Five Patriots Thoughts Following a Disappointing Loss in London
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Some thoughts following a disappointing showing by the New England Patriots in London on Sunday:
1) Drake Maye took another small step forward – The rookie quarterback put together a solid outing on Sunday, finishing the afternoon 26-of-37 (70.3%) for 276-yards with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions.
The rookie got the club off to a fast start, engineering an 11-play, 68 yard drive on their opening drive that was capped off with a touchdown pass from Maye to JaMychal Hasty to give them an early 7-0 lead. He followed that up with another nice possession on the ensuing drive that ended in a 41-yard field goal by Joey Slye to extend things to 10-0.
Maye was much more cool in this game, calmly getting them in and out of the huddle, while showing some tremendous poise. Another thing that stood out came on a first down in the second half. Instead of looking panicked as Maye was forced to his left and was on the verge of being sacked, the rookie alertly flipped the ball at the ground in Hasty’s direction.
Instead of being a sack, the rookie avoided the negative play, which the commentators even noted that it was unusual for a rookie to be that smart in that situation.
That was a key decision, as Maye ended up capping off that drive with a tremendous touchdown strike to Osborn, with the rookie making a terrific throw under pressure to the veteran receiver. However, New England’s 2-point attempt failed after Polk slipped as he broke to his right, and the ball went incomplete. That left the score at 25-16 with just over 8 minutes left to play.
He also had two tremendous throws, one to Hunter Henry on a third-and-8 for 32-yards where the quarterback put it up where only Henry could get it to move the chains. He followed that one up with another great throw up the sideline to Kayshon Boutte, which went for 33 yards and put them deep in Jaguars territory at their 17-yard line.
That possession ended with a fantastic strike to K.J. Osborn for a touchdown, with the rookie showing off his arm on that play.
Maye also made some terrific throws off-platform, with his arm strength absolutely being something that stood out. He’s able to snap it to every portion of the field including the perimeter, which was something that had been seriously lacking with Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe over the last two seasons.
However, it wasn’t all perfect. Maye got a little lucky on a couple of his passes, one of which came early in the third quarter. On that one he targeted Osborn on a sideline throw on third down, with the defender stepping in front of the veteran wideout and nearly coming up with the turnover after it landed in his hands but he couldn’t quite hold on. Maye also got away with another one while targeting Austin Hooper early in the fourth, where a miscommunication between the two was almost picked.
But overall, Maye looked much more in command in his second outing and was absolutely one of the bright spots during Sunday’s game.
2) Godchaux stands out – and not in a good way: After the comments he made early in the season calling out guys for being “selfish,” defensive lineman Davon Godchaux didn’t do himself any favors on Sunday.
While the defense as a whole certainly didn’t play well, watching this one back, the veteran was a player who stood out on film, and it certainly wasn’t due to much from a positive standpoint. Godchaux was blocked out on multiple plays on Sunday, with the veteran not in on the majority of plays during the stretch where Jacksonville reeled off 17 straight runs.
He was stood up and blocked out of the play on multiple snaps, and was essentially a non-factor for much of the second half. For a guy who was calling out his teammates, he absolutely didn’t set an example for anyone on Sunday in London.
3) Tavai also had a tough day: He struggled mightily in coverage and was manhandled by Jacksonville’s offensive line on several plays. He also overpursued or was blocked out of a play far too frequently on Sunday, and he struggled throughout for what was just overall not a great day for the Patriots’ linebacker. He was also part of the group of players responsible for the Jaguars’ 96-yard punt return that ended in a touchdown.
One other not-so-great moment for Tavai came late in the first half where he was called for a neutral zone infraction on the extra point after the Jaguars scored a touchdown to go up 20-10. That saw Jacksonville accept the penalty and instead change their plans to go for – and convert – the two-point conversion.
Jaguars receiver Brian Thomas Jr. got the better of Christian Gonzalez on the two-point play, with Trevor Lawrence hitting him in the back of the end zone as Gonzalez slightly lost his footing as Thomas broke inside, and Gonzalez couldn’t close the gap.
4) Complete breakdown on the punt return: On the punt that Jacksonville returned 96 yards for the touchdown, there were several things about that play that were frustrating. The first happened after the normally reliable Brendan Schooler over-pursued and was blocked out of the play, but Dell Pettus will likely be the guy who will draw a fair amount of ire in the film room. The rookie had wideout Parker Washington dead-to-rights and squared up, but instead, Pettus made a lazy effort and got caught flat-footed, letting Washington beat him to his right, slipping past him. Pettus then didn’t have the speed to pursue Washington, who by then had a full head of steam as he accelerated towards the left sideline.
