For the New England Patriots, there's no such thing as midseason form.
For them, it's Thanksgiving form, as in coach Bill Belichick's assertion that he builds his teams to be at their peak efficiency after the most fattening of all major holidays - and this season more than others, the difference between now and then may not be as subtle, given the turnover and debilitating injuries.
The Patriots aren't there yet, but Thanksgiving is still four weeks away - and anyone who is paying attention knows that with the hardships this team has endured in the first half the season, to display the resiliency that they have on both sides of the ball makes this one scary team when the weather turns cold and they get some of their injured back and healthy.
What makes them so scary? Mental toughness and intestinal fortitude and blatant talent at almost every position on the field.
At the halfway mark of the season, the Patriots are 6-2, a testament to those things as they have fought through injuries that would have broken many other teams, yet Belichick, Brady and the entire cast of characters just keep trudging forward, gaining toughness and battle-tested resiliency with each scrappy game...
...slowly but surely gaining back the injured players that they're going to get back, and strengthening the scheme to fill in the spots for the players that aren't returning, Belichick attestation that his team will be playing it's best ball after next week's bye and on through November looking to be more and more in focus.
But to be sure, New England can't afford too many episodes like that first half meltdown against the Dolphins and hope to win going forward - but if they play like they did in the second half, particularly when getting back some key weapons...scary....
Passing offense: B
Twenty two attempts from Tom Brady and the Patriots still win? Hard to imagine, but very true.
The need for balance in the offense is very clear, and a week after abandoning the run in a loss to the Jets, Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels went run heavy against the Dolphins - perhaps in part due to the "Non-injury" to Brady's throwing hand which in shocking, tabloidal style photographs clearly showed some swelling going on...
...but Brady denies there's anything wrong with the hand and Belichick wouldn't say crap even if he had a mouth full of it, so we just have to go with Brady's Monty Python-esque denial and hope that it all just goes away.
Despite the low production numbers - Brady was 13 of 22 for 116 yards with a touchdown and a pick - there was some vintage Brady spark sprinkled in with some truly horrible throws.
The Dimitri Patterson interception on the second play of the game, everyone in the stadium and in the television viewing audience saw that coming, but apparently Brady didn't, and trying to thread the needle to a triple-covered Rob Gronkowski was a decision that he'd like to have back - but the touchdown toss to Aaron Dobson was money, as was a strike to Gronkowski in the back of the end zone...
...called back due to a holding penalty on left tackle Nate Solder, but a terrific throw nonetheless - and speaking of Solder, the offensive line was marginally better in this game than they were with the Jets, but that's not saying a whole lot.
Marcus Cannon came in on the fly to assume the right tackle spot when Sebastian Vollmer went down with a broken leg and seemed to hold his own against a Dolphins' pass rush bent on getting to Brady - but there really weren't enough attempts to get a true feel for the pass protection, though the line as a whole surrendered three sacks, which is abysmal.
This unit has much work to do going forward in terms of pass protection, in terms of the receivers gaining separation and and in overall consistency - normally not something that one would expect to hear regarding the Patriots at this juncture of the season, but this has been far from a normal season.
Rushing offense: B+
Much has been made of the Dolphins "gouging" the Patriots run defense on Sunday, but we're not hearing a lot about the fact that the Patriots' running game was just as effective - in fact, more so as the game wore on as the New England running backs wore down the Dolphins' defense.
Not so much in the 1st half when everything was going wrong, though much can be said for the 14 carries into the heart of the Dolphins' defense wearing down and setting the table for the second half - and though the disparity between the halves when it came to total carries wasn't that overwhelming, but the production was like the difference between night and day...
...three yards and a cloud of dust in the first half compared to 5.5 yards and a royal ass kicking in the second.
LeGarrette Blount cemented his role as the designated clock killer with an impressive performance to drain nearly six minutes off the fourth quarter clock, grinding his way to 42 yards on seven will crushing carries - one yard shy of the Patriots entire first half total - yielding to Stevan Ridley on the three yard line, who punched the ball through to provide the Patriots with their final point total.
The loss of Vollmer to the broken leg was offset in the running game by the Patriots running off left guard, Logan Mankins and center Ryan Wendell ripping holes in the Dolphins interior run defense for a dominating seven yards per carry.
Rush Defense: C
Say what you want, but the Patriots' interior defensive line is better than what stat geeks will have you believe. Granted, in the first half they stunk like the rest of the team, surrendering 114 yards on the ground - making the 31 second half yards allowed that much more impressive.
Granted, the Dolphins coaching staff abandoning the run in a panic when the game started slipping away from them played a large part in that, but overall the run defense made the stops when they needed to in the second half.
The Dolphins had equal success inside or out, though their longest runs were off left tackle right where out-for-the-season linebacker Jerod Mayo would have been. The Patriots need to be more consistent setting the edge going forward.
Brandon Spikes seemed like a kid in a candy store, all excited and running up the aisles - but he was taking himself right out of the plays in the first quarter by aimlessly shooting the wrong gaps and showing little discipline, but once he settled down he was a force against the run. There's not a more fun player to watch when he's playing north and south.
New England traded for Philadelphia's nose tackle Isaac Sopoaga to help shore up the interior of the defensive line, and having a Wilfork sized presence in the middle of the 3-4 defense that Belichick has adopted going forward should pay huge dividends for the rush defense.
Pass Defense: A-
The New England Patriots may have one of the best secondaries in the NFL.
Qualifying statement: With Aqib Talib missing the past two weeks, the quartet of Alfonzo Dennard, Logan Ryan, Kyle Arrington and Marquice Cole were more than up to the task of putting the hurts of both the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins pass catching units.
Of course, both teams tried to take advantage of the Mayo injury by targeting their tight ends and running backs perhaps more than they would have otherwise, but the Patriots' safeties helped out in that department as well, rookie Duron Harmon acting as the big nickle...
...and with Steve Gregory doing a good job with the green dot and Devin McCourty playing at an All Pro level, there's no weakness whatsoever - and with Talib demonstrating before the hip injury that he is one of the top corners in the league...
Special Teams: A+
Solid, solid, solid.
This is getting to be like a broken record, but on a really good part of the song. Stephen Gostkowski was perfect on his tries and the coverage teams were swarming. Rookie punter Ryan Allen helped the Patriots win the field position battle.
On punt returns, Julian Edelman remains one the most slippery returners in the game while LeGarrette Blount is improving as a kick returner every week - add in the blocked field goal attempt by Chandler Jones and it's tough to find anything to complain about here.
Oh, yeah. Gostkowski was named AFC Special Teams player for the month of October, so there's that too.
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