Notes, musings, and observations from the New England Patriots’ 28-22 defeat to the Los Angeles Rams.
As Week 11 in the NFL draws to a close, we saw a few streaks broken. Buffalo beat Kansas City, which means New England’s record of 21 straight wins remains intact. The Steelers managed to win another game scoring only field goals. But at least the New England Patriots’ streak of not stringing together back-to-back wins since November of 2022 is alive and well.
- Last week I wrote that of the four or five games I had the Patriots winning in 2024, they’d all look like that Bears game. A stifling defense, an efficient offense, and strong special teams play. It was a great team win and the kind of thing you’d really hope they build off of.
- And that leaves the 12 or 13 games they’d lose this year. Of those, I thought that the defense would keep them in it for much of the game, but a young and struggling offense just wouldn’t be able to stay on the field and the opponent would pull away late.
- What seems to be happening instead is that this defense is either getting outmuscled at the line or they can’t seem to find ways to adjust. This Rams team hasn’t been fully healthy all year, and while I don’t think they’re as potent as they came off yesterday, the Patriots certainly did them plenty of favors in their decision not to do any adjusting.
- To be fair, I’ve never coached a single snap of football at any level. Hell, I’ve never even played football at any level unless you want to count playgrounds and backyards – which I don’t, because I don’t think I ever completed a full game without it devolving into some deranged version of Kill the Carrier. So there’s absolutely nothing that qualifies me to sit here this morning and question some of the coaching decisions we all saw yesterday. So perhaps someone with more knowledge and experience than me can speak to the following issues that had me raising my eyebrows:
- The decision to put Gonzo on Demarcus Robinson. Unless Gonzalez is just utterly useless out of the slot and we all have no idea. But as both Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua combined to rack up a combined 230 yards and three touchdowns, I found myself wondering if maybe putting New England’s best cover corner on one of them might prove useful.
- The decision to run what looked like a trick play on 4th and inches, only to have it blown up by a Ja’Lynn Polk false start. A sneak or a pounding run up the middle seemed like a safer play there.
- The decision to punt instead of go for a 54-yard FG attempt, which ended up netting about 17 yards of field position. Not a gimme by any stretch, but given the situational football, a FG attempt seemed like a worthy risk.
- The decision to accept a penalty that gave the Patriots the ball at the 10-yard line instead of the five after a punt as opposed to accepting it before the play and making the Rams re-kick. You figure that virtually any punt result would be better than starting at the 10 there.
- The decision to keep blitzing Matt Stafford despite the fact they never sacked him once and he had a career day against this defense.
- The decision to kick a field goal on 4th down from the two-yard line with seven minutes left to play to make the game 21-13. Sure, they might get stuffed, but you still leave the Rams with 98 yards of field to cover, and taking a risk to make it a four-point game seems like the play there.
- But again, I’m not a coach. I don’t know anything. I’m sure there were plenty of sound, logical reasons for doing all of those things.
- What there’s no sound, logical reason for, however, is denying that Sean McVay coached circles around Jerod Mayo and crew. New England used a lot of zone, which they countered with a lot of pre-snap motion. Then, as the game went on and it became obvious that the Patriots were sticking with their original plan, McVay just let Stafford carve up the D with either Kupp or Puka depending on scheme. It was a classic case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” versus “damn, this thing is broken, maybe it will work this time.”
- We’re into mid-November, so at this point it’s silly to think that the Patriots are going to stop committing pre-snap penalties. And they’re going to come at the worst possible times, negating big plays and killing drives. You expect it in August, you clean it up in September, and you put it behind you in October.
- Though I don’t think I should harp on any team for drawing an Illegal Formation flag. What constitutes a proper formation seems to be even less consistent than what constitutes a catch.
- The worst culprit of Illegal Formationing yesterday was Vederian Lowe, who received two separate warnings about his positioning before he got flagged. However, I don’t want to knock the man today, as he’s currently tied for second on the team in receiving touchdowns.
- The leader so far? None other than Ja’Lynn Polk, with two.
- And yet, in spite of all this nonsense, I’m still feeling pretty good about yesterday’s game, because I once again got to watch the youngest QB in the league make something out of nothing for four straight quarters. I don’t know how often a play he calls ends up going exactly the way it’s supposed to, but even when it doesn’t, he’s finding ways to make it work. Scrambling out of the pocket. Throwing across his body on the run. Checking to quick outs. Tucking and running when he needs to. Throwing into tight windows. He even unveiled a new sidearm throw yesterday. And there has yet to be a single coach or analyst who doesn’t think that Maye is going to be special in this league.
- I’m also loving that Pop Douglas is finally getting the ball in space with the chance to make plays on his own. Unlike – well, pretty much everyone on the defense – he’s finally being utilized to maximize his skillset.
- The only real negative I have for Drake Maye is that he seems to be turning into some bizarro version of Duron Harmon. We all remember Harmon as the guy who made a nice living for himself ending close games with a huge interception. ending every comeback attempt with an interception. I’d like to see Maye get a late-game drive that doesn’t end with a pick.
- Tyquan Thornton has now joined the very mighty company of N’Keal Harry, Chad Jackson, Aaron Dobson, Bethel Johnson, Taylor Price, Josh Boyd, and Brandon Tate in the hallowed halls of Receiver Bustville. Now that he’s out of the way, you kind of have to wonder how long it will be before Polk joins him.
- That leaves Cole Strange and Marcus Jones as the only remaining members of the 2022 Patriots Draft Class. And if you had completely forgotten that Strange was even on the team until just now, believe me when I say you aren’t alone.
- The biggest win yesterday? The return of Christian Barmore, mainly just to see him healthy. Blood clots are no joke, and that he’s back out there at all this year is an amazing sign.
- New England now sits at sixth overall in the 2025 NFL Draft order. The Dolphins are on deck and I have absolutely no idea what to make of them. They’re obviously a much better team with Tua than without him, and if New England couldn’t beat the Fins last time I can’t imagine they’ll fare well down in Miami where even Tommy B struggled to win games. But not much about this season makes sense, so on we go.
I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it here: I’d rather be in New England’s position than pretty much every other team with no shot of making the playoffs this year. They show flashes. They can hang with the big boys. There are players they can build around. And they’re going to be in position to draft well and spend big this offseason. And if they’d just stop shooting themselves in the foot and make some adjustments this season, who knows. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Only six games left. Let’s all try to enjoy them.