Tavai was also blocked out, and he didn’t have the angle to make a play. From there, Washington was long gone as Bryce Baringer was the last guy with a chance and while the punter made a nice effort, he couldn’t quite get his hands on Washington to save the 96-yard touchdown return.
Just bad execution on special teams by the Patriots. That sequence gave the Jaguars the momentum at that point up 22-10 just before the end of the half, capping off a 22-0 run in the second quarter for Jacksonville.
5) Another disappointing day for Polk: After declaring himself as a player with “the best hands in the league,” Polk came up empty again on Sunday.
For someone known for his success with contested catches in college, the rookie wasn’t able to make a couple of grabs that he had a chance at. The young wideout had a couple of balls in his hands on Sunday, but wasn’t able to overcome two big shots he took just after coming up with the grab. Both times, Polk couldn’t quite hold on before he hit the ground, one of which came on a third down play that was followed by the Jaguars punt return for a touchdown. He also lost his footing on New England’s missed two-point attempt, which fell incomplete.
While they each would have been tough receptions, it doesn’t change the fact that for someone who seems to lack humility, those are balls that guys who fall into the category he believes he belongs in would have come up with.
The most frustrating part about the rookie wideout is it doesn’t feel like there’s enough accountability and there’s been a surprising amount of finger-pointing on his end. At the same time, head coach Jerod Mayo calling him out in front of the media doesn’t feel like the best decision, as it feels like it’s creating an unnecessary divide between the two. The better decision would be to say little and work things out internally, and that’s something Mayo doesn’t seem to understand considering some of his recent comments.
For now, Polk ended the day 0-for-3, and certainly didn’t make much of a case to quiet his doubters.
Christian Gonzalez had good coverage on Trevor Lawrence’s 58-yard bomb to Brian Thomas Jr. That was a play where he was there and executed his part perfectly after getting his hand and arm fully in to potentially break up the pass. However, Lawrence made an unbelievable throw and put the ball out just in front, and the receiver simply made a great play despite Gonzalez’ effort. That’s a play that Bill Belichick likely would have tipped his cap to Thomas, who simply made a terrific reception. … On the 17-straight runs by the Jaguars’ offense, there were a couple of guys who were noticeable while watching this one back. One play saw Deatrich Wise Jr. get absolutely pancaked by tight end Brenton Strange early in the third quarter during a drive that led to a field goal to put them up 25-10. Jaquelin Roy was also dominated on that drive, with the Jaguars blowing New England off the football throughout that possession. Roy also struggled late in this one, with Eric Johnson also getting blown off the ball by the Jaguars’ offensive line. Roy did have a bright spot, as he was among a couple of players in addition to Raekwon McMillan who ended up being in on the tackle to finally stop Jacksonville on a 4th-and-1 deep in Patriots’ territory to force a turnover on downs. As mentioned above, Davon Godchaux wasn’t one of them, with that play among many where the veteran tackle was completely blocked out of the play. He ended up with a brutal afternoon. … NFL Network is terrible when it comes to replays. Unless there is space to fill, they rarely took a second look at the majority of plays where it would have been nice to see what happened, and it was just an awful telecast. For a game that was nationally televised, they came up unbelievably short on Sunday. Just awful … Marcus Jones whiffed badly on a corner blitz with just over 2-minutes left on a 3rd-and-8, which was frustrating. Jones had a shot at the sack on Lawrence but was out of control coming in and missed him, with Lawrence then able to slip out and get upfield to move the chains. Fortunately, that was the same drive where New England eventually held them on 4th down, so it ended up being a moot point. … Give Drake Maye credit. One area that stood out was the rookie changing up the cadence, catching the Jaguars more than once. Maye’s maturity continues to be something that has been noticeable, which at least gives some hope in a season where every little good moment will be a building block heading into 2025. … Speaking of Maye, watching the faces he made during his press conference was humorous. The rookie’s face and mannerisms – at least at the podium – look at times like the perfect blend of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, with the young QB’s measured responses sounding similar to Brady’s while his facial expressions during a question were similar to Gronk’s. It was something that brought a little humor to an otherwise disappointing day. Still, this kid definitely feels like he has something, and it feels a little silly for those writing him off after just two starts. After a fairly solid showing, here’s to hoping we see him take another step forward next Sunday when the Jets visit Gillette Stadium.
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