewise, Rob Gronkowski will not see the field in a lateral situation. Even if he does, the Patriots win if Kenyan Drake doesn’t break five tackles. This was one of New England’s better performances in Miami since 2013. Nobody should worry about issues from this game re-surfacing in the postseason.
Loss Five: Pittsburgh Steelers, Week 15
This, along with the Titans loss, is the other big one that puts Patriots fans on edge. For the first time since 2011, the Patriots actually lost a game to the Pittsburgh Steelers, this time by a score of 17-10. The entirety of the offense came from Chris Hogan’s 63-yard touchdown on the third play from scrimmage. This game is most famous for Tom Brady’s fourth-quarter interception to defensive back Joe Haden, which practically sealed the game.
Just like the Titans game, this was one of the ugliest losses in recent memory. However, there are positive takeaways from this game which New England can build upon. For one, the defense was fantastic. Stephon Gilmore and J.C. Jackson shut down (relatively speaking) Antonio Brown and Juju Smith-Schuster and only allowed the high-scoring Pittsburgh offense to get 17 points. The Patriots struggled to stop the run, but that issue had more to do with Danny Shelton being inactive than it did being a road game. This game shows New England’s defense has the ability to travel and play well on the road against the potent of offenses.
With all due respect to the Steelers, the Patriots lost this game a lot more than Pittsburgh won it. The Patriots played one of their sloppiest games of the season, earning 14 penalties for 104 yards. New England moved the ball well but ultimately couldn’t stop shooting themselves in the foot. While this is obviously problematic for this one game, the Patriots should be able to iron out this issue moving forward.
Similarly, Brady’s crushing interception was one of the worst throws of his career. However, Brady was fighting through an MCL injury at the time and was clearly trying to avoid taking any unnecessary hits. He couldn’t quite throw the ball out of bounds, leading to the interception. The 41-year-old quarterback is now healthy and shouldn’t be making those poor decisions anymore. While the penalty issue is worth monitoring, there wasn’t too much from this game which could come back and bite New England.
Last Word on the New England Patriots Road Struggles
The New England Patriots struggled on the road this season, but they should be able to overcome those issues and be competitive against the Kansas City Chiefs. Of their five road losses, two came during Edelman’s suspension. New England wasn’t using James White as much as they should and Sony Michel was still adjusting to the pro game. You can throw those two games out the window, simply because the current version of the Patriots bears basically no resemblance to the version from September.
The Miami loss was a complete fluke lost on a once-in-a-decade miracle play and some unusual mental mistakes. Every issue from that game was a likely one-time event. The Pittsburgh loss, while genuine, shouldn’t worry fans either. The Patriots shot themselves in the foot continuously, setting themselves into deeper and deeper holes. New England is probably the best-coached team in the league, so these issues should be fixed in the AFC Championship Game. Additionally, Brady’s healthy now, which obviously makes the passing attack a lot more potent.
The only truly ugly loss was the Week 10 fiasco to the Tennessee Titans. There’s no way to explain away this subpar effort, but it was only one game. New England won three of their road games and four of the losses were due to fixable issues or just bad luck. As bad as this was, it was just the one game.
This isn’t a post meant to guarantee victory on Sunday. The Kansas City Chiefs are arguably the best team in football, and the Patriots will need to work hard to stop Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City offense. However, don’t doubt New England’s ability to go on the road and advance to their fourth Super Bowl in the last five years.
Main photo:
Embed from Getty Images
