The Patriots were not as bad as the final score indicated. The biggest problem in the loss to the Raiders was the play of Drake Maye.
If you had told me before the game that the Patriots would hold Ashton Jeanty to 2 yards a carry, I would have said the Patriots would have won the game. Milton Williams played 78% of the snaps and had an excellent 76.0 grade from PFF. That was #12 in the league. He was very disruptive with 7 QB pressures. Christian Barmore was even better with a 77.5 PFF grade, good for #11. Khyiris Tonga also graded out well with an 81.1 PFF grade (6). The Patriots’ front 7 played very well, and they stuffed the run, opposite of what I had predicted.
The Offensive line also played well. Will Campbell had a 68.2 PFF grade, good for 19th. That number was better than Joe Alt’s in his 1st game as a Pro last season. Campbell also had two False Start penalties which killed drives. He needs to clean that up. The Patriots also had an insanely high 54 drop-backs in the game. Yes, he gave up a sack (which was Drake Maye’s fault), and 2 pressures. The Drake Maye fumble was not a strip sack. Maye lost the ball as he was bringing his arm back to pass and was never touched. Campbell had the fumble recovery on the play. Garret Bradbury had a clean sheet with a 63 overall grade from PFF, good for 19th amongst Centers.
Harold Landry and the Patriots pass rushers were very good. Landry led the league in Pressure Rate with 27.9%. Overall, the Patriots were 5th in the league in pass rush and 10th in Pressure. Maxx Crosby was not listed in the top 10 for Pressure Rate, which indicated what a good job the O-Line did overall.
If they were not playing against Geno Smith, the top QB in the league last season when pressured, they would have won his game. The difference in the game was the calm, cool, and collective play of Smith versus the sped-up, panicked play of Drake Maye. In the game, there were 30% of the plays where Maye panicked in the pocket and had incompletions or QB scrambles that didn’t need to happen if he had better pocket presence. The Patriots blitzed on 18% of the plays, the highest in the league. Smith made them pay for nearly every one of them.
The Patriots were never able to establish the run game and that killed them. In the second half they ran the ball 3 times. One was a jet sweep by Douglas, followed by a Maye scramble and finally a run by Gibson. Henderson not making a rush attempt in the 2nd half is a crime.
Special teams had a bad day. They were called for two penalties, a missed Field Goal and then an absolutely horrible punt by Barringer of 21 yards, when they needed to pin the Raiders back in their end. That punt was after a 5 yard False Start penalty on Campbell. Vrabel was considering going for it on 4th and 5, but the penalty made it 4th and 10 so he decided to punt.
Two plays stick out to me in the secondary. On the 1st drive of the game, Jaylinn Hawkins misread the play and started to come up, allowing Tre Tucker to get behind him, and Smith hit him on a long 26-yard TD. The second was late in the 4th Quarter, with 3:23 left in the game, and the Patriots had Las Vegas pinned in their own end. On 3rd and 20, Carlton Davis, for some unknown reason, allowed rookie Donte Thornton to get behind him. Thornton is known for one thing and one thing only: going routes that utilize his speed. What was Davis thinking? Not only did Las Vegas get the 1st down, but the Patriots were forced to take a timeout, and the Raiders then ran three more plays, getting the clock down below 2 minutes.
Kayshon Boutte caught 6 of 7 targets and the one he didn’t catch was an uncatchable bad pass from Maye. Boutte was given an 80.7 receiving grade from PFF (7). This, amongst all the WRs in the league, is elite. He had 103 receiving yards for the game. When is the last time we have had a WR with back-to-back 100-yard receiving games? In the last game last season against the Bills’ backups, he had 117 receiving yards.
Comings and Goings
The Patriots are so good they can compete in this league with only 52 players on the roster. They waived CB DJ James, who I thought had a good Training Camp. He played 5 plays on Special Teams as the gunner and on the Punt Return team. Reports are that the team was not satisfied with his performance. They didn’t replace him on the roster. Perhaps CB Corey Ballentine will stay with the 53-man roster. I haven’t seen any transaction that Ballentine and Robinson have been returned to the Practice Squad.
DT Jeremiah Pharms cleared waivers and was re-signed to the Practice Squad.
Miami Signs Cole Strange to 53-Man Roster
With multiple injuries to their Offensive Line, the desperate Dolphins are signing former Patriots 1st Round bust Cole Strange. The Phins signed him off the Browns’ Practice Squad and must keep him on their roster for three weeks. This does not mean that he will be one of the 46 game-day players. That will depend upon how hurt some of these linemen are.
Pittsburgh Signs Jabrill Peppers
We play Pittsburgh next Sunday after the Miami game this week. The Steelers will have the benefit of knowing all our defensive calls courtesy of Peppers. Another good signing by Pittsburgh.
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Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.
