The Patriots saved Doug Pederson’s bacon for a week, at least. With a chance for a win in London against a team in the throes of starting 1-5, the Patriot defense was sliced and diced by the Jaguars in a devastating 32-16 loss.
The head coach said the team was soft, and he wasn’t overstating there. What constitutes a “tough” football team? According to Bill Belichick, whom Jerod Mayo both played and coached for, toughness is described as running the football, defending the run, and covering kicks.
The Patriots completely swung and missed on all three in the loss. The Jaguars gashed them all game long with the run. Unlike last week, where the Texans gobbled up yardage in a few big runs, the Jaguars dominated the line of scrimmage, chewed them up, and spit them out.
Jacksonville entered the game, averaging about 116 yards per game running the ball. Today, they ran for 171 yards. At one point, they ran the ball 18 consecutive times. The Patriots’ front seven was run over, especially between the tackles.
The Patriots’ running game was virtually non-existent. The running backs gained just 20 yards on 12 carries. Now that it seems like they’re getting the passing game together, the running game disappears. The kicking game allowed a 96-yard punt return. Mayo blamed it partly on Bryce Barringer who sent it 66 yards and outkicked his coverage. 0-3.
“We’re a soft football team across the board,” Mayo said in his post-game presser. “What makes a (tough) football team? That’s being able to run the ball, that’s being able to stop the run, and that’s being able to cover kicks. And we did none of those today. They controlled the ball for most of the day… Back to the drawing board.”
Quick Start Didn’t Last:
The Patriots were harping on getting off to a quick start this week, and they did it, jumping off to a 10-0 lead after two possessions. The offense came out throwing with ten passes against just two runs. Drake Maye was looking very good. More about his start below.
Then inexplicably, the second quarter was the first in reverse, only much, much worse for New England. The Jaguars scored 22 unanswered points in the second quarter between a pair of dominant touchdown drives and the punt return for a touchdown. A third quarter field goal made it 25-10 and they were in another huge hole once again.
A big part of the switch was the play-calling stopped being aggressive in the second quarter. After the field goal made it 10-0, the next three Patriots’ drives began with runs. Those runs were for -1, 1, and -4. That put them behind the sticks, all three drives ended in punts. They had let the Jaguars off the hook and they seemed dead as the Jags began to chew them up offensively.
The Jaguars had a third quarter drive that covered 17 plays and 84 yards before turning the ball over on downs at the Patriots six-yard line. The drive, however, ate up more than eleven minutes of the clock.
Only then the play calling go back to being aggressive. And Maye would lead them down the field for their second touchdown.
Drake Maye’s Second Start Was a Good One:
Maye’s second start was better than the first, with no turnovers (although he nearly had two), and throwing two touchdowns while completing 26-37 for 276 yards, with a passer rating of 109.7.
He had some more highlight throws today, the first touchdown to JaMycal Hasty was a nice play of recognizing the blitz and hitting the hot receiver (Hasty) out of the backfield. He made a really nice deep throw to Kayshon Boutte down the left sideline for 33 yards.
He rocketed his second touchdown up the seam to K.J. Osborn for a 22-yard score. He showed his wheels scrambling for 15 yards and had a broken play scramble where he found Hunter Henry for 12 yards. Henry had a big day with 8 catches for 92 yards.
He also missed some throws. He led Bourne too far on the second drive on third down, which led to Joey Slye’s field goal. He was nearly picked off twice. But of all of the Patriots’ problems right now, Maye is the least of them.
Front Seven Dominated:
The Patriots’ defense has struggled the past month and today was perhaps the worst of the lot because they were facing one of the worst teams in the league. The Jaguars ran for 171 yards on 39 carries (4.2 yards per carry), with the longest run for only 13 yards, unlike a week ago when they gave up huge chunk runs. Tank Bigsby led the way with 118 yards on 26 carries and a touchdown.
Jacksonville was much more physical and owned the line of scrimmage. Trevor Lawrence picked the secondary apart with plenty of time to throw. He completed 15-20 passes for 193 yards (9.7 yards per attempt) with one touchdown and 0 interceptions for a passer rating of 121.5.
The Patriots had zero sacks, zero QB hits, and only two pressures on Lawrence. That is utter dominance on the part of Jacksonville.
Secondary Struggles Continue:
Christian Gonzalez was beaten for a 58-yard deep pass from Lawrence to rookie Brian Thomas, which set up a touchdown. Later Thomas beat Gonzalez for a two-point conversion. On the deep pass, however, it looked like the Jags took a deep shot catching the Patriots in the wrong defense at the wrong time.
But Lawrence, with oodles of time, was able to go through his progressions until one of his receivers got open. Thomas was virtually unrecoverable all day. He was targeted five times and had five catches for 89 yards, with a touchdown and two-point conversion.
Offensive Line Shuffle Continues:
The Patriots offensive line started its seventh starting combo in seven games. Without any continuity, it is impossible for all of the different pieces to mesh in the running game and in pass protection.
Maye was sacked twice and hit three times, and although he was pressured on 33.3 percent of his dropbacks, at least it was trending downward. Unfortunately, while the pass production is going up, the running game has gone down to virtually nothing. The Patriots as a team rushed for 38 yards.
Maye and Rhamondre Stevenson shared the team lead with 18 yards rushing each. That is not winning football and must be fixed asap.
Other Observations:
The Patriots were without WR Demario Douglas for the majority of the game as he was suffering from a stomach ailment where he was vomiting before the game. He played only 17 snaps and was really missed in the passing game.
Ja’Lynn Polk who said earlier that he feels that he has the best hands in the league, struggled again. He had no catches or carries and had three passes go off of his hands. He also slipped on the wet grass during the Patriots’ two-point conversion attempt. The offense needs him to step up.
JaMycal Hasty had two carries for -2 yards in the running game but he was targeted five times in the passing game and had five catches for 49 yards with a touchdown, where he displayed some really nifty moves.
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Look for our positional report card asap.
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A former US Army Special Forces NCO and Officer, Steve has been following the Patriots since their days at Fenway Park. Steve has worked in the film industry and wrote as an Military Editor at SpecialOperations.com, 1945.com as a reporter for the Millbury Daily Voice, Millbury-Sutton Chronicle, and the Grafton News. He's also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA)
