For the fourth straight week, the New England Patriots have struggled tremendously on offense in the 1st half. Following 30 minutes of football in week 14, the Patriots trail the Cleveland Browns 6-0.
After talk that the Patriots offense had returned to being elite, they looked as bad as they have all season in the first half. The reason for the struggles have come down to two major issues: struggles throwing accurate passes from quarterback Tom Brady and struggles to catch the football by receivers when the ball actually gets to them.
Fortunately for the Patriots, they only trail by six points as their defense has put together a solid outing thus far. The secondary hasn't played particularly well, but the front seven has been winning battles up front in the running game, holding willis McGahee to ten carries for 27 yards. That's a positive sign, but keep in mind that McGahee has averaged less than three yards per carry on the season.
The Patriots are certainly still in this football game. They'll get the football to start the second half. But the Patriots needed to get out to a strong start today and they didn't. And now they'll be at risk to lose another winnable football game.