Reeling Patriots confident they can rebound, but say it'll be a gradual process

FOXBOROUGH — These are strange times around Gillette Stadium.

The Patriots are now tied with the Jets for second place in the AFC East behind the Bills. New England has lost two home games before Halloween, and if it wasn’t for a last-second comeback against the Texans, the Patriots would be 0-3 at home and 1-3 through their first four games.

And compounding things is the fact that New England now faces a short week as it attempts to prep for a road date against the Bucs in Tampa Bay Thursday night.

After Sunday’s loss to the Panthers, no wonder some of the guys in the locker room were using words like “urgency” when discussing their current situation. Of course, they also realize the rebound will be something that’ll take some time.



“It’ll take time,” beleaguered cornerback Stephon Gilmore said after Sunday’s loss. “We know what we’ve got to do. We’ve just got to do it.”

“We always have a sense of urgency here, but you have to be patient, too,” said tight end Rob Gronkowski. “We have to keep putting the work in. We’ve got a lot of good players. They all work hard. They’re all great to play with.”

Sunday’s defeat marked just the second time since 2012 that Brady has lost two home starts within a season. But after the game, Brady said that it doesn’t matter: home, away, day, night. The Patriots have to start building consistency.

“We just haven’t done a good job at home,” Brady said. ”At the end of the day, I mean, it’s not really where you play. It’s how you play, and road, home, night, day, 1 o’clock, 4 o’clock – it’s really how you play. We just haven’t done a great job putting together four quarters of football.”

“We’ve got to really take a look in the mirror,” said safety Duron Harmon. “Everybody, top to bottom defense wise, and say ‘What can I do to be a better football (player) for the Patriots? What can I do to make sure I do my job each and every play when I get an opportunity?’”

The Patriots will now return to the road to put their nine-game road winning streak on the line for a Thursday night date with the Bucs in Tampa. New England will have roughly 100 hours between the end of Sunday’s game and kickoff Thursday night. It’s a quick turnaround. But after a loss like that, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

“We’ll get the plan in and then figure out who’s out there and then walk through it and get on the plane Wednesday,” Brady said. “I wish we’d have won today. It would have made the week better, but we didn’t. So, (we’ve) got to figure out how to go down and beat a good football team in Tampa.”

“We’re going to watch film and see where our mistakes were, correct them and get better for next week,” said wide receiver Danny Amendola. ”(Tampa Bay is) a good team. We have to have a good week.”

Thursday will mark the tail end of a stretch of three games in 12 days for the Patriots. It’s a gauntlet that will provide a mental and physical stress test for this New England team that will reveal just what it’s capable of. Last year, the 2016 Patriots won three in 12 days late in the season, proving their championship character and using that run as a springboard to another title.

At this stage of the calendar, the 2017 team has more modest goals: namely, snap out of a defensive funk and get things pointed in the right direction. To a man, they remain confident that they can get it all figured out sooner rather than later.

“I’m definitely confident,” Harmon said. “We have a lot of great players. We have guys who are willing to work. Like I said earlier, we just have to work hard. We thought it was good enough, but it’s not. We have to turn up the switches. The leaders have to lead. And we just have to play better.”