Deficiencies on the defensive side of the football were a recurring

theme for the Patriots during the 2017 season.An inconsistent pass rush and inability to get offenses off the field on third down were two areas New England sought to improve in the offseason.Following a 31-20 loss to Jacksonville in which both issues were again prevalent James White Jerseys 2019 , is still some work for the Patriots to do.In last season's AFC championship loss to New England, the Jaguars' offense got conservative late and it contributed to Jacksonville surrendering a 10-point, fourth-quarter lead. The Jaguars stayed aggressive throughout the game in Sunday's rematch, going right at the secondary. Oft-criticized Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles turned in one of the best performances of his career, completing 29 of 45 passes for 377 yards and four touchdowns with only one interception.Jacksonville's offense did a lot of its damage on third down, going 10 for 14 (71 percent). Seven of those conversions came on third downs of 6 or more yards."We need to play better on third down on both sides of the ball," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Monday. "There were times where everything was a problem. Sometimes we had rush and not enough coverage. Sometimes we had good coverage and not enough rush."The Patriots' defense hit Bortles four times but didn't get a sack.New England also may be without two starters next week when it visits Detroit. Defensive end Trey Flowers and safety Patrick Chung both left Sunday's game with concussions and began the week in the NFL's concussion protocol.Aside from their issues up front, the Patriots were also guilty of giving up lots of yards after catches to the Jaguars. Jacksonville's biggest play came in the fourth quarter White Dont’a Hightower Jersey , when Dede Westbrook caught a short pass over the middle from Bortles, picked his way through New England's secondary and rumbled for a 61-yard touchdown .Belichick said issues with tackling and positioning were contributing factors on that play and on others."A couple times they had the ball, they got the ball to guys that are really good with it, but sometimes we lost leverage. A couple times we had contact and didn't finish the tackle," he said. "Just overall we have to do a better job of playing with leverage and tackling and using our help and getting the runner on the ground."Despite the issues against the Jaguars, safety Devin McCourty said nothing happened from a schematic standpoint that can't be corrected in time for the matchup with the Lions."It wasn't like guys weren't playing hard. We just didn't play well enough," he said. "When we watch the film, we will see that guys just didn't play well enough. That's how I felt. We got to get better. We talk about it all the time in the early part of the season in September and October. We just got to get better and stick together."Duron Harmon Dont’a Hightower Jersey 2019 , who would likely move into Chung's starting role if he's unavailable against Detroit, said the defense's focus this week in practice will be clear."We just have to do a better job on third down and getting the offense off the field and everything will take care of itself," he said. The tight end is likely to stay in Minnesota."On Monday, it was reported that the New England Patriots previously were in contact with the Minnesota Vikings about potentially acquiring Kyle Rudolph. The tight end was believed to be on the trade block after contract negotiations between him and the team were reportedly cut off earlier this month. Alas, it now looks like the Patriots acquiring the veteran will not be in the cards anytime soon.According Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Rudolph and the Vikings have resumed talks about a potential new deal: the team has offered the 29-year-old a five-year contract extension. A follow-up report by the Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling, added that Rudolph “sounded optimistic something would get done” between the two parties. This would effectively end any trade speculation.The veteran, of course White Donald Trump Jerseys , would have been an intriguing target for a Patriots team that is facing plenty of questions at the tight end position following the retirement of Rob Gronkowski. With neither him nor 2018 squad members Dwayne Allen and Jacob Hollister a part of the equation anymore, the team is looking at a competition between Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Benjamin Watson, Matt LaCosse, Ryan Izzo, Stephen Anderson and Andrew Beck.However, acquiring Rudolph would have been difficult in the first place. Not because of his value in a potential trade, but due to his contract: Rudolph Donald Trump Jerseys 2019 , in the final year of his deal, is scheduled to make $7.63 million this year. The Patriots, on the other hand, are currently only $5.89 million under the salary cap (according to the Boston Sports Journal’s Miguel Benzan) and would have needed to significantly lower Rudolph’s cap impact for the 2019 season.The idea of bringing Rudolph on board as another piece of the still unclear tight end puzzle would certainly have been enticing from New England’s perspective. Ultimately, however, the financial circumstances made such a scenario difficult to begin with. Yesterday’s news about a long-term extension between Minnesota and the former Pro Bowler being on the horizon now effectively end all speculation.