Panthers stand firm, Brady’s Patriots lose again

The offense is limping along, and Brady is dealing now with receivers who are young and inexperienced. Two times, wide receiver Brandon LaFell appeared to give up on his routes, which led to an interception on one of those occasions. Over their last five games, the Patriots have a SU record of 3-2 and a 1-3-1 record ATS. Brady has seven touchdown passes in his last three games. When Jenkins intercepted Brady’s pass and went 99 yards to score, it was the defense’s first takeaway since Jordan Hicks’ pick-six in Dallas on November 8. The Eagles returned a punt for a touchdown and blocked another before running it in during their 35-point blitz.

Tight end Scott Chandler was expected to step up his game in the absence of the injured Rob Gronkowski, but he was never a factor. In Foxborough, quarterback Brady led the Patriots to two late touchdownsthe second with three minutes left.

It’s rare for the Patriots to go into a game without the perceived edge in special teams, and rarer still for them to get so egregiously outplayed in an area that often gets overlooked, until it makes a difference. And Seyi Ajirotutu, while like Austin is probably gone after this year, at least offers some special teams production. New England also came up short, losing to the Eagles 35-28.

The game was essentially lost on the punting game. It is extremely hard to see this team lose a third straight game and they could be getting Gronkowski back soon, so that helps.

Belichick said he thinks Vrabel has a great mind and passion for coaching.

The New England quarterback was under pressure for the third consecutive game – this time by a defense that allowed 45 points to the opposition in each of the previous two games. Ebner attempted two onside kicks, and neither was successful.

It’s ultra-rare to see the Patriots make the kind of mistakes they made on Sunday; New England is used to seeing Julian Edelman or Danny Amendola field every punt cleanly, Stephen Gostkowski drill every kick perfectly down the middle, and the punting unit to expertly pin the other team within its own 10 yard line.

Only then did New England rally. After Sunday’s victory over the Patriots the Eagles will be looking to get back to when they were top tier in defensive takeaways.

The four-game losing streak in 2002 is New England’s only regular-season losing streak of three or more games in the past 15 seasons. New England averaged a whopping 297.0 passing yards per game over its last five matchups.

Heading into the week 13 slate of games, 27 of the 32 teams in the league were within two games of a playoff position.

The key for Brady without his best weapons is to get rid of the ball as quick as possible, which would allow his receivers to gain yards after the catch and lessen the burden on his offensive line against an elite Houston Texans pass rush on Sunday night.

Gregory Hunt is a Boston native and a life-long fan of the Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics.