The Patriot Way

I have a lot to say about yesterday's game, although I feel like much of it was subsumed by the lengthy car ride I had afterward (I was actually in attendance, then had to drive back from Miami, which takes about 5 hours). However, I will start here. I'm slightly plagiarizing, because I'm pretty sure I read a column about this last week.

As you likely know, the Patriot Way was a term used to described the work ethic and overall philosophy of the Patriots back in the early winning years (2001-2003). Each person had a job and was committed to it. Everyone knew his place in the organization and worked together to achieve success. It was about the team and not the individual. And clearly, it worked, as 2001, 2003, and 2004 show.

Now whatever I was reading last week pointed out that while the Patriot way may still exist in the upper levels, it could be eroded for most because of all the new players in the organization. I'm starting to think too that while the concept makes sense, the execution isn't there. Just look at our secondary (yes, I am bringing back the 'We need corners' tag, it has come to that). They are consistently missing plays or making costly errors, such as the pass interference penalty yesterday. That is not the Patriot way.

Another thing that I would not characterize as the Patriot way is the number of times stupid errors are committed, such as fumbling the ball. Our running backs have now fumbled in four consecutive games. Seriously. This is not the Patriot way, which requires that everyone do his job. If your job is to hold on to the football, then do that!

I think that there is a larger issue right now with the organization, which I will talk about in another post. But the Patriot way, for now, has proven elusive.