New England Patriots

Rodney Harrison on Patriots' drop-kick: 'What the heck are you doing?'

Published Dec. 8, 2015 5:01 p.m. ET

foxsports

Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots made several uncharacteristic mistakes against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. While Tom Brady's two interceptions certainly didn't help, the Patriots' special teams unit was a disaster.

Not only did they have punt blocked for a touchdown, but Darren Sproles returned a punt 83 yards for a score as well. Additionally, Belichick's decision to have Nate Ebner do a surprise drop-kick backfired in a big way, giving the Eagles great field position.

Former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison clearly wasn't a fan of the decision.

“I didn’t agree with it at all,” Harrison said on WEEI, via the Boston Herald. “I was like, ‘What the heck are you doing?’ Why? Why even give them field position. When you have a team coming in and they are low on confidence, even though that is a talented team, they don’t have a lot of confidence. This is a team coming off two devastating losses, getting blown out. They are unsure of themselves. Why would you even give them an opportunity to have good field position, which I think ultimately led to a score.”

As Harrison mentioned, the Eagles went on to score on the ensuing drive, keeping them in the game. The Patriots only lost by seven points, which makes the failed drop-kick even worse. Had they just kicked it deep, the Eagles may not have taken it all the way down and scored a touchdown.