Via Henry McKenna
FOX Sports AFC East Writer
The New England Patriots‘offense of complete appearance or order in the previous team’s 20-7 loss Miami Dolphins in Week 1. Not only Mac Jones and Co. only manage one touch down, but they also allow one touch down, with safety Brandon Jones logging a strip sack that’s outside the linebacker Melvin Ingram returns for a scoop and score.
That style of play alone negated the whole of New England’s offensive scoring record.
So there’s a lot of room for improvement in New England. That also applies to defense, which produces nothing of note. The Patriots were missing some crucial, decisive plays that could have played out either way. But the nature of good teams is that they make those games – they don’t miss them. So here are eight Patriots that underperform but have the potential to turn Patriots into winners.
Matt Patricia
It increasingly seems like Patricia is the de facto offensive coordinator, under the close supervision of Bill Belichick and support from quarterback coach Joe Judge. Those three would say it was a team effort, but in the past the Patriots have given one coach more power than others to coordinate the unit – even if they didn’t. coordinator in the job title.
Patricia is calling for plays, so he’s coordinating the offense – to an extent.
So this is where Patricia seems to have let her unit fail in Week 1. Whenever an offensive game plan produces seven points, there’s a problem. We can start there. The weirdest thing is that the device worked great the first time around – until Mac Jones decided to test it out Xavien Howard, who remains one of the best linebackers in the NFL, with a goal in the bottom area. Howard cushions the ball in the air for a ball Jevon Holland interception. That mistake was enough to outperform previous impressive levels. And we will analyze that play more when it comes to Jones, who is also on this list. But I think the Patriots can look at that driveway and feel it’s a great place for them to start in terms of what worked: short passes and area runs.
The Patriots barely used elements of their new outer zone scheme. They barely run play-action. Those are the key elements of the Shanahan plan. Looks like they won’t be using it much – at least not yet. And that was a bit of a surprise. They went through training camp to make it happen, but there wasn’t much progress. So in some ways they’re smart not to use something that doesn’t work. But now they are left to carry out the element of crime which may have collected some rust in the days they drilled the Shanahan element. And Jones, Trent Brown and others definitely look rusty. So it’s questionable whether they’re wasting their time trying to put together new pieces for this offense.
Bill Belichick, The Patriots suffered a crushing defeat to the Dolphins in Week 1
Emmanuel Acho, Joy Taylor, LeSean McCoy discuss Miami Dolphins week 1 win over Bill Belichick and New England Patriots.
And then there’s the question of the use of personnel. Ty Montgomery played poorly compared to his predecessors as a third defender (James White, Shane Vereen, Kevin Faulk). Montgomery charged twice (both on the crucial third drop) and lost two yards. He also has three catches within five yards and one touchdown. It’s fair to wonder if Rhamondre Stevenson could be more effective. And we’ll just see that, because unfortunately for Montgomery, he’s heading for IR.
Then there’s the issue of player Patricia not using…
Bourne really played great in the game. He received two catches and converted one into a 41-yard catch. Considering the offense needs more explosive games – and that’s what Bourne offers in 2021 – it’s easy to wonder why he hasn’t played more.
Why did they wait until the game had six minutes to play Bourne? Especially when Nelson Agholorwho is playing WR3, inefficient?
After the game, Bourne was asked if something had happened to cause him to leave the field.
“Nothing,” he said. “Just not giving the coaches what they want, what they need to see.”
Well, they saw this, didn’t they?
To be fair, Bourne was underwhelming in training camp, with 11 straight days of practice in which he scored one catch or less in team drills. He didn’t earn the featured role for Week 1, partly due to low production and partly as a penalty for not showing up and attending the meeting late, according to the report. But if the Patriots look back at what he did with Jones last season (55 800-yard catches and 5 touchdowns), they’d see he had significantly better chemistry with Jones than he did. Agholor. And while the trading team selected in the third round for DeVante Parker, he caught only one in nine yards. Clearly, Bourne deserves a higher spot on the depth chart.
Yes, he needs to play better in practice. But the Patriots also need to stop playing prisoner at this point and give him significantly more chances in the game. Because he proved, back in 2021, that he deserved them.
Mac Jones
I don’t like the way Jones makes decisions in this game, especially at key moments.
Jones threw at Howard three times, one of which never saw the tally because Howard committed an illegal exposure penalty. Jones targets Howard in the end area, which – as mentioned earlier – leads to an intercept.
