{"id":57411,"date":"2020-09-21T02:40:21","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T07:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=57411"},"modified":"2021-08-30T04:05:20","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T04:05:20","slug":"lazar-ten-things-we-learned-from-patriots-35-30-loss-to-the-seahawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=57411","title":{"rendered":"Lazar: Ten Things We Learned From Patriots’ 35-30 Loss to the Seahawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Patriots found out the hard way that Russell Wilson is the best quarterback in the league after a goal-line stop secured a 35-30 win for Seattle over New England on Sunday night.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the Seahawks staved off Cam Newton\u2019s late-game heroics, Newton\u2019s nearly 400 passing yards showed that the Patriots offense can win games through the air.<\/span><\/p>\n

After attempting only four passes beyond ten yards a week ago, Newton completed 15 passes of ten or more yards on Sunday night, proving that he can still beat you with his arm and legs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Patriots might\u2019ve lost, but Newton and the offense offered plenty of optimism about the direction they\u2019re heading on that side of the ball.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Defensively, the Pats allowed five passing touchdowns for the first time since 2009, and most were magnificent plays by Wilson, who was ready for everything Bill Belichick threw at him.<\/span><\/p>\n

We can tip the cap to Wilson, D.K. Metcalf and the Seahawks coaching staff for having its offense prepared for all of Belichick\u2019s wrinkles, but let\u2019s not let the Pats defense completely off the hook.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Seattle exposed the shortcomings in New England\u2019s front seven by taking away their ability to scheme-up the rush due while gashing the Patriots defense on the ground in their safety-heavy packages.<\/span><\/p>\n

With Wilson\u2019s mobility and smarts, exotic pressure schemes and blitzing are good ways to get overaggressive and lose contain on the Seattle quarterback, which happened at times anyways.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, when the Patriots can\u2019t rely on Belichick\u2019s tricks to get pressure, they left Wilson with too much time to find open receivers; the secondary needs to be near-perfect. Last season, there was at least some rush bailing out the coverage rather than it all being on the backend.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, the game came down to the margins. Wilson made plays, Cam answered, and ultimately Seattle’s defense made a stop. One or two things go differently, and that\u2019s a Pats victory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are ten things we learned from the Patriots\u2019 loss to the Seahawks:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Cam Newton Nearly Puts Team on His Back in Comeback Attempt\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

After running the ball 42 times in their Week 1 win, the naysayers asked what would happen if Newton had to throw more? Well, now we know.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Newton went 15-of-19 for 295 yards on passes over ten yards in the air on Sunday night. Outside of his interception, his accuracy was terrific. He was creating plays both within the framework of the offense and outside the structure of the scheme. Plus, 22.7 percent of Newton\u2019s throws were into tight windows, yet he completed 68.2 percent of his passes.<\/span><\/p>\n

If there was any doubt about Newton\u2019s ability to handle a pass-heavy game script, he silenced those doubters by going toe-to-toe with Wilson.<\/span><\/p>\n