The latest edition of our Patriots mailbag answers questions about the passing attack, DeMario Douglas, and more.
A short week for the New England Patriots is ready to come to an end as they head to MetLife Stadium for a Thursday night matchup with the New York Jets.
Before the Patriots look to get back into the win column, let’s get into this week’s #PostPulpit mailbag.
Based on your film reviews, what are the main reasons why the Patriots offense has failed to get the ball to its receivers? – rod1776
There’s several issues when it comes to New England’s passing attack through two weeks. Quarterback Jacoby Brissett has totaled just 270 yards and has not completed a pass of 20 yards down the field.
Yet, Brissett still ranks 10th in QBR and 15th in expected points added per drop back in the NFL. He hasn’t been perfect (more on that soon), but has been relatively average as passing is down throughout the entire league to start the new year.
When looking at New England’s passing game, the biggest problem has been pressure. According to Pro Football Focus, the Patriots have allowed the second highest pressure rate in football this season at 44.3 percent. That has limited them from moving the ball at all as Brissett was under pressure on nearly second-half drop back against Seattle, resulting in just 32 passing yards in the second-half.
“In the pass game, I would say there were spurts of clean pockets, but it needs to be more consistent,” Jerod Mayo said Monday. “I would also say, as we got into the second half — I mean, I’m not telling you guys anything you didn’t see – but as it got to the second half, our pass-pro kind of broke down a little bit more.”
The poor protection has left yards and even points on the field, with no better instance that a well-called and executed “Leak” play against Seattle.
With everything flowing to the left, Hunter Henry is able to escape out the backside of the formation for what should be a walk-in touchdown. However, the protection does not hold up and leads to a low throw that Henry must scoop off the turf instead of catching in stride and walking into the end zone.
The other issues from this point of view fall on Brissett. While, again, he’s been average from an efficiency standpoint and deserves credit for his work to extend plays and play turnover free football, there appears to be plays being left on the field due to some timing and anticipation reasons.
When it comes to timing, there seems to be plays where Brissett is holding onto the ball too long. Even when receivers are getting open, Brissett looks to be locked on his first read at times.
That has especially held true in the red area, where New England is just 3-of-8 to open the season. On this 3rd-and-8, Brissett opens to his right to Hunter Henry and Antonio Gibson and hangs on the read despite them being covered and out-bodied.
Meanwhile, back to his left, a passing lane is there to Austin Hooper up the