New England Patriots defeat Detroit Lions, 28-21

The alarming part is not that they made mistakes.

The alarming part is that they worked all week to correct those mistakes and then went out and repeated them.

That is what the Patriots have to be thinking this morning, as they reflect on a 28-21 victory over a Detroit Lions team that is, to be kind, pathetic. The Lions are a team that drafted a wide receiver with their first pick three years in a row yet played yesterday with a former quarterback and an ex-safety playi...

It was a messy, lurching 60 minutes of football. No rhythm. No flow. Lots of turnovers, penalty flags, and injury timeouts. The teams combined for three turnovers in a six-play sequence in the middle of the fourth quarter. New England ran off five plays of offense in the entire third period. Against the Lions. If you'd paid $750 for Fred Smerlas's luxury package, you might have questioned the investment.

The Patriots beat the moribund Detroit team, 28-21, yesterday, but...

Safety Artrell Hawkins felt it from the moment he arrived at his Gillette Stadium parking space yesterday.

"Even pulling into the stadium, it seemed like the energy wasn't the same," he said.

Defensive tackle Richard Seymour felt like the team needed a jolt, adding that "there wasn't a lot of emotion all day long."

The lack of energy and emotion showed in the Patriots' uneven performance yesterday against the two-win Detroit Lions. There were 10 penalties, three t...

When the Patriots lined up for their second 2-point conversion attempt of the season yesterday, quarterback Tom Brady was confident.

The Patriots had just closed to 21-19 with 8:35 left in the fourth quarter, and Brady was in the shotgun. Just as the pressure closed in on him, he fired a strike to receiver Troy Brown in a tight spot over the middle.

"That was a big momentum play," Brady said. "If they make that play, I think they go to the sideline still feeling that...