Trade deadline needs and a beefed-up run game NBC Sports Boston [Video]

Not many folks expected the Patriots to be 1-0 entering their home opener against the Seahawks on Sunday. Even fewer will expect them to emerge 2-0 after Week 2. But there’s some reason for optimism in New England after last week’s upset of the Bengals.

How might the Patriots replicate their Week 1 success this Sunday? We’ll tackle that topic and more in the latest Mailbag…

@BensGotTweets: The Patriots averaged 6.7 offensive linemen and tight ends per play on Sunday. A strategy to obviously help cover up protection issues. Do you see this trend continuing throughout the season?

They’ll continue to operate in that fashion as long as it works. It establishes the kind of tone they want to set as a run-first team. With those looks — especially their 13 personnel packages with two tight ends and an extra offensive lineman — they’re stating their intentions to run, and they showed against the Bengals they could …