Bill Belichick admits he doesn't have the answer to Patriots' slow starts

BOSTON -- While no football team ever wants to play from behind, there are some offenses better suited to mount comebacks than others. The New England Patriots are not one of those teams.

And so, as the team has fallen behind by double-digits in five of their six games this season, it's become an unavoidable problem plaguing Bill Belichick's team.

On Monday, a day after the Patriots lost to the Raiders after falling behind 10-0 to start the game, Belichick was asked about it. Specifically, Tom E. Curran asked this: "What is it that's happening at the start of games? Are you not prepared? Are the players not executing? Is this a coaching issue? Is this a talent issue? What is the issue?"

Belichick's answer was a mix of "I don't know" and "all of the above."

"Yeah, Tom, if I had the answer to that question, maybe it wouldn't be that way," Belichick replied. "We've tried a number of different things, and we'll keep working on it and just keep working at trying to get better. But you're right, it's been hard to play from behind. That's not the way you want to play in this league or really in any competitive sports that I can think of. And we've gotta do a better job at that. There's no doubt about it. We just have to do a better job. And it's a team thing. It's not a -- it's not one particular thing. But when we get our opportunities early in the game, we just haven't made the most of them. And we have to do a better job of that. So it's coaching, playing, it's all of the above."

Last week, coming off two straight blowout losses, Belichick stressed the need for the team to "start over." This week's game -- a 21-17 loss in which the Patriots at least had a chance to win the game late -- did show some positive progress for Belichick.

"I think we definitely did some things better this week than we did last week or the week before that. But, you know, in the end still not enough," he said. "But we'll keep working, keep grinding."

The grind will only get tougher the next two weeks, as the Patriots welcome the 4-2 Bills to Foxboro next weekend before heading to Miami to face the AFC East-leading Dolphins. The Dolphins lead the league (by a mile) in points per game with 37.2, while the Bills rank third in the league at 28.8 points per game. Winning those games will be difficult even with the Patriots playing their absolute best, so falling behind by two scores early in either game will almost certainly lead to the same results the Patriots have gotten in five of their six games this season.