FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- ESPN analyst Tedy Bruschi hosted a New England Patriots chat on ESPNBoston.com at 10:30 a.m. ET, and there were a few obvious themes.
First, Bruschi said that just as many overreacted to last season's Week 4 loss to the Chiefs, no one should fall into the same trap based on two solid season-opening victories.
Second, Bruschi is high on running back Dion Lewis, who has picked up the nickname "Squirty" in the Bruschi household for his knack of squirting through the line of scrimmage.
And finally, Bruschi detailed the three areas in which he thinks the Patriots have to target improvement:
1. Run defense. "This has to be fixed. Because the offense is scoring a lot of points, it has created a situation where opponents get away from the run a bit. In a game that is contested, that could show up. With opponents averaging 5.7 yards per rush, that isn't going to get the job done."
2. Cornerback Bradley Fletcher and the deep ball. "[He] has to get better defending the deep ball. We saw those problems with him last year in Philadelphia, as did the entire secondary with the Eagles. Now that he's shown on film that he can be beat downfield, he will be tested again, especially with Blake Bortles coming to town. It looks like Bortles has a deep threat in Allen Robinson."
3. Offensive line. "The OL is performing admirably, but improvements are necessary with players like Shaq Mason and the other two rookies [David Andrews and Tre' Jackson]. As long as [Tom] Brady keeps getting rid of the ball quickly, it will give them time to grow."