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Patriots slide to No. 14 on average in Week 10 power rankings after Packers rout
After a 45-27 home loss to Green Bay, the 5-4 Patriots average 14th in national power rankings, down 3.5 spots, before facing Detroit in Munich.
The national view of the New England Patriots has dropped sharply after Sunday's 45-27 home loss to the Green Bay Packers. SB Nation's weekly roundup of power rankings puts the 5-4 Patriots at an average of 14.0 across 10 major outlets, down 3.5 spots from a week ago. The highest ranking was 11th and the lowest was 16th. Every outlet in the roundup moved New England down, and four of them dropped the team four or five places.
Two problems came up again and again. The first was the defense. The 45 points were the most New England has allowed at Gillette Stadium since the venue opened in 2002, and cornerback Christian Gonzalez had the roughest day of his career. Frank Schwab, who ranked the Patriots 14th for Yahoo Sports, cited Next Gen Stats showing that Gonzalez gave up 105 yards to Matthew Golden and 82 to Christian Watson. Before Sunday he had allowed 196 coverage yards across his first six games combined. Head coach Mike Vrabel didn't make it only about Gonzalez: "When your best players don't play good, you don't have much of a chance in this league," he said, as quoted by Yahoo Sports.
The second problem was Drake Maye's turnovers. He threw three interceptions against Green Bay. According to a Sporting News note collected in the SB Nation roundup, he has thrown two interceptions combined in New England's five wins and nine in its four losses. Fox Sports also pointed out that the Patriots are 2-4 against teams with winning records.
The season numbers explain why the rankers have settled on the middle of the pack. New England has scored 211 points and allowed 207, a margin of only +4 across nine games. The Patriots are 3-1 at home and 2-3 on the road. Their best wins came against the Steelers, 20-3, and at Buffalo, 29-26. Their losses include a 35-6 defeat at Jacksonville and now the Green Bay game. ESPN's Mike Reiss noted that the team is still 3-0 in the AFC East, so the division race is far from settled.
What it means for Munich
Next up are the 6-2 Detroit Lions on Sunday, November 15, at Allianz Arena in Munich. Kickoff is at 9:30 a.m. ET on Fox, and Fox lists Detroit as the designated home team. DAZN notes that the Lions arrive on a four-game winning streak. Yahoo's rankings also credit Detroit's improved defense, which has held four straight opponents to 21 points or fewer.
The markets agree with the rankers. Across the 12 venues on this site's board, Detroit is favored. On Novig, the Lions are -144 on the moneyline and the Patriots are +141. Novig has Detroit favored by 2.5 points at -117, with New England +2.5 at +113. The best Patriots spread number anywhere is +3 at -112 on Pinnacle, half a point better than Novig's line. The total is 50.5 on Novig, while FanDuel has the under at 51.5 (-115), a full point higher. Sportsbook hold ranges from 3.0% to 5.3% on the moneyline. The venues are close to each other, and all of them expect a close game with plenty of scoring.
That high total makes sense for a Patriots defense that just gave up 45 points. Munich will show whether the Green Bay game was a one-off or the start of a longer slide, and whether Maye can protect the ball against a defense that has been playing well.