Bedard: Tom Brady has a right to be ticked off about Patriots' offense

Not to be a Tom Brady apologist — and I've never been one — but after watching the Patriots' offensive film, the quarterback has every right in the world to be ticked off about the offense's performance in the 17-10 victory over the Eagles.

I don't care if it came after a win. If the department you headed had a bad day at the office, yet the company overall had a good day, you still wouldn't go home grumpy and want to pour yourself a tall glass of something?

The Patriots were, in a word, putrid on offense against the Eagles. And this was coming off a bye week. Hell yeah Brady should be pissed off.

A look at some of the issues, and a few reasons for optimism:

What a basic, popgun attack: The New England Patriots took the field against a mediocre Eagles team that has not been great on defense this year and ran nine screens, three deceptive plays and three pick plays to pick up yards.

That's 15 plays where you're trying to pull yards and points out of thin air.

There's nothing wrong with that ... but that's the kind of offense you run when you know you're outgunned, outmanned and can't play straight up.

That's the Patriots. Against the Eagles.

Never thought I'd see the day. But that's where they are.

Nobody can get open: Outside of Julian Edelman, there's no one on this offense that can get open against a decent defense without the benefit of a scheme.

The third and 9 throw from Brady to Mohamed Sanu with 1:52 left before the half tells you all you need to know about the passing game. Sanu, who was traded for a second-round pick, has a one-on-one matchup down the field and can't get any separation and it goes incomplete.

Just take a look at these plays at the top of Brady's drops and tell me where you would throw the ball.





Can anyone run the right route?: I counted five poor routes run by the Patriots from James White, two from Mohamed Sanu (one that resulted in a sack), N'Keal Harry, Philip Dorsett and Jakobi Meyers.

On third and 5 with 8:32 left in the third quarter, Harry ran a hitch against man coverage. Brady was looking at him the whole way ready for the back shoulder. He was obviously waiting for Harry to go down the sideline. Ends up throwing it away.

A few plays after his big third down conversion, Meyers runs the wrong route.

It's just all bad. It's Week 11 and the Patriots are as far from a well-oiled passing machine as ever. And it's taking points off the board:



Catch the freaking ball: Edelman drops a touchdowns pass, Sanu runs the wrong route in the end zone, White doesn't flatten out his route on third down ... they just stink in the red zone right now and it's about execution.

Everything is just slow: There's no speed on this offense. From the offensive line to the receivers — Harry added absolutely nothing and lacked explosion — this is about as slow an offense as you will see. Add in that the deceptive plays take time to run, and it's taking them all day to move the ball.

The protection wasn't even that bad: Thanks to all the deceptive plays to cover up for the line, that unit only allowed 10.5 pressures total. Sure, Brady got hit a few times but that was not an issue and Brady was sped up all that much.

Things to feel good about...

Shaq Mason is back!: He got a lot of help against Fletcher Cox, but Shaq Mason was outstanding in this game and looks to have regained his form. This development plus Isaiah Wynn returning and maybe the Patriots have something build on with the offensive line.

LaCosse looked good: Patriots might have found something in the running game with Matt LaCosse on the field. In the second quarter, the Patriots ran for 8 yards (Sony Michel) and 4 yards (Rex Burkhead) with LaCosse as the in-line TE on the right side. He also had some nice plays later. Brady actually might be able to get back under center soon.

Much more to come later.