5 Reasons The New England Patriots Will Improve

1. The Defense

The Patriots pass defense has lived up to the hype (that's saying something given the team's struggles) Chandler Jones is having an amazing year, if his injury isn't too serious he should stay on pace for his best year yet. Darelle Revis hasn't been perfect, but hes been damn good for the defense and is the obvious reason the secondary seems to have taken the next step. If the run defense can be as solid as they were Sunday this will be the best defense the team has had in years.

2. Wide Outs

I'm going to include the Tight Ends in this as well. Brandon LaFell may not be popular amongst Pats fans thus far but he's defiantly improving as the season goes on. If he can have a good year that gives Brady a threat he didn't have last year. Julien Edelman has replaced Wes Welker as the safety valve. If Aaron Dobson could just get it going what a boost that would be to the offense. As for the tight ends Rob Gronkowski is getting better every week and Tim Wright is showing potential. 

3. The Running Game

Steven Ridley and Shane Vereen have proven to be play makers for this offense. Last year Vereen really established himself as a dual threat. This season Ridley has shown he's running with a purpose. Although the Patriots have had good running games under Tom Brady, they haven't been able to depend on the running game since Corey Dillon. If the Oline does its job this running game can be a problem for anyone.

4. Offensive Line

Yes, the O line. As up and down as they've been (I realize I'm being nice saying that) they have shown signs of improvement and Sunday was obviously the best performance yet by far. They'll still go through their growing pains but if this line can continue to develop and stay healthy this offense can be lethal come playoff time.

5. Tom Brady

Hopefully now the over reaction crowd can disappear for awhile. It should be obvious to anyone with an IQ above 1 that this team has more issues then Brady. While he may not be the same guy he was in 2007 Sunday night proved he can still get it done. Once the offense is truly clicking he'll be as difficult to stop as any QB in the league

Brady and Amedola Issues

To this point Danny Amendola's Patriots career has been a disappointment. Injuries have taken their toll, and it seems like his time off the field has ruined any chemistry he and Tom Brady once had. Credit to Ben Violin for pointing these out. As they say a picture says a thousand words. Lets have a look below...

This was a pass play that went to Julien Edelman. As you can see, Amendola is circled above. You can also see that he's wide open for either a huge play or probably a touchdown. 

In this image Brady has Amendola wide open over the middle. Instead he forces it to Rob Gronkowski in double coverage.

Again, has Amendola over the middle but this time goes deep and again incomplete.

Now I understand Brady has a hard time getting on the same page with a receiver after a rough start, but he has to make this work. Amendola is far from perfect but you can see from these images he's getting open. If Brady's favorite receiver really is the open one then he needs to start throwing to it. I can't see Brady letting a personal issue getting in the way of the team's performance, but I don't think he's went blind all of a sudden either.  Seeing these images is pretty frustrating, but if we see it I doubt Bill Belichick will miss it. Hopefully its something that gets straightened out soon.