The Sports Xchange

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England Patriots players returned to work at Gillette Stadium on Monday after four days off during the bye week to relax, recharge and get ready for what will be a 13-game stretch to close out the regular season.

The Patriots return to action on Sunday in Dallas against a Cowboys team that’s without quarterback Tony Romo and wide receiver Dez Bryant, sucking some life out of what originally looked like a matchup between marquee teams from each conference.

It’s actually the first of two road games for the defending champs that don’t appear anywhere near the challenge that they did when the schedule came out last April. While New England is cruising after the first month, a Week 6 trip to Indianapolis now has the struggling Colts trying to stay afloat in the AFC through poor play and an injury to quarterback Andrew Luck.

But even with the Patriots relatively healthy and rolling at the early bye, head coach Bill Belichick did just relax last week. The New England boss made a pair of trades to upgrade his front seven on defense, a group that could get tested in Dallas against what’s considered the best offensive line in the game, even if it’s not supported by the skill players it generally brings to battle.

First, Belichick acquired Bears linebacker Jonathan Bostic for a sixth-round pick to add to a top-heavy but depth-light linebacking corps. Bostic started the better parts of two seasons in Chicago as a second-round pick but fell out of favor in the John Fox era.

Then, New England swapped No. 4 tight end Michael Hoomanawanui for Saints starting defensive tackle and former third-round pick Akiem Hicks. The Patriots’ front has been adjusting to life without Vince Wilfork and first-round pick Malcom Brown has been less than dominant as the unit allowed an average of 4.9 yards a carry over the first three games.

Hicks also fell out of favor in New Orleans, even while the 6-foot-5, 325-pounder started the first three weeks of the season. He did enough to impress Belichick in joint practices with New Orleans this summer for the coach to believe he could help add depth to a New England defense that’s still trying to prove itself a worthy complement to the team’s high-powered offense.

“We’ll see how it goes with him here,” Belichick said of Hicks. “He played some different spots at New Orleans, from anywhere from the center out to the five-technique. So, we’ll see how that goes here. But, big guy, physical player. We got a good look at him down there and thought that he did some good things. So, we’ll just put him into it here and see how it goes.”

And in his trades during the bye week, with the deadline still weeks away, Belichick continued what’s been a trend in recent years of making deals to try to improve his team throughout training camp and the regular season. A 2012 deal with the Buccaneers for then-suspended cornerback Aqib Talib was the best move of the bunch, but Belichick hopes a positive trend of contributors that included linebackers Akeem Ayers and Jonathan Casillas last fall continues in Foxborough with Hicks and Bostic.

“It’s worked out that way,” Belichick said of being a more active trader in recent years. “We felt like we could make some moves that would help us, obviously, and we’ll see how it all turns out. We felt some players that we’ve acquired – all those guys you mentioned – at the time we did it we thought they would be beneficial for us and they’d be productive for us. Some of those guys have, and we’ll see how it goes with this new group.”

New England is already considered a top Super Bowl 50 contender as it looks to defend its title behind one of the best offenses in the game. But Belichick showed during his team’s early bye week that there is no time to be resting on three wins or past successes in New England.

Belichick says far more with his actions than his words. And during the bye he made it clear he felt a need to add some size, versatility and depth to his defensive front.

In the coming weeks, starting with a battle with the Cowboys’ impressive offensive line, we’ll find out if the moves pay off in the way many in the recent past have for Belichick and Co.

REPORT CARD AFTER THREE GAMES

–PASSING OFENSE: A-minus. Through three games, the Patriots put forth the best passing attack in football, helping lead the team to 119 points in those three victories to open the season. QB Tom Brady looks like he’s doing anything but fading at the age of 38, completing 72.2 percent of his passes for 1,112 yards with nine touchdowns and no interceptions for a 119.6 passer rating. He’s led by his usual targets as WR Julian Edelman paces New England with 30 catches for 279 yards and two scores, while All-Pro TE Rob Gronkowski has been healthy and dominant to the tune of 16 catches for 308 yards and four scores. There have also been a couple very pleasant surprises with the Brady-led attack in the form of new passing back Dion Lewis and the efforts of a retooled offensive line that’s played three rookies on the interior. In his first three career NFL starts, Lewis has 15 catches for 179 yards as he’s replaced Shane Vereen more than capably, while undrafted rookie center David Andrews is the only Patriots player to log every snap to date for a group that’s allowed just six sacks in 139 dropbacks. The passing attack is cruising in Foxborough and may only get better with the return of receiver Brandon LaFell (PUP) and center Bryan Stork (IR/DFR) on the horizon.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: B-minus. While the passing game has been its usual productive self, the running attack has been the typical complementary afterthought in New England. The passing back Lewis has led the way with 30 attempts for 146 yards and two scores, the bulk of the damage coming in spread passing sets. LeGarrette Blount sat out the opener with an NFL suspension, but helped run out the Week 3 blowout of the Jaguars and in two games has 20 carries for 82 yards and the three scores against Jacksonville. The top two backs are averaging 4.9 and 4.1 yards per carry, respectively. That’s a decent production as a secondary factor in the offense running behind a young, new-look offensive line that has rotated on every series throughout the first three games. The group gets downgraded a bit for a pair of fumbles from Lewis in the first two games, although only one resulted in a turnover. Questions will always come about whether the Patriots can run the ball if they have to at any point, but so far the group has done a solid job with its chances to tote the rock.

