New England Patriots in the Bottom 3 Teams of Pro Football Focus Grading System
The New England Patriots are scheduled to fight against the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 6 on 8:30 p.m. EST at the Gillette Stadium at the Foxborough, Massachusetts. The Patriots have 2-2 on their record while the Bengals have a flawless 3-0.
While the win-loss ratio for the Patriots have equalized, statistics indicate that New England's offense have been pretty bad for the past four games. This could mean the worst season for the Patriots.
The Pro Football Focus grading system started 2007 and every team they've graded to be at the bottom three always finished with an average record of 5-11, a winning percentage of 33-percent.
This time, the three teams at the bottom three are Tampa bay Buccaneers, the Jacksonville Jaguards, and the New England Patriots. While the Patriots have a 2-2 record, they've been given a cumulative offensive grade of -49 through four games. It's the third-worst grade of any team behind the 1-3 Buccaneers and the 0-4 Jaguars.
While any negative marks given by the PFF doesn't always mean a death sentence but with a -49 grade in offense, there's a good chance that the team will struggle in the play-offs if they manage to qualify.
In the past four seasons, teams who've had dominant defenses were able to offset their lack of offensive strengths. Since 2007, only seven teams have won 7 or more games while having a bottom-three PFF offensive grade. The first team to win with a negative offensive grade were the 7-9 Rams in 2010.
In 2011, the Bears were the bottom-three team who had the chance to participate in the play-offs. While they had a terrible offense, they compensated on it with an elite defense who were led by Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman, and Julius Peppers.