My dad and I watched most of the first Pats loss in Foxboro stadium in three years. The last one we watched was a Jets game that Philip and Hattie came to where we were tailgating on a camping stove that we picked-up at EMS on the way to the game. It wasn’t the kind of stove you grill on but instead the kind you put a frying pan over. So we had pan fried sausages on a cold winter’s day and watched the Jets ruin the playoff hopes for the Pats in that one out of four year that not only did the Pats not win the Superbowl but they didn’t even make it to the wildcard. That’s one of the reason why I hate those J-E-T-S fans yelling at Foxboro. One day one of them is going to fall out of the rafters and they’ll never figure out why they jumped.

The loss to the Chargers was reminiscent of the other home loss we watched that 2002 season. It was a loss to, you guessed it, the Chargers. The game was similar with Ladamian Tomlinson running through the Swiss cheese Pats run defense. Tomlinson wasn’t the only running back to do it that year. Edgerrin James, Ricky Williams, Corey Dillon, and Curtis Martin all shredded the run defense. Watching the past two years with the run defense looking like it had clotted and sealed an open wound I thought that bringing the big fat guy (BFG) was the solution to all of these problems with the running game. They basically plugged a hole in the middle with a 350 lb guy who looked like a mountain and then had a strong safety and linebacker contain runs to the outside. The BFG in 2003 was Ted Washington who was then replaced by Vince Wilfork last year when someone else was willing to pay a ton of cash for a BFG after the Pats won the Superbowl. From what we saw yesterday the BFG strategy only works when combined with a big mean guy (BMG) safety like Rodney Harrison who crunches bones when he hits and a little smart guy (LSG) like Tedy Bruschi. So given that the Pats only have one of these three items in their arsenal with Wilfork I wonder what will happen for the rest of the season.

My sunburn from the 80 degree fall day may be my scar marking the end of an era for the Pats but I am hoping that Belichik has something up his sleeve. I also might be jumping too fast to a conclusion about the viability of the Pats because they have a very tough first six weeks followed by an easier schedule for the rest of the season. But I never thought the offense for the Pats was that great the past few years because you could see that the defense was causing turnovers that could be converted into points and holding back the best players on every team they played, like Ladamian Tomlinson. Now with the defense hurting from injuries everywhere they have a ton of work to do. Don’t get me started on the offensive line with Matt Light out!