FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Renowned author (and tortured soul) Sylvia Plath once noted, "If you expect nothing from anybody, you're never disappointed." Perhaps that's how the New England Patriots should eyeball the 16-9 victory they eked out at home against the winless Oakland Raiders on Sunday afternoon.
Surely, the victory, which was in doubt until the final seconds, wasn't the way coach Bill Belichick drew it up. Judging by the way a measured yet clearly disappointed Tom Brady approached his postgame comments (think Mount Vesuvius with pockets of lava bubbling to the surface), the quarterback is far from satisfied with the way his offense performed.
It most definitely was not what antsy Patriots fans were counting on, as evidenced by the fact that they already were booing their beloved football team at the 1:22 mark of the first quarter, when Brady, on second-and-25 from his own 26-yard line, handed the ball off to Shane Vereen for a 3-yard gain.
The Patriots' offense was disjointed, disarmed and dismayed for huge chunks of the game. Once again, Brady favored the redoubtable Julian Edelman (10 catches, 84 yards) over all others. It's hard to blame him. Edelman continues to find ways to get open and hold onto the ball. His teammates should take note.
Brady targeted so-called "deep threat" Kenbrell Thompkins only once, which was one more time than Aaron Dobson, who was a surprising healthy scratch and left many wondering what the kid has done to endure the humiliation of watching the game in street clothes.
The strange saga of "Where's Danny?" continued, with Danny Amendola being targeted just once for zero catches, though what would have been a nice 20-yard grab by the maligned receiver was called back on a holding penalty against Brandon LaFell.
Give Amendola credit. At least he executed his blocking assignments while he was out there. Even so, there's a disconnect between Amendola and Brady that is hurting this team.
Brady found the end zone only once, on a 6-yard strike to tight end Rob Gronkowski, who shook off another layer of rust and appears as though he might be rounding into form.
The same cannot be said of the corps of Patriots running backs who submitted a combined 76 yards and averaged 2.4 yards a carry.
New England's trips to the red zone were infrequent and unsuccessful. The revolving offensive line failed to complete its most critical and basic task -- keeping Brady upright. Belichick was disturbed enough by what he saw that he replaced Jordan Devey with rookie Bryan Stork in the fourth quarter.
Devey was hardly alone in his misery on the offensive line. Nate Solder was schooled by Khalil Mack, Dan Connolly botched a low shotgun snap, and Marcus Cannon was run over by Justin Tuck. Failing grades all around.
There has been a plethora of external NFL discussion regarding the advancing age of Brady. I don't believe Brady is too old to be effective, but I absolutely believe he is too old to absorb crushing hits such as the ones the Raiders laid on him Sunday.
That stat sheet says Brady was sacked only two times, but he was leveled by six hits, three of them courtesy of Tuck.
"I'm blessed to have played him a few times and understand the keys to victory against him," explained Tuck, who won two Super Bowls against Brady with the Giants. "A lot of people think you have to pin your ears back and rush the passer. You've got to take the run away. We haven't done that well enough the previous two games.
"[Today] we had success getting into third-down situations and second-and-long situations where a lot of us can showcase what we can do. Our corners did a good job of changing coverages to keep that offense out of rhythm." Tuck was asked if he could sense Brady's frustration with his team's inability to convert in key situations.
"Anytime a team has been as dominant as Brady has been on offense, when you put them in a situation they don't want to be in, they're going to be frustrated," Tuck said. "So you could sense it. But at the end of the day, they're a lot happier in their locker room right now than we are."
Good point. The Patriots won this game, and we all know how precious victories are in the NFL, so you take them any way you can get them. The real question is this: Can the Patriots solve their problems going forward? If the opponent Sunday had been, say, the Cincinnati Bengals, who come to Foxborough in two weeks, it's hard to imagine New England emerging with a W.
The offensive line has not recovered yet from the loss of future Hall of Famer Logan Mankins, whose departure shook its core. Understandably, the Patriots don't want to hear about Mankins anymore, but until the O-line establishes some consistency, the ghost of their former guard lingers.
"It isn't one guy. It's not one play," Solder said. "It's a number of different plays that we're breaking down and a number of different schemes. We have to be more consistent."
Belichick was pressed on how an Oakland defense that was giving up an average of 200 yards on the ground and allowed Houston to put up 30 points last week was able to neutralize Brady and the boys.
"Watch every game in the NFL," Belichick retorted. "What happened last week isn't what happens this week."
He is right, of course. It is still early, and the Patriots, at 2-1, are in reasonable position to make their annual run at the postseason.
But the quarterback looks antsy to me. He also looks pretty ticked off. We can only wonder how Brady feels when he watches Peyton Manning throw for 350 yards or Drew Brees put up four touchdowns. Brady's longest throws Sunday were a 22-yard pass to Gronkowski and a 20-yard pass to Tim Wright.
Remember Wright? He came to New England in the Mankins trade. He was supposed to represent the other half of that two-headed tight end monster, like Gronk and Aaron Hernandez back in the day. Seems like forever ago, doesn't it?
The quarterback hasn't been perfect either, mind you. He overthrew Gronk on a misdirection early in the second quarter that would have gone for big yardage.
Tuck was asked if the Patriots offense he lined up against Sunday looked like a potent group to be feared.
"I still believe they are," Tuck said. "With a guy like Tom at the helm and a coach like Belichick, they'll figure it out. I won't be surprised if see that team in the playoffs."
Maybe Dobson can work his way out of the coach's doghouse and prove to be a dynamic option for Brady. Maybe Gronk is close to returning to his old form as a one-man wrecking crew. Maybe the young group of offensive linemen will use this game to rally around each other and establish a symbiotic approach to protecting their quarterback.
The season is young, but the expectations around here are always the same. Sometimes, even winning the game isn't quite enough.