{"id":56623,"date":"2019-01-15T06:44:40","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T11:44:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=56623"},"modified":"2021-05-31T20:45:01","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T00:45:01","slug":"looking-into-the-new-england-patriots-road-struggles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2019\/01\/15\/looking-into-the-new-england-patriots-road-struggles\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking Into the New England Patriots Road Struggles"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New England Patriots<\/a> enter the AFC Championship Game on the heels of their most complete effort<\/a> of the season. After dismantling<\/a> the Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> by a final score of 42-28, New England has to take on the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

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\u00a021.63\u00a0<\/strong>while their points allowed jumps from 16.6 to 19.75.\u00a0<\/strong>Quite frankly, New England plays like a different team outside the confines of Massachusetts. Let\u2019s take a dive through each and every road loss to see if the New England Patriots road struggles are fixable, or if it\u2019s an inherent flaw with this team.<\/p>\n

AFC Championship: Breaking Down the New England Patriots Road Struggles<\/h1>\n

Loss One: Jacksonville Jaguars, Week Two<\/h2>\n

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<\/a> <\/strong>was suspended for this game and Sony Michel<\/a> <\/strong>clearly wasn\u2019t healthy in his professional debut. Rob Gronkowski<\/a> <\/strong>suffered an ankle injury and hobbled to the end of the game. Meanwhile, Trey Flowers<\/a><\/strong> and Patrick Chung<\/a> <\/strong>both left the game early with injuries.<\/p>\n

As if all that wasn\u2019t enough, the Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> 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<\/a>. Throw in some 90-degree heat and it\u2019s hard to imagine even the 2007 Patriots winning in this scenario.<\/p>\n

Loss Two: Detroit Lions, Week Three<\/h2>\n

This game was just weird. The Detroit Lions<\/a> 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\u2019s season opener.<\/p>\n

New England shouldn\u2019t have lost this game, but the current iteration of the roster bears no resemblance to September\u2019s Patriots. Just like the week earlier, Julian Edelman was suspended and Sony Michel was still fighting through injury. Additionally, the Patriots weren\u2019t utilizing James White<\/a><\/strong> nearly as much as they should. White, Edelman, and Michel are arguably the three most dangerous weapons outside of Tom Brady<\/a><\/strong> and, for various reasons, each player wasn\u2019t optimally utilized. These issues have since been resolved, and the current version of the Patriots would beat these Lions 100 times out of 100.<\/p>\n

Loss Three: Tennessee Titans, Week 10<\/h2>\n

This was the first road loss that was genuinely worrisome. The Tennessee Titans<\/a> were a decent team, so it would have been understandable if New England lost. However, they shouldn\u2019t 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\u2019t get out of its own way. Tom Brady looked in on Josh Gordon<\/a><\/strong> and Julian Edelman while completely ignoring James White, Phillip Dorsett<\/a>, <\/strong>and Chris Hogan<\/a><\/strong>. The offensive line, normally a team strength, couldn\u2019t hold a block and Brady was constantly under siege.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re 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<\/a> in Chicago one week earlier. However, those are weak excuses. The Patriots were horrible, and there wasn\u2019t a clear reason why. Anyone afraid of New England\u2019s ability on the road should cite this game as their primary example.<\/p>\n

Loss Four: Miami Dolphins, Week 14<\/h2>\n

Plain and simple, the New England Patriots should not have lost this game. If Stephen Gostkowski<\/a><\/strong> makes a chip-shot field goal, the Patriots win. If Tom Brady doesn\u2019t forget how many timeouts he has before halftime, the Patriots win. Or, if Rob Gronkowski doesn\u2019t play free safety, the Patriots win. This game was lost on a series of ridiculous, one-time scenarios which, by nature, are not repeatable.<\/p>\n

Gostkowski may miss a kick (no kicker is perfect), but Brady\u2019s one of the most cerebral quarterbacks in history. He\u2019s 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<\/a><\/strong> doesn\u2019t break five tackles. This was one of New England\u2019s better performances in Miami since 2013. Nobody should worry about issues from this game re-surfacing in the postseason.<\/p>\n

Loss Five: Pittsburgh Steelers, Week 15<\/h2>\n

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<\/a>, this time by a score of 17-10. The entirety of the offense came from Chris Hogan\u2019s 63-yard touchdown on the third play from scrimmage. This game is most famous for Tom Brady\u2019s fourth-quarter interception to defensive back Joe Haden<\/a><\/strong>, which practically sealed the game.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/strong> and J.C. Jackson<\/a><\/strong> shut down (relatively speaking) Antonio Brown<\/a><\/strong> and Juju Smith-Schuster<\/strong><\/a> 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<\/a> with Danny Shelton<\/a> <\/strong>being inactive than it did being a road game. This game shows New England\u2019s defense has the ability to travel and play well on the road against the potent of offenses.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0but ultimately couldn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Brady\u2019s 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\u2019t quite throw the ball out of bounds, leading to the interception. The 41-year-old quarterback is now healthy<\/a> and shouldn\u2019t be making those poor decisions anymore. While the penalty issue is worth monitoring, there wasn\u2019t too much from this game which could come back and bite New England.<\/p>\n

Last Word on the New England Patriots Road Struggles<\/h2>\n

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\u2019s suspension. New England wasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t 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\u2019s healthy now, which obviously makes the passing attack a lot more potent.<\/p>\n

The only truly ugly loss was the Week 10 fiasco to the Tennessee Titans. There\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t 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<\/a><\/strong> and the Kansas City offense. However, don\u2019t doubt New England\u2019s ability to go on the road and advance to their fourth Super Bowl in the last five years.<\/p>\n

Main photo:
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>