–PASS DEFENSE: D. Despite facing a Steelers offense without arguably its best player (Le’Veon Bell) and two young quarterbacks in Buffalo’s Tyrod Taylor and Jacksonville’s Blake Bortles, New England’s suspect pass defense very much lived up to its dubious expectations. Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler has taken over for departed No. 1 Darrelle Revis and the youngster has taken his lumps, starting with opening night man coverage against Antonio Brown. The story on the other side has been even worse as returner Logan Ryan and veteran newcomers Tarell Brown and Bradley Fletcher have all seen reps and struggled to various degrees. Overall, the group is allowing a 90.1 combined passer rating and 65 percent completions. That’s even with the front notching 13 sacks, although that number is inflated by eight against Taylor in Buffalo in a performance that wasn’t nearly that dominant. The rush hasn’t been consistent enough. The coverage has been too loose. Too many receivers have gotten behind a defense that includes newly-minted $48 million safety Devin McCourty. It was obvious the pass defense was a work in progress when Revis, Brandon Browner and Kyle Arrington left town this offseason. Right now, the group seems to need a lot more work and hasn’t shown all that much progress, with the struggles being covered up by the team’s elite offense.

–RUN DEFENSE: C-minus. The front seven is supposed to be the strength of the New England defense. The unit sports former recent first-round picks Chandler Jones, Dont’a Hightower, Dominique Easley and Malcom Brown, as well as budding star linebacker Jamie Collins. But overall the front has struggled against the pass, as well as the run. New England allowed 4.7 yards per carry on the ground through the first three games, a number that actually came down by more than a full yard after shutting down rookie T.J. Yeldon in the blowout Week 3 win over the Jaguars. With the team admittedly using many nickel packages to help the suspect secondary, the front just couldn’t slow opposing rushers enough, beginning with DeAngelo Williams’ 100-plus yards on opening night. Hightower and Collins have been OK at linebacker, but the rookie Brown has been pushed around too much, while Jones and the rest of the ends have given up the edge too often. Life after Vince Wilfork is off to a tough start up front in New England, as shown by the team’s trade for Saints starting defensive tackle Akiem Hicks during the bye week.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: B. Things in the New England kicking game have been solid if unspectacular. Stephen Gostkowski looks well on his way to another potential All-Pro season hitting all 14 of his extra points (in a league where that’s no longer an automatic) and each of his seven field goals. Fresh off a new contract to make him the highest paid in the game, the kicker also has 18 touchbacks. Ryan Allen hasn’t seen much action; he never punted in Week 3 against the Jaguars, but has a solid 41.6 net on his measly five attempts. New England is allowing just 18.5 yards per kickoff return and only 8.5 on punts, although the team has done very little in the return game itself outside of a Danny Amendola 28-yard punt return. Rookie long snapper Joe Cardona has been very good, while Pro Bowl special teams captain Matthew Slater snuffed out a fake punt against the Jaguars. Joe Judge took over the kicking units from veteran Scott O’Brien this offseason and the group hasn’t missed a beat through an impressive first month of work.

–COACHING: B. There is a lot to like about what the Patriots have done as a coaching staff to open the year, especially on offense and in the kicking game. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has relied on Tom Brady to lead a quick, spread passing attack. Line coach Dave DeGuglielmo has gotten through injuries to returning center Bryan Stork and guard Ryan Wendell by using a rotation at guard and coaching up undrafted rookie David Andrews in the middle. The man they call coach Guge has held it all together remarkably well to allow Brady to do what he does with the play-calling that McDaniels sends in. Things haven’t been as impressive on defense. The new-look unit has been thrown over and run through too often. The nickel packages have struggled against both the pass and the run, regardless of the personnel deployed. The front has seen defensive ends pushed inside to tackle roles and fail to hold up. Head coach Bill Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia are clearly still trying to get a handle on their personnel and find a way to put it all together. So far it’s been good enough to win, but not nearly good enough in general. Belichick has done a good job overall, though the motivation to defend a title and avoid hangover was provided by the offseason Deflategate scandal that’s lit a fire under Brady that burns down through the rest of the team. Maybe the biggest coaching criticism of the first month is how the team handled a large third-quarter lead in Buffalo, choosing to continue to throw out of the shotgun in what Rex Ryan believed was an attempt to “embarrass” the Bills. The approach backfired as a turnover on downs and strip sack turned the potential blowout into a one-score game that New England had to hold on to win. A week later New England used a run-heavy approach in the second half to blow out the Jaguars. Other than that, the Patriots continue to be one of the best coached teams in the game.