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Coming into the 2010-2011 NFL season, the New England Patriots will be looking to prove that they are still a force to be reckoned with in the AFC Conference after ending last season by getting blowout in the first round of the playoffs last season against the Baltimore Ravens 33-14.

Over the last half decade or so, the Patriots have had no problems on the offensive side of the football as they have arguably one of the best quarterbacks in the game today in Tom Brady and a dominant receiving corps with perennial Pro Bowler Randy Moss and Wes Welker leading the way.

The running game has always been questionable and close to nonexistent in New England, but just like the Indianapolis Colts with Peyton Manning under center, the Patriots have had no problem without a solid ground game with Tom Brady as their gunslinger.

The thing that the New England Patriots will be worried about next season is on the defensive side of the football as they have gotten progressively worse with the retirements of Teddy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison and trades sending Mike Vrabel (Kansas City Chiefs) and Richard Seymour (Oakland Raiders) elsewhere.

As if adjusting to life without their veteran defensive players wasn’t hard enough, the Patriots have taken another huge blow to their defense recently when they learned that two-time Super Bowl champion defensive end Ty Warren would be have to sit out for the entire season with a hip injury.

Losing Warren to injury is a devastating injury to say the least as last season the Patriots biggest problem was maintaining leads and stopping the run. This season it appears they will experience more of the same on the defensive side of the football as they no longer have Richard Seymour after trading him to the Oakland Raiders last season and will be replacing Ty Warren with two-time Pro Bowler Derrick Burgess who was considering retirement before Warren went down.

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Needless to say, Tom Brady and company will have their work cut out for them this season as they will have to put a lot of points on the board if their defense can’t contain potent offenses on their schedule this season like the Cincinnati Bengals (Week 1), Baltimore Ravens (Week 6), San Diego Chargers (Week 7), Minnesota Vikings (Week 8), Indianapolis Colts (Week 11) and Green Bay Packers (Week 15).

Even though this season will be tough to say the least for the New England Patriots, head coach Bill Belichick is no stranger to adversity and will take this disadvantage on defense as a challenge that they will embrace and use as motivation.

The one thing the Patriots need to concentrate on moving forward is keeping their team healthy, especially on offense, as they will be in serious trouble if they see a big-name player like Tom Brady, Randy Moss or Wes Welker go down with an injury that keeps them out a considerable amount of time.

Personally, if the Patriots can stay healthy, they will be playoff bound once again in my opinion, but if not they will struggle to compete even in the AFC East division with the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins.