The Patriots marched into Detroit on Sunday looking to put the Jaguars game behind them. The game was slated for the coveted Sunday Night Football spot and pitted former Patriots defensive coordinator and now Lions head coach Matt Patricia against his former head coach, Bill Belichick. Belichick has a 14-8 record against former assistants and was looking to improve that statistic against the 0-2 Detroit lions who had been blown out week one by the New York Jets.

The game started slow for the Patriots with them going three and out and getting less than five first downs all half. The Lions capitalized on this and marched down the field repeatedly. The Patriots held them to a field goal twice but ended the half down 13-3. The offense and defense both looked confused on and off the field and the game was fully in the Lions favor.

The Patriots came out of the locker room looking motivated for the second half. They quickly intercepted a pass from Lions QB Matt Stafford. This allowed Patriots QB Tom Brady to lead a touchdown drive which ended in a pass to RB James White. However, the defense failed to capitalize on this momentum and were bullied down the field by the Lions’ offense. The rest of the game went slowly with the Patriots failing to do anything impressive on either offense or defense.

The game finished 26-10 Lions on Sunday night with the Patriots record now falling to 1-2. They will face the undefeated and AFC East leading Dolphins on Sunday, September 30th at 1:00 PM.

Things to Note:

• Patriots WR Josh Gordon was a healthy scratch as he attempted to adjust to the complex Patriots offense.
• Tom Brady had a stat line of 14/26 for 133 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. The offense looked off all day and Brady couldn’t seem to find any receivers. There were multiple times where he was forced to throw into tight spaces or throw the ball away because of the pressure.
• Patriots WRs only got a combined 43 receiving yards among themselves. Phillip Dorsett failed to get a catch all game and committed two early game drops.
• Patriots RB Rex Burkhead left the game early with a neck injury and it was announced Tuesday that he was being placed on IR, effectively ending his season.
• Patriot LB Ja’Whaun Bentley was also placed on IR on Tuesday. Bentley has been a standout on an otherwise slow and aging defense with his incredible field vision and closing speed.
• The play calling by Josh McDaniels could not have been worse and the Patriots offense seemed to waste every drive with a predictable and unsuccessful formula.
• Next week is a must win against the Dolphins as the Patriots would drop to three games back in the AFC East with a loss.