One of the biggest storylines as the New England Patriots have gone on to put up a 3-8 record during this 2024 campaign is the number of costly mistakes that have ultimately proven to be too difficult to overcome.
Looking at the number of 2024 Patriots penalties, their totals have been fairly glaring, especially compared to where they ended up in 2023.
Through just 11 weeks this season, the club has a total of 71 penalties, which is about 18 shy of where they finished in 2023 when they closed out the year with 89. However, the number that sticks out badly are their numbers on first and third down, particularly on offense.
The third-down penalty totals as a whole on both sides of the ball are pretty rough. They finished with a total of 20 in 2023, with the club already sitting at 23 through 11 games. Last season, they finished four games without a penalty on third down and only committed multiple penalties in that situation five times.
This season, they’ve yet to make it through a game without drawing a flag on third down, and have been flagged multiple times on third down in all but three games.
That unfortunately certainly explains why they’re at the point they are heading into Week 12, and it’s a problem that certainly remains a point of frustration.
(PHOTO: Peter van den Berg-Imagn Images)
Offense Keeps Shooting Itself in the Foot
So far in 2024, the club has been flagged for 12 offensive penalties on first down, which is just four shy of the 15 they committed on first down for all of last year. That’s often put them in long-yardage situations, which has made things much more difficult on the offense.
But the most frustrating total is the amount of times they’ve been flagged on third down on offense this season. They’ve been flagged 11 times so far in 2024, just three shy of the 14 they finished with in 2023 when that problem also plagued them on offense.
We saw it again on Sunday. With the Patriots leading 7-0 early in the second quarter, the offense was in the middle of a solid drive, which saw Drake Maye overcome a 3rd-and-8 with a terrific throw to Hunter Henry, which went for 17 yards and got the Patriots down to the Rams’ 15-yard line.
That would have put them inside the red zone with a chance to either put one in the end zone, or, at worst, see Joey Slye hit a short field goal.
But they never got that chance because Vederian Lowe was called for an illegal formation penalty. That nullified the play and instead put them back at the Rams 37-yard line.
Instead of points, the Patriots ended up punting and the Rams answered by going 80 yards on 9 plays on the ensuing possession and knotted the score at 7-7.
Against a team like the Rams, getting off to a fast start would have at least put Los Angeles back on its heels and maybe caused them to force things a bit, especially had New England scored twice and potentially gotten Stafford and the offense off the field with a chance to extend it further.
But that penalty nixed any chance of that, and added to what’s already been a frustrating season.
Overall, the offense has been flagged a total of 42 times, seven shy of where they finished in 2023 (49).
Not as Disciplined on Defense This Year
Looking back at last season, the totals are even more concerning on the defensive side of things.
In 2023, the club committed just six third-down penalties on defense for the season, with the majority of issues coming on early downs.
This season, the club has already committed 12 penalties on third-down defensively, which is obviously an issue since those often extend drives and result in points.
That number is also one more than the 11 committed by the offense on third down, and it’s surprising for a group that’s supposed to be its strength.
However, when it comes to total flags, they’ve still committed less than half the total by the offense. New England’s defense has been flagged a total of 24 times, compared to 42 by the offense.
Third down is where they’ve been flagged the most (12), followed by nine times on first down, twice on fourth down, and once on second down.
Their overall total is lower than the 35 they finished with on that side of the ball in 2023, and it feels like they should be able to potentially avoid matching that total. But it doesn’t change the fact that, situationally, they need to be better.
The old mantra, “You can’t win until you learn how not to lose,” certainly fits in this situation, and it remains one of many problems Jerod Mayo and the coaching staff will need to improve on with six games remaining in this 2024 campaign.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
On offense, if a team holisitically switche to a brand new offense (in this case the west coast AVP flavor) and ditch the old over-complicated “Brady” offense you’ll get more penalties just from that. It’s growing pains that would be expected for a season or more. The revolving door on the offensive line and having three guys off the street at key positions at LT, C, and RT is another. To me, penalties are more likely a change growing pain than a coaching issue. And the coaching staff changed a lot. Some of it maybe is something the coaches could… Read more »