Some thoughts following the Patriots 24-21 loss in Buffalo on Sunday:
1) Patriots caught the Bills napping early: The Bills clearly came into this one flat and seemingly didn’t expect much of a fight from the Patriots, especially given the 14-point spread and the wild media predictions made ahead of this one.
Starting fast was clearly a big key on Sunday and New England got going early. It started after Antonio Gibson returned the opening kickoff out to the Patriots’ 42, which set the offense up with terrific field position.
Rhamondre Stevenson drew a pass interference penalty a few plays in, and Drake Maye went for the dagger, throwing a perfect deep ball down the right sideline to Kayshon Boutte. Despite good coverage, Maye lofted the football up and over the defender, with the wideout catching the football in stride as he took it in for a 28-yard touchdown.
Just like that, the Patriots put Buffalo on their heels and it’s exactly what New England needed against a tough Bills club that certainly didn’t appear to expect them to be much of a threat.
It’s not often we’ve been able to see this team force their opponent to play the game on their terms. Needless to say, Credit Alex Van Pelt for allowing the rookie to be aggressive to start off the game. It clearly was the right decision.
2) Offense rallied around Van Pelt: It really felt like the offense was playing this one for Van Pelt. The embattled offensive coordinator has certainly been at the forefront of the criticism in recent weeks, and it absolutely doesn’t feel warranted. When you take into account all the other problems going on, it feels like he’s been the scapegoat for their issues, which is unfortunate.
On Sunday, we saw a much more spirited effort by the offensive line, which was extremely physical in the run game, while Maye also received much better protection than we’ve seen in recent weeks. The overall focus and execution was also better, with the players really dialed in for this one.
My impression when it comes to Van Pelt and Mayo is that a discussion was possibly had about the speed in which they planned on bringing Maye along, as well as also a potential commitment of not putting him in harm’s way physically, even more so given their record.
Instead, Jerod Mayo seemed to have a different plan in mind, with the two obviously not on the same page given his comments following their loss in Arizona. You might even go one step further and say – judging by Robert and Jonathan Kraft’s reactions last weekend – that ownership might not have been aware of it either.
But for now, it felt like the players really wanted to go out there and put up a solid performance this weekend, and it was good to see that play out the way it did.
3) Mayo digging his way out: The challenge Mayo is going to face is the impact his “you said it, I didn’t” quote had in league circles.
For a club trying to re-establish itself, the magnitude of that – despite the fact Mayo walked it back again one day later – was significant. After all, Van Pelt is an experienced coach and also someone who, after he was hired, you couldn’t find a single player or anyone associated with him who didn’t speak highly of him. He’s remained a professional, and he’s quietly improved week after week in his role as offensive coordinator here.
The veteran coach has slowly continued loosening the reigns on the rookie in what felt like a planned evolution. The playcalls, along with the increase in the use of motion, have also grown in the last few weeks.
Unfortunately, Maye did make some rookie mistakes late on Sunday, but it’s obvious that Maye and the rest of the players seem to be in Van Pelt’s corner.
“I think it’s some BS, to be quite honest,” said Maye when asked about the criticism of the coaching staff. “Coach Mayo, those guys, like I said, we’ve got his back, and he’s coached us hard. He wants to win. We all want to win. We’re all frustrated. AVP’s [Alex Van Pelt] been – I feel like – calling great the past weeks. We’re just plays away, and it’s basically me turning the ball over. I think it’s just a testament to these guys that keep fighting.”
This was honestly one of the best all around efforts we’ve seen by the players, miscues aside, that we’ve seen since the first couple of weeks of the season. Kudos to the offense rallying around Van Pelt, and the defense finally looked closer to what we’d hoped it be under Mayo and Demarcus Covington.
Either way, it was good to see them finally look like a team that will hopefully get another shot at redemption when Buffalo visits Gillette Stadium in two weeks.
4) He’s definitely made it tough on himself: Phil Perry’s report that Mayo’s presence will likely impact their ability to potentially bring in another coordinator shouldn’t come as a surprise. It’s hard to imagine any talented coach wanting to come to a place where the dynamic is certainly complicated.
Mayo obviously holds favor with ownership, which would likely put any new coach in a tough spot. How do you bring in someone who will likely be fully aware that when times get tough, the head coach might publicly place blame your way and has ownership in his corner?
Any available candidates, especially ones who aren’t accustomed to any level of dysfunction, likely won’t be interested.
With only two games to go, Mayo is a long way from removing that stigma, and the toughest part about this situation is that it’s going to make these final two weeks critical for a staff that will still likely look a little different after the season.
5) His players need to go down swinging: Ultimately, this is tough because Mayo is someone who, from the time he was named head coach last spring, you definitely wanted him to succeed. The belief – at least at the time – was that the defense would remain a strength, with the offensive side of the ball being the biggest question mark.
Instead, sixteen weeks later, a lot of the answers we’ve gotten certainly haven’t been what we expected. And many of them – unfortunately – have had nothing to do with football.
While publicly, Van Pelt might dismiss the comments, he’s only human. And as we’ve seen, what’s transpired is already becoming something widely known around the league – and not in a good way.
Mayo’s best hope over these next two weeks is to just limit what he says and put the focus back on football. If his team goes down swinging, that will at least quiet some of the chatter heading into the offseason, which will likely be another interesting one.
“These guys have been coming to work every single day, regardless of what the record is, as true professionals, and I appreciate that,” said Mayo following the loss. “Hopefully, at least it’s some wins here in the last couple weeks.”
