Bedard: Patriots shouldn't be having these issues with this group, but they are fixable

FOXBOROUGH — No one said the word, but the overwhelming feeling among the Patriots’ secondary after Sunday’s 33-30 loss to the Panthers was one of embarrassment.

“We’re not proud of it, you can say that,” cornerback Jonathan Jones said.

Well, good. At least they’re not whistling past the graveyard.

Before this game, and for the previous 19 games he had played dating back to his MVP season of 2015, the question everyone asked about Cam Newton was, “What’s wrong with him?”

After Sunday -- and after facing the Patriots -- the common refrain? “Cam’s back!”

Only the 2017 Patriots secondary could make Newton, on a beautiful crisp autumn afternoon at Gillette, look like his former all-world self. Newton completed 71.1 percent of his passes, the ninth-highest mark of his career and his best day since the conclusion of the ’15 season. He had completed at least 60 percent of his passes only six times in his previous 19 starts, none better than 65 percent. Yet Newton, who entered with a career completion percentage of 58.5, completed 84.6 percent in the first half against these Patriots.

Then, there are the big plays. The Patriots allowed another five pass plays over 20 yards. They entered the game third in the league with 14 allowed. At their current pace, the Patriots would give up 76 pass plays over 20 yards this season, their highest total since 2011.

Oh yes, the 2011 Patriots. The only comparable I can think of to the start of this season was that ’11 secondary. Those Patriots featured Devin McCourty (in his final throes as a cornerback), Ras-I Dowling, Kyle Arrington, Josh Barrett, Sergio Brown, Patrick Chung (in his first stint), Leigh Bodden, Phillip Adams and James Ihedigbo.

In the first four weeks of that season went like this: Chad Henne (416 yards), Philip Rivers (378), Ryan Fitzpatrick (369 in an upset win for the Bills) and Jason Campbell (344). The saving grace for that unit was that they got a ton of turnovers.

But you could understand it with that group. That was the year when the Patriots started to play more man to man, and that wasn’t everyone’s forte (especially McCourty’s). And they were bereft of talent: Matthew Slater wound up starting a game at safety, and Julian Edelman played slot corner in the AFC Championship Game.

There is no reason, however, why we should be talking about the 2017 Patriots as being in the same area code as those ’11 Patriots.

All three safeties, McCourty, Duron Harmon and Chung have played a lot of games for the Patriots. Three of the four cornerbacks, Malcolm Butler, Eric Rowe and Jonathan Jones, have experience and played in some big games. They’ve only added Stephon Gilmore, valued as a $13 million player in free agency, to the group.

How do you explain how this group is markedly worse than last year?

“You can’t explain it,” said Harmon, a defensive captain. “I really believe it’s just a lack of focus. We just need to be more focused and zero in on each play. We have to have the mental toughness to do our job each play.”

Unbelievable that we’re at this point, but we are.

How bad was it on Sunday, and where do they go from here? Let’s break down the biggest plays can go from there:

Situation: First-and-10 at the New England 28-yard line.
Result: Newton 28-yard screen to Fozzy Whitaker, who scores untouched.
What happened: After Christian McCaffrey goes in motion, both McCourty and Gilmore vacate their side of the field, leaving tight end Ed Dickson wide open and no one to defend the screen once Elandon Roberts is blocked.
Who was at fault?: Both McCourty and Gilmore. Gilmore likely shouldn’t be leaving his side (the cornerback usually stays put and plays zone in that area or bumps to the tight end), but not sure why McCourty also felt the need to go to the other side.
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Situation: Third-and-9 from the Carolina 43-yard line late in the first half.
Result: Newton to Kelvin Benjamin for 43 yards.
What happened: McCaffrey goes in motion to give the Panthers four receivers in a staggered bunch to the left of Newton. Rowe and Gilmore end up taking the same receiver in coverage across the field, leaving Benjamin wide open.
Who was at fault?: Impossible to know, but in my experience watching this defense, the outside cornerback almost always takes any receiver that releases to the outside out of bunch. So that would make Gilmore in error.
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Situation: Two plays later, second-and-6 from the New England 10.
What happened: Devin Funchess comes in motion to give the Panthers trips to the left of Newton. At the snap, both Rowe and Gilmore jump the inside receiver, leaving Funchess wide open for the touchdown.
Who was at fault?: Again, almost the same situation as the preceding play. Usually in bunch, the outside cornerback takes the receiver that release first to the outside. Gilmore, instead, lets him go by. Strongly think that Gilmore was at fault again.
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Situation: Third-and-4 from the Carolina 42. First play of the fourth quarter.
What happened: Panthers have trips to the right of Newton and this time. Once Benjamin releases off the line, he's wide open for a 39-yard gain.
Who was at fault?: This time, the Patriots were in one of their preferred zone coverages, Tampa (Cover) 2, where the safeties split half the field, the corners squat on underneath throws, and the middle linebacker provides deep coverage down the middle of the field. Here it looks like Chung is playing middle linebacker, which I haven't seen very often. Instead of turning and running with the inside (No. 2) vertical route, Chung is caught flat-footed and doesn't provide much resistance. Looks like Chung should have provided tighter coverage, at least gotten into the passing lane.
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So, as you can see, the Patriots had a lot of problems with the Panthers' motion and bunch sets -- which is distressing because it's nothing new.

"We’ve been getting things right in practice, we’ve been working at it, today was just…we didn’t play well on Sunday," McCourty said. "I don’t think it’s overly complicated. It’s stuff we’ve been doing since I’ve been here."

The good news is, unlike the '11 bunch, this isn't just about the Patriots not being good enough in the secondary. They are certainly talented, but there are major communication problems going on and it needs to be straightened out, starting with Gilmore. I would expect the Patriots to be drilling this as much as they can in the coming weeks, starting with The Thirteeen Million Dollar Man.

We can spout off about how ridiculous it is the Patriots are in this position, with this group, four games into the season (and it is: they did practice in training camp, right?) but the fact of the matter is they are here and have to work their way out of it.

“If any part of it is not right then against a good team, good quarterback (and) good receivers, then you pay the price in this league,” Bill Belichick said. “Everything is important. We’ve just got to do it right. We’ve got to be more consistent."

At 2-2, the Patriots are embarrassed and frustrated, as they should be. It looked ugly on Sunday, but the problem is solvable. This isn't 2011. This group can play. They just have to figure out a way to do it together.