Jones then took aim at Howard to hit six yards. And then, in the end, Jones went after Howard at 4 and 1. Howard committed a penalty. Why chase the best corner on the field for 1) a touchdown and 2) a conversion from fourth point down (even if the result is positive)? Yes, the fourth shot resulted in an illegal contact free kick, but the Patriots were lucky to get it. It seemed like a makeover call after Howard kept Parker in the pass breakup in the end area.
Jones also didn’t attack the Dolphins’ inexperienced corners, Keion Crossen and Kader Kohou. They only faced two targets each and allowed one to be captured.
Jones is 2/5 with an interception on passes more than 20 yards from the play-line. He tried just 9 of his 30 passes over the 10-yard line. He needs to push the ball down the pitch more often – but more importantly, attack that part of the pitch with fewer mistakes. (Bourne should help with that.)
“I hope (Bourne) can contribute more, and he will, and his time will come,” Jones said on Monday. “Like I always say, plays will come, don’t chase them. He’ll get his chance and when he does, I believe in him. He’s a great long-distance runner. , a great opponent. He just has to do what he’s doing and continues to see his role grow.”
Trent Brown
He seems to have a part in allowing both sacks of the Patriots. He missed Brandon Jones hitting the ball to the edge in the play that ended with a sixth inning. Untouched, Brandon Jones can freely tee up Mac Jones from the corner. The quarterback clearly didn’t feel or see the incoming sack.
Brown was also close to the man who plunged into the other sack – though it’s unclear if he was to blame. Brown receives Ingram while defense is over Emmanuel Ogbah hastily unblocked up the middle. Crashes are the product of one of two things. Brown was supposed to stop Ogbah and let Igram run again Damien Harrisor Brown did the right thing by blocking Ingram and protecting Strange Cole should have taken on Ogbah. Either way, there was an incident.
It’s hard for Brown when his placement coach, Patricia, has so much else on his plate. It has been difficult for him to sign this season, would have thought he would play on the right but is currently starting on the left. Maybe that’s why he seemed especially resentful when speaking to the media this week. He doesn’t have much to say.
If he helps the offensive team cut those expensive mistakes – because they don’t make many but they are big mistakes – the offense will perform at a higher level.
“We have to get rid of the really bad stuff,” says Jones.
The defense looked like the breakout player of the training camp, with a dominant performance from day to day. However, he disappeared in Week 1, with no stats recorded. You have to go to advanced stats to track his contributions: one pressure, per Pro Football Focus. He played 33 tackles, 55% of all defenses.
That’s not an outstanding performance. He needs to play better and he needs to produce more.
The second round of 2020 selection took place in just 17 seconds. He’s still a situationalist – and he doesn’t even seem like their only option in that role. He and Jahlani Tavai all work in alternate roles. At this time, Uche needs to play a more important role in this defense. Maybe it’s unrealistic to expect him to raise his game even more, now that he’s in the 3rd year of his career. But the Patriots have appreciated their high draft picks in recent years. Uche is hardly a bust. But he hasn’t become the player they need either.
He finished with three pressures, and one of them, Tagovailoa pushed Uche onto his butt. Uche needs to play more and needs to be a playmaker when he’s involved.
The rookie cornerback nearly got intercepted on his NFL debut. Almost. Wow, Tireek Hill very good at catching the ball, even if that involves stealing the ball from a full-back like Jones. In a 50-50 serve in the second half, Hill turned a near-miss Jones intercept into a 26-yard catch.
He only recorded 9 coverage shots but was targeted twice and that was the only catch he allowed. Unlike Mac Jones, Tagovailoa seems to stay away from the moment Jack Jones is on the field. And Tagovailoa pursued the youngster in those moments. That’s the way it goes. But Jones seems like an important member of this spin, to be honest, not too impressed with the Dolphins. If Jones can raise the quality of his play to CB2 level – which I think is very likely with his college drama – then he will succeed.
No play affects the game more Jaylen Waddle’s Wednesday’s 42-yard touchdown at the end of the second quarter. Waddle is separated from the angle of rotation Jalen Mills and win a ball in the middle. Mills allows the first discount. Dugger has allowed touch down. Although he was one of the team’s fiercest tacklers, he came to appreciate this particular playstyle and allowed Waddle to plunge down the field in the encounter, sending Miami up 17-0.
“I think about Kyle’s overall [Dugger] one of our better and stronger hitters. Anyone who plays an NFL game will have a turn they want to go back to or do a little differently. On Monday, Belichick said there were a few things that could have gone better in that play.
For that one play, Dugger is not a safety – he is a liability.
Henry McKenna covers the AFC East for FOX Sports. Prior to that, he spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @McKennAnalysis.
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