6) Ball security remains a problem for Stevenson: Getting back to Sunday’s game, Rhamondre Stevenson’s ball security remains a big question mark.
That part is frustrating because Stevenson – ball security aside – was outstanding on Sunday. His turnovers overshadowed his absolutely incredible touchdown run at the start of the second quarter. On the play, Stevenson burst through the center of the line and blew past a diving Dawuane Smoot, with the defensive end unable to get his hands on him as Stevenson shot through the gap.
As he got near the goal line, Stevenson dropped his shoulder and plowed over defensive back Cameron Lewis, and then accelerated past the remaining defenders into the end zone.
It was an impressive individual effort, and that touchdown put New England up 14-0. The play also quieted what had been a fairly rowdy crowd to that point, and it gave New England a significant amount of momentum while leaving Buffalo’s fans in shock for most of that first half.
For a player who is considered to be a foundational piece of this offense, his fumbling issues overshadowed an otherwise decent effort. However, it continues to be an area that he’s going to need to get a better handle on. For a team with such a small margin for error, Sunday was a reminder that moments like that are the reason they’re 3-12.
Unfortunately, whether he likes it or not, Stevenson’s developed a reputation and it’s something that won’t go away until he proves it’s not who he is.
7) Mapu made a big snafu Sunday: The decision by Marte Mapu to try and return his interception on Josh Allen late in the second quarter ended up being a massive error.
The play happened on a 3rd-and-16, with Allen taking a deep shot toward the end zone from near midfield. The ball ended up being underthrown and Mapu made the turnover in the end zone, ending a potential scoring opportunity and seemingly grabbing back the momentum.
However, rather than kneel on it, Mapu tried to run it out of the end zone and was brought down at the one-yard line.
As a result, it was basically the equivalent of a punt by Allen that pinned New England in at the one-yard line.
It was costly, as instead of getting the ball at the 30, the Patriots went on to struggle on that drive, with the offense initially stalling before a fake punt on a direct snap to Dell Pettus from their own 23 helped them try and keep things going.
Unfortunately, it was all for not, as the drive stalled again when they battled to get out to their own 34 and were forced to punt.
Overall, just a bad decision by Mapu, who certainly needs to be a little more situationally aware. He also missed a potential interception late in the first half where the football went through his hands and off his helmet on a ball he should have caught.
That would have given New England the football inside the Bills 40-yard line with a chance to get more points before halftime. Instead, Buffalo burned too much clock for the Patriots to have another shot building on their 14-7 lead heading into the locker room.
8) Maye takes accountability: Drake Maye got some criticism after this one was over, but his words spoke volumes following the contest.
The interception he threw was a tough one, with he and Austin Hooper clearly not on the same page. On the play, Hooper seemed like he was going for the back pylon, and Maye threw it short, and it was easily picked off.
Hooper ended up getting his feet caught and fell down, but Maye’s throw was head-scratching at the time. However, his comments after the contest at least made more sense.
“We had a concept, and it kind of felt like it was going to be the same type of throw against the Colts to Hoop [Austin Hooper],” said Maye. “I let it go early, thinking he’d break it off, and just wasn’t on the same page. I’ve got to give him a chance.”
“I think he was thinking back pylon, so I’ve got to give him a better chance to maybe hold the safety a little bit. So, just frustrating we were down there. I got a chance to go up and make it a 21-17 ball game, and just a frustrating kind of heartbreaker.”
Maye finished Sunday’s contest 22-of-36 (61.1%) for 261 yards, along with two touchdown passes and his interception.
New England’s offense was actually 7-of-12 (58%) on third down on Sunday, with Maye completing 8-of-9 (6 passing first downs) with two touchdowns over that span. The Patriots were also 2-of-3 (67%) in the red zone and put up 379 total yards of offense.
That was overshadowed by the turnovers, and Maye had a tough one after he threw a screen deep in his own end. On the play, Maye was facing pressure, and he threw a quick backwards pass that Stevenson couldn’t quite get a handle on.
That one was tough because the Bills scooped it up and took it in for the touchdown, which put them up 10 and essentially put the game out of reach.
Maye acknowledged after the game he should have probably just gotten back a little further and maybe even just fired it at Stevenson’s feet and lived to play another down.
“Yeah, we’ve been running that play all season, just unfortunate that we didn’t get the end,” said Maye. “The end’s a big dude, and it’s a tough player to cut. So, that’s really just a tough break, and I’ve got to get back and maybe try to make it forward. But tough play on Mondre [Rhamondre Stevenson] to catch it and get blown up. So, I maybe either got to throw it at somebody’s feet or do something different.”
That’s one thing about Maye that we’ve seen since he took over, he’s honest and never makes excuses. More importantly, when you listen to him, there’s never any confusion and he sees everything clearly and there’s logic behind every decision.
Sunday was at least a reminder that the Patriots got the right guy. Maye was unfazed by any of the nonsense and showed a tremendous amount of composure in a place that has given New England fits in recent years.
If nothing else, this feels like it will likely be a fun match-up in the coming years. One also has to think Maye’s going to be looking forward to getting another shot at these guys in two weeks.
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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.
Ian, AVP has a long resume on this league . He’s not inexperienced. As I recall, he didn’t call the plays in his last OC gig. I think he’s done a great job given much of the year they struggled to block, especially on passing plays. People were going to be negative as that’s how Pats nation is….they want their dynasty back and don’t care on the circumstance the coaches had to work with. To me, given Las Vegas had the team over/under 4 wins, and the fact that they won 3 so far but were in 6 more games… Read more »