A win over Carolina has done little to relieve the uneasiness of Patriot fans.  While aspects of yesterday’s game showed flashes of potential, most of the game caused fans to continue to shake their heads in disgust.  This team still has too many question marks to make a run in the playoffs anywhere near a certainty.

I’m a bad news first kind of guy, so let’s start there.  Randy Moss.  The man looks totally cashed out.  Between the fumble and thefailure to break up Chris Gamble’s interception he let most of New England down.  Add to it a false stsat penalty and a dropped pass, and most of us are down right frustrated.  After the late arrival to a team meeting on Wednesday that resulted in an unofficial one day team suspension, today’s performance did little to improve Moss’ standing with fans, coaches, and especially Tom Brady.  After the fumble and INT, he rarely looked Moss’  way and honed in on Wes Welker.

The secondary was the other big let down.  With Matt Moore starting (and looking iffy most of the day), I expected a handful of picks.  Instead we were left with James Sanders’ brick hands and an overall performance that didn’t wow me.  Late in the game, they turned it up a few notches with some big hits and solid coverage.  But it still wasn’t enough to quench our need for a dominating performance against an opposing offense.

On to the good news.  Wes Welker.  The man is an animal.  His ten receptions yesterday put him at 105 on the season.  With two missed games!  You’d have to think Marvin Harrison’s 143 receptions in a season would be in jeopardy if Welker had played in weeks 2 and 3.  He continues to get open on a consistent basis, reel the ball in, and then absorb an above average number of hits without losing the ball (are you taking notes Randy?).

The running game.  Laurence Maroney looks born again.  Gone are the days of tapping his toes and dancing like a ballerina.  In its place we have seen a hard nosed running back fighting for every last inch.  He is grinding and earning the tough yards when in the past he ducked out of bounds or dropped like a sack of potatoes.  Kevin Faulk and Sammy Morris also had solid efforts, barring poor fourth down play calling by Belichick.  Hey Bill, the inside hand off to Morris as fullback doesn’t work anymore!

I still have major concerns on the defensive side of the ball, Tom Brady’s health, and Randy Moss’  head.  Things may be a bit brighter in Patriot Nation, but we need more answers before we believe this is a tea, that will do some serious damage in the playoffs.