Scouting The Enemy: Can Patrick Mahomes beat the New England Patriots?

Offense

Tom Brady has been the face of the Patriots franchise for 17 years and is the first player that you think of whenever you picture New England. He is arguably the best quarterback to ever play the game, and is showing everyone that even at 41 years old he still has what it takes to be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Outside of Brady you still have great players like Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, and James White that have all been staples of the Patriots offense over the years.

New England started off the first quarter of the season without Edelman and his absence was felt. With the trade of Brandin Cooks and the departures of Danny Amendola and Dion Lewis the offense had lost some of its most reliable contributors from the past few seasons. the offense noticeably suffered to begin the season as it tried to adjust to not having its full array of weapons. to help offset this New England went out and traded for one of the most troubled and most talented wide receivers in the league Josh Gordon.

When the reports initially came out that the browns were interested in moving Gordon a lot of people thought the Patriots would be in the mix.  so when the trade was announced it was no surprise that Bill Belicheck had made the move. Gordon has only played in 13 games dating back to the 2014 season. He played in five games last season where he averaged 18.6 yards per catch, and 67 yards a game.  If he is able to pick up New England’s offense, he could turn into a valuable piece in their attempts to make a super bowl run this year.

Wide receiver was not the only position that has had some high end talent show up late to the party. Sony Michel one of New England’s first round picks entered his first NFL season with a knee injury that he had suffered at the beginning of training camp. This lingering knee issue kept Michel out until Week 2 where he made his debut against the Jaguars. Michel struggled to get going in his first game, posting a meager 34 yards rushing on 10 carries, and one seven yard reception.

Since then Michel has started to slowly gain steam as he has gotten more reps. After accumulating just 50 rushing yards against the Lions, Michel has rushed for 112 and 98 yards the past two weeks. With Michel going against the Chiefs soft defense he could be in for another big day.

New England was lucky to have two first round draft selections this past off season. Before they had chosen their future running back Michel, they chose Isaiah Wynn. Disappointingly for New England Wynn tore his Achilles tendon during a preseason game. Wynn had been chosen as a project player for the Patriots.

With long time left tackle Nate Solder leaving for the New York Giants and current left tackle Trenton Brown, whom the patriots traded for during the NFL draft, being on the last year of his current contract. The plan seemed to be for Wynn to take over next season if the Patriots could not work out an extension with Brown.

Even with the recent additions of Michel and Edelman the Patriots offense is still rated 20th in total offense, 20th in passing offense, and 12th in rushing offense. It seems that even with Brady the offense is still trying to find its way. This should be a fairly easy task this week going against a Chiefs defense that has gotten very thin at the safety position over the past few weeks and that has been weak against the run.