Some Observations from Sunday’s loss to Houston:
1) I didn’t have very high expectations for this game with Drake Maye starting his first game, the uncertainty of the Offensive Line, and having to play the Houston Texans. I was pleasantly surprised by the play by Drake Maye. Against the team with the highest percentage of pressure on the QB in the league, starting new inexperienced Center after just 4 days of practice, then losing your best Offensive Lineman in Vederian Lowe, Maye played very well.
2) The turnovers were bad. One was an overthrow by an amped up rookie QB. I expected that type of play. The strip sack fumble was not Maye’s fault. The fumble by Austin Hooper was not Maye’s fault and the tipped pass and incredible helmet catch for another Maye Interception was not his fault. Zach Thomas failed to execute a cut block to bring down the hands of Anderson who blocked the pass. No team wins losing the turnover battle 4-1.
3) Six games into the season and six straight different Offensive Line combinations. Ben Brown started at Center. From my initial reaction, Brown didn’t play badly. The profile on Brown is that he is very familiar with the zone blocking scheme that AVP wants to run. Brown went undrafted in 2023 and spent time with Cincinnati, Seattle and Arizona last year. He was signed to a futures contract and spent training camp with the Raiders. Waived at the cutdown date and then re-signed to their Practice Squad, where the Patriots picked him off.
The big problem is when Vederian Lowe went down with an ankle problem. Unfortunately, Zach Thomas is not a Tackle, and he was beaten like a rug. Demontrey Jacobs wasn’t much better at Right Tackle. They were abused by Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson. Overall, they were awful in the run game and bad in pass protection.
4) Drake Maye was 20 of 33 for 243 yards and three TDs. The announcers were kissing the butt of CJ Stroud. He was good, but his stats were 21 of 33 for 162 yards and 3 TDs and an interception. Maye threw for more yards. Maye gives us hope. He was only pressured on 33% of the plays, well under the numbers that Hoston usually does and less than the rate Brissett faced. They sat back and flooded the field with defenders to rattle the rookie QB.
5) The Patriots Defense really let the team down today. Yes, they had to deal with 4 turnovers, but they also gave up 192 yards rushing with two runs of over 50 yards. The Patriots are not built to come from behind and the Defense needs to keep them in the game. They gave up TDs on the first two drives by Houston and it looked like it was going to be a long day.
6) The Patriots play calling by Alex Van Pelt left a lot to be desired. Here are the numbers for the first 9 possessions:
- 3 and Out
- INT on 2nd down at the Patriots 45
- 4 Plays Punt
- 6 Plays Punt
- 5 Plays Punt
- :48 seconds left in the half and Maye throws a 40 yard dime to Kayshon Boutte in stride.
14 – 7 at the half and Patriots get the ball to start the 2nd half
- Ran the ball on 1st down for 1 yard – strip sack
- 3 Plays Punt
- 1st play Fumble by Hooper
7) Patriots running backs averaged 1.7 yards per carry. Maye was the leading rusher with 38 yards on 5 carries and he looked good doing it when he was flushed out of the backfield.
8) The Patriots were called for 9 penalties for 50 yards. A pass interference penalty to Marte Mapu on the 1st Houston drive was a very questionable call. It’s not that Mapu touched the receiver, but the contact was minimal and even Trent Green the analyst on the broadcast said it shouldn’t have been called. Further, the pass was uncatchable, which should have negated the illegal contact. Ok that establishes the level the Officials will allow.
However, that was not the case. It seems the official only saw red. Their calls were quite biased in favor of Houston. The Texans got away with blatant facemask non-call and Houston went on to score on the next play. Then on the strip sack of Drake Maye, Danielle Hunter leaped at Maye and knocked the ball out of his hand. However, he came down with all his weight on Maye which has always been a penalty of roughing the QB, no call.
9) On the last TD, Stephon Diggs held Jon Jones allowing Dameon Pierce around the edge for a TD. Another play had the Houston DT jumping into the neutral zone before the snap and again no call. He was in the backfield so quickly that he almost took the handoff, and Maye kept it and rushed for a few yards.
Houston’s defense had 4 sacks, 8 QB hits and got 4 turnovers
10) I think we may have found another good young Defensive lineman in Jaquelin Roy. He had 3 tackles and a sack. Davon Godchaux had a great game with 8 tackles. Jahlani Tavai also had 8 tackles. Marte Mapu made his presence felt and got a hand on a potential TD pass and knocked it to Marcus Jones. Jones had a good day punt returning. Officially he had 2 for 16 yards but he also had a 45-yard return called back for holding.
11) Demario Douglas had 6 catches on 9 targets. On the other side Jaylynn Polk dropped 2 passes and was 1 for 4 targets. Kayshon Boutte had another good game with 3 catches on 3 targets for 59 yards and a TD. He caught that long 40-yard pass from Maye in stride as he entered the end zone, a beautiful play. Boutte needs to play more. That’s back-to-back games without a drop or missed connection.
12) Bryce Baringer had a subpar day. He had 6 punts for a 49.8 average and 2 inside the 20. Two of his kicks were over 50 yards including a long of 58 yards.
13) Despite only being able to run for 82 yards the Patriots only lost the Time of Possession by a 1:24! The Texans had those two big chunks plays, and short fields because of turnovers, but they only had 3 more 1st downs. Houston was 4 of 11 on 3rd down. The Patriots were 3 for 13 and 2 for 2 on 4th down.
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Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.
