Missing Snead doesn't help, but it's not enough of an excuse. The Patriots offense seems fine without Edelman.

When things are going good, Brees is a genius and makes average players look better. When things are bad, we suddenly cannot live without a receiver who we picked up off the scrapheap. Don't get me wrong, I like Willie as a player. But we can't fall apart all because he isn't playing.

And the whole thing about third down conversions...why does it always have to be third down conversions? Is that what this offense relies on? I just think Payton needs to go. I'm sick of all the malfunctioning issues on offense.

People tend to bring up third downs a lot, but it's such an obvious statement to say that if we struggle on third down, we're going to struggle in general. Of course you have to convert on third down. But is it just third downs? What are we doing on first and second down to set up more manageable third downs?

That's what people miss when they just make blanket statements about needing to convert on third down. We're just not good enough, right now, and that means we're not getting it done on any down.

I'm tired of the malfunctioning as well, Will. We do have some injuries that aren't helping, but this kind of play is not terribly new, regardless.

We are stalling on VERY manageable third downs. 3rd and three, 3rd and four. Those have been automatic in the past and recently it has been Snead that always got open, and more importantly, made the catch. The Saints led the NFL in 3rd down conversion rate last season with 48.64%. So far this season they are in 23rd place with a 34.78% success rate. That is a huge difference.