New England has allowed the highest pressure rate in the league.
When the New England Patriots returned from their three-day weekend, Jerod Mayo sat down with the offensive line group after allowing a season-high 56.5 percent pressure rate.
Upon the meeting featured a picture of a mirror on a slideshow, signaling that it’s up to the coaches and players themselves to improve moving forward.
“It’s a very upfront conversation. I have the relationship and so do the coaches with those guys, where you can be very transparent and open. This isn’t good enough,” Mayo said Monday morning. “Our job as coaches is to put the mirror in front of the players faces, and remind them what it really is. It’s not about your mom, your brother, or cousins telling you it’s not your fault. It’s all of our fault. Once again, it starts with me.”
The issue didn’t just plague the offense Thursday night, as the Patriots have allowed the highest pressure rate (46.4 percent) in the league through three games. It’s often led to Jacoby Brissett ending the majority of snaps on the turf, like on Thursday night when he took double digit hits.
Despite the poor start to the season, Brissett’s confidence in the unit remains.
“It’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s coming,” Brissett said Wednesday. “It’s about going out there — keep battling, keep putting your best foot forward and trusting the process that when it clicks, it clicks.
“My confidence hasn’t changed for the O-line, the plays are going to come, they’re going to settle in. It’s a week-to-week and if we put our best foot forward we’ll be alright.”
Among the changes that will help lead to the end of the tunnel is the group seeing things through the same set of eyes. New England has allowed a league-high 15 unblocked pressures through three weeks as they have beaten themselves too many times.
That showed early against New York, as Mike Onwenu allowed a free rusher through the B gap on their first third-down of the night leading to a quick punt.
“It’s more about reps,” Mayo said. “The protections that we run, a lot of teams run the same protection. What I showed them [Monday] morning, any time you have a free runner through the A or the B gap, it gives the quarterback no chance. We have to be inside-out in all of our protections. If the quarterback can see an edge defender being the free player, then he can make everyone else right, but that hasn’t been the case here.”
Health will also continue to play a factor. The team may get a boost as left guard Sidy Sow returned to the practice field this week as he works his way back from an ankle injury he suffered in the preseason finale.
But, Vederian Lowe and Michael Jordan have spent the week limited with knee injuries, while rookie Caedan Wallace, who could not finish Thursday night’s game with a knee injury of his own, could join them — potentially resulting in waiver claim Demontrey Jacobs earning the start at left tackle on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.