During Sunday’s disaster in Miami, it didn’t look like the Patriots defense could catch a cold. Sure they were pretty great on third down, but other times they were a sieve. Since they are giving up 338 yards at home and 402 yards on the road, clearly it’s all part of playing better at home, right?

While that stat gives you a quick glimpse of the Patriots’ defensive woes, it doesn’t tell the full story. If instead of just looking at the location of the game, you pay attention to the surface being played on, you’ll see the real issue.

Solely focusing on whether the Patriots are playing on turf or grass there’s almost a 100 yard difference in yards given up. Regardless of location, the Patriots have given up an average of 372.5 yards per game this season. On turf they have given up 345.8 yards and on grass they’ve given up 432.5 yards.

If you run the numbers only for away games, the yards given up on turf increases to 361.6. Since at home on turf they are giving up 338 yards, that’s not a huge jump.

​Because the offense you are playing may have a huge impact on how many yards you give up, I’ve broken down the grass games below.

Looking at the table you can see that regardless of opponents’ offense against other teams, they seem to be lighting it up when the Patriots come to town.

Since we we all know that wins and losses are based on points scored, I looked at the number of points scored against the Patriots this season. Of their worst 5 games, 4 of them were on grass.

So, whether we look at points given up or yards given up, the Patriots defense appears to have a problem when on grass.

This week the Patriots are heading into Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers. Since Heinz field is grass and there is a warm up and rain predicted for this weekend, the field may play a big factor for the defense.

The Patriots are in Miami this weekend to wrap up the AFC East with 3 games to spare.  By now I'm sure you've heard that they don't play well in Miami, especially in December.  While that is true, if they take care of a few things they will have new t-shirts to wear on the way home under their winter coats. 

The NFL has decided to reach out to the masses for help solving a (make believe) problem.

Yesterday I was looking at the Patriots latest stats pack and realized that since 2000 they have played exactly 300 regular season games. Being that 300 is one of those nice numbers, I pulled out some fun stats to share.

Looking at some Patriots' and Vikings' statistics prior to this weekend's matchup, I ran into some amazing statistics.  The NFL's latest darling, the Kansas City Chiefs, is guilty of both an amazing offensive stat and a pathetic defensive stat.