The Patriots’ problems are bigger than Josh Gordon and Julian Edelman can solve

The New England Patriots were tough to watch on Sunday night. That’s because Matt Patricia knew exactly how to stop them.

Patricia earned his first win as an NFL head coach by exploiting his former team’s lack of playmakers, effectively turning Tom Brady into Brock Osweiler in the process. The Lions threw wave after wave of defenders at Rob Gronkowski, daring Brady and Bill Belichick to beat them with the wide receiver trio of Chris Hogan, Phillip Dorsett, and Cordarrelle Patterson. It was a gauntlet through which New England couldn’t run.

Brady threw for a paltry 133 yards in a 26-10 loss that saw the Pats trail by double figures for more than half the game. It was the 41-year-old’s lowest output in a non-Week 17 performance since 2013 — and it was proof New England’s revolving door of wide receiver moves is an obstacle not even a reigning MVP could overcome.

Detroit came into its Week 3 game against the Pats ranked 19th in the league after allowing 7.1 yards per pass attempt. By Monday, the Lions had dropped that figure down to 5.4 by taking away the only true receiving threat in the New England offense.

Patricia buttressed Gronkowski with defensive backs and flanked him with help from the secondary. But putting extra defenders on the dynamic tight end also forced the team’s cornerbacks to play one-on-one man coverage with limited support from the team’s safeties. That’s something a good core of wide receivers can take advantage of.

Except New England doesn’t have a good core of wide receivers right now. It has a bunch of complementary pieces better suited for WR2 or WR3 duties on a deep team. Despite trailing through most of the game, Brady only targeted his wideouts 10 times. That Dorsett-Hogan-Patterson group came down with four receptions for 43 yards.

Dorsett, the team’s penciled-in deep threat after the offseason departure of Brandin Cooks, was targeted five teams and made zero catches. Hogan, who led the league in yards per catch in 2016, has made exactly one reception of more than 16 yards this season. With little reason to think anyone other than Gronkowski could create damage downfield, the Lions trusted their defensive backs to handle a group of receivers that’s neither top-heavy nor deep right now.

It wasn’t even the first time we’d seen this all season. The Jaguars limited New England’s receivers to just 38 combined yards in Week 2 before a garbage-time drive inflated the team’s stats a bit.

The shocking thing was that it happened against a Detroit secondary that allowed Sam Darnold to throw for nearly 10 yards per pass in Week 1 and gave up a 118.4 rating to Jimmy Garoppolo in Week 2. The Lions came into Week 3 having made quarterbacks look like prime Aaron Rodgers in 2018. Then they forced Brady to do a poor man’s Blaine Gabbert impression, ranging into Rex Grossman territory when he launched a deep ball into obvious double coverage out of frustration in the second half (it was intercepted by Darius Slay).

Newly acquired Josh Gordon wasn’t active for Sunday night’s game, but it was clear he would have made an impact even as a deep threat who forced Patricia to rethink his coverage. He’ll have another full week of practice under his belt before the Patriots take on the AFC East-leading Dolphins in Foxborough Sunday. It seems like a safe bet New England activates him for his first game with the club in Week 4 — though if he’s not working out, there’s always the chance Belichick cuts bait at the first opportunity.

Gordon will bring a ton of talent to the field as a high-yield receiver who can replace what Cooks brought to the table in Brady’s 2017 MVP campaign and more. But he’s also a major question mark since he’s five years removed from being an All-Pro and has played in only 11 of a possible 67 games since 2013. Couple that with the complex system that washed out veteran wideouts like Jordan Matthews, Kenny Britt, and Eric Decker this summer, and it’s fair to wonder if he’ll have a major impact in 2018.

The lower-risk, lower-reward addition for the club will take the field one week later. Julian Edelman hasn’t played a regular season snap for the Patriots since 2016 thanks to a torn ACL and then a performance-enhancing drug suspension that cost him the first four games of 2018. He’s set to return for next Thursday’s clash with the Colts.

While he’s not an especially dynamic deep threat, his ability to create space along the sideline and in the middle of the field won’t just free up Gronkowski, but will also take the pressure from Hogan and Dorsett’s shoulders, allowing them to fill the roles they were originally signed/traded for to fill.

Shifting the focus to Edelman and Gordon will also create more room for the team’s pass-catchers out of the backfield. The Pats’ tailbacks had six catches for an inefficient 39 yards against a Lions’ club that was ready to shut down the wheel route all evening.

There are plenty of reasons New England got exposed against the Lions. The Patriots’ run defense allowed Detroit to have its first 100-yard rusher since 2013 thanks to the play of rookie Kerryon Johnson. The rest of the unit crumbled on third down, giving up conversions in seven of 14 attempts. Those two factors led to nearly 40 minutes of ball control for the Lions’ offense.

The Pats’ passing game was bad, but a limited run game couldn’t punch back, either. Rookie tailback Sony Michel had a handful of positive plays, but often looked like a player who sat out the bulk of the preseason and was still playing catchup. Rex Burkhead didn’t get a single carry before leaving the game due to injury. James White was useful, but his role as a receiver first and change-of-pace back second limited him to just four carries.

Gronkowski still finished the day as the team’s leading receiver, but he had just four catches for 51 yards. The good news is he was still productive despite being constantly double-teamed — the only pass he couldn’t corral Sunday night was an underthrown deep ball he still managed to double back to and get his hands on before bailing out. The bad news is, eeesh, no Brady-led team should ever watch its leading receiver top out at 51 yards.

Throwing Gordon and Edelman into the lineup will help production from nearly all the team’s receiving options, but even a revamped offense may not be enough to cover the holes the Lions exposed in Week 3.

There’s plenty of time for New England to recover — burying the Patriots in September is one of professional sports’ dumbest bets — but after Sunday’s loss, it’s fair to wonder whether two aging receivers will be the panacea the Pats’ need after two straight defeats.