Leftover Patriots Thoughts: A More Efficient Offensive Performance
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Some leftover thoughts coming off of Sunday:
1) The Patriots’ 25-24 loss to the Colts on Sunday is still stinging here in New England, especially considering it was their second-highest scoring performance of the season. It’s just one point shy of their 25-22 win over the Jets over a month ago, which at the time was just their second victory of 2024.
The fact they were able to put up that many points on Sunday, despite their multiple failures down in the red area, is pretty surprising, and it’s certainly a testament to the play of Drake Maye. Maye’s impressive performance was the key reason why the Patriots ended up in a position to win that game, and on paper, that game should have seen the rookie put up much bigger numbers.
Their 2-of-6 performance in the red zone was something Maye lamented after the game was over, but he’s certainly not wrong. Had New England converted one or two more trips, the complexion of that game would have been completely different.
Going back to his first start, Maye went through somewhat of a rough stretch after hitting 2-of-2 with a touchdown in the red zone against Houston. Against Jacksonville, Tennessee, and Chicago, Maye completed just 7-of-15 (46.7%) for 40yds and three touchdowns inside the 20 over that span.
However, against the Rams and Colts (he didn’t have a red zone pass attempt against Miami), Maye completed 9-of-13 (69.2%) with three touchdowns and that unlucky interception to Hunter Henry this past Sunday.
Still, Maye’s making progress, but they obviously just couldn’t quite do enough this weekend.
Jerod Mayo said on Monday on The Greg Hill Show on WEEI that both play selection and execution are two big keys to the club getting better results down in scoring territory.
“Look, to me, it’s everyone,” said Mayo. “We can say play selection, we can say execution. The field gets shorter, as you know, the lower you get down. So now that safety that was in the middle of the field, you were able to take him out of the game, he’s now part of the game, both in the run game and the pass game. And we have to get a hat on a hat and score touchdowns. And we just weren’t able to do that.”
2) The Patriots ended up as one of just three NFL teams on Sunday to score 24 or more points and lose, with the Bengals (a 44-38 loss to Pittsburgh) and Browns (41-32 loss to Denver) among the other unlucky clubs to finish in that group.
That’s just the fifth time the Patriots have reached the 20 point mark and only the fourth time they’ve surpassed it.
Again, flipping a couple of those red zone trips would have helped, and hopefully Maye’s continued growth sees them improve on that.
3) The Patriots might have been 6-of-11 (54.5%) on third down on Sunday, but Maye had one of his best performances in recent weeks on third down.
He completed 4-of-5 (80%) for 33 yards, with each of his completions moving the chains. Contrast that to his previous outings, especially recently, and it’s definitely worth noting:
– at NYJ: 2/3 (66.7%) 7yds (1 First Down)
– vs HOU: 4/11 (36.4%) 56 yds 1 TD, 1 INT (3 First Downs)
– at JAX: 6/9 (66.7%) 98 yds 2 TDs (4 First Downs)
– vs NYJ: 1/3 (33.3%) 11yds (1 First Down [Left due to injury])
– at TEN: 5/8 (62.5%) 52yds 1 TD, 1 INT (2 First Downs)
– at CHI: 4/8 (50%) 58yds (3 First Downs)
– vs LAR: 5/9 (55.6%) 53yds 1 INT (4 First Downs)
– at MIA: 5/9 (55.6%) 46yds (3 First Downs)
– vs IND: 4/5 (80%) 33yds (4 First Downs)
Total Third Down Passing: 36/65 (55.4%) 414yds 4 TDs, 3 INTs
Maye used the word “efficient” to describe the offense, saying, “At the end of the day, I think we were efficient in the passing game, and the guys made plays.” That would certainly be a good word to describe how good he’s been.
Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald probably said it best during an appearance on Toucher & Hardy Monday morning, where after watching film, he feels Maye has already displayed abilities that 10-year veterans often aren’t even able to do.
“I counted five throws on Sunday, rewatching the film yesterday, where he had a completion, for a first down, and the ball is leaving his hand either before or as the receiver is making his break,” said Callahan. “These are anticipatory NFL throws that made a difference yesterday that kept their offense alive. Forget the scrambling, forget the arm talent. Like, this was, ‘I’m going to live within 15 yards of line scrimage, and I’m going to kill you.’ And that’s exactly what they did. He is not only just a natural, not just talented, but he’s growing in ways that some quarterbacks who stick around the league for 10 years don’t make that many types of throws in one game.”
