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Did the Patriots get exposed on Sunday?

By John Buhler

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The New England Patriots suffered their first loss of the season against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football. Have the Patriots been exposed?

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The New England Patriots were the last unbeaten team in the AFC. Unfortunately, they fell for the first time this season against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football in Week 9. Everybody loses, unless you’re the 1972 Miami Dolphins, but did this loss to the Ravens in primetime leave New England exposed in any way for the season ahead?

On this week’s episode of Stacking the Box, FanSided‘s Matt Verderame and Mark Carman, along with former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, assess the damage that occurred in Maryland last Sunday night and see if a fatal flaw has been exposed in the Patriots system or if they’re still on par for the course to reach the AFC Championship yet again (3:11)?

“No, I don’t buy into this whole thing that they’re done,” said Verderame. “I will say, and I’ve said this for months on the podcast, the offense is a real problem. Their offense has some real personnel issues in the sense of, ‘who’s going to beat you deep?’ They don’t have anybody who can beat you deep.”

“I am never worried about the New England Patriots,” said Schwartz. “Until proven otherwise, we’re not going to worry about them. Last year, they lost on the road to the [Miami] Dolphins and the [Tennessee] Titans…Like, I’m not concerned about the Patriots.”

Both Verderame and Schwartz have good points. New England still remains the team to beat in the AFC, so there is no real need to worry about them at this point. Schwartz pointed out that New England went 3-5 on the road last year and lost to a bunch of non-playoff team like the Dolphins, Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions. So they’ll win the AFC East and get a first-round bye.

But as for what Verderame said about the offense, there could be some cause for concern if New England is forced to be in a shootout against a team like the Kansas City Chiefs. New England is more than capable of shutting a passing-centric offense down like the Chiefs, but keeping pace with a high-octane offense is not coming easy with this team. It could prove costly or it may not.

Here are a few other topics discussed on this week’s episode of Stacking the Box:

  • Have Geoff and Matt had Twitter meltdowns? (0:35)
  • Are the 49ers or Saints the best team in the NFC? (12:20)
  • Titans TE Delanie Walker joins the show (14:55)
  • Geoff and Verderame give their best Week 10 game (43:55)

All this and more!

Next. New England Patriots offense is going to cost them a game. dark

Subscribe to Stacking The Box and follow Geoff Schwartz, Matt Verderame and Mark Carman on Twitter.

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