The New England Patriots have been in almost every game that they have played this season, but their record is still 2-4. There are many reasons for that, and the execution of the players is certainly close to the top of that list, but there is another that I believe is even higher. That is the team’s conservative decision making on fourth down.
The Patriots have been almost completely unwilling to go for it on fourth down this year, even when doing so clearly seems to be the correct decision. We are only going to highlight four plays here, though there have been more this season.