4) Mike Onwenu, Layden Robinson, and Demontrey Jacobs were among the offensive linemen flagged again on Sunday, keeping an unfortunate theme going, and it cost them.
Onwenu’s was a big one that came early in the game, with an an offensive holding call wiping out a touchdown run by Rhamondre Stevenson. Layden Robinson was flagged on the next play, and that sequence saw New England go from 1st-and-goal from the 2-yard line, all the way back to 1st-and-goal from Indianapolis’ 22 yard line.
Maye has been impressive when it’s come to overcoming bad situations in recent weeks, but that one was even too much for him, and the club ultimately had to settle for a field goal.
But Sunday saw the club end a four-game steak of committing an accepted offensive penalty on third down, albeit with a caveat. Vederian Lowe would have kept it going after he was flagged for an offensive holding penalty on the final drive of the first half on a 3rd-and-3, but the penalty was declined after Maye was dropped for a sack and a loss of three yards. So it won’t ultimately show up on the Patriots penalty total.
The Patriots then saw Joey Slye miss a 25-yard field goal, with reports indicating that something happened on the snap that contributed to his miss.
Still, New England did commit a defensive penalty on 3rd down on Sunday (a defensive pass interference call on Alex Austin during the Colts’ game-wnning drive), which extended the Patriots’ streak to 13 weeks (they’ve had one in every game this year) committing a 3rd down penalty, and upped their 3rd-down penalty total overall to 27 on the season.
5) It’s still hard to believe that Anthony Richardson – of all quarterbacks – ended up beating the Patriots on Sunday. Looking at the numbers, it’s just so lopsided.
He completed just 12 passes in a 12-for 24 performance where he ended up with only 109 yards passing but was picked off twice, compared to Drake Maye, who completed 24-of-30 (80%) for 238 yards along with a TD and his unlucky toss to Henry that was picked off. Richardson was also just 1-of-5 (20%) for 7 yards on third down, which was far and away the lowest total for a quarterback New England has faced all season. Maye, meanwhile, completed 4-of-5 on third down with four first downs. New England also rushed for 200 yards, while the Colts put up 144 on the ground.
But where Richardson excelled was in the red area, completing 3-of-4 (75%) with two touchdowns as the Colts went 3-of-4 in the red zone and 3-for-3 with goal-to-go, including that final game-winning TD and 2-point conversion.
Overall the Patriots have had an issue in the red area on defense this season compared to 2023. They’ve allowed a total of 19 red zone passing touchdowns, so far this season, which is a sharp contrast to the 12 they allowed in scoring territory all of last season.
In 2023, just three quarterbacks threw multiple touchdowns against them in the red area, and none of them threw more than two. This season, they’ve already had six quarterbacks throw multiple red zone touchdowns, with four of them throwing three or more.
The secondary in general has struggled keeping receivers out of the end zone. They allowed an overall total of 19 passing touchdowns in 2023. They’ve already given up 22 through 13 weeks, and there are still four games remaining.
Callahan noted that the biggest issue facing the Patriots right now is not being able to execute under pressure, and that creates some tough questions for them heading into these final four weeks.
“What you find out about your team, whether you’re a contender or pretender, whatever the Patriots are, is who you are under pressure,” said Callahan. “Right now, they’re losing these games, even though they’re outgaining the Colts by 200 yards and win the turnover battle because they’re losing in the pressure spots, not just the end of the game drive there, which involves clock management, it involves how prepared you are as a defense, but also in the red zone. This did not come down to a 20-play drive. If you include the two-point conversion, had they gotten one more touchdown, then a field goal, and instead of go 2-for-6 inside the red zone.”
“So, to me, what that says over the course of a season is, ‘Okay, do we have the right coaches?’ Because there are specific coaches in charge of some of the red zone work. Then when it comes to the defense and playing under pressure, what are we doing in practice? What are we doing in meetings that doesn’t have us steeled for those moments? To me, that’s what you can take from this season. What do we need to change, but not one particular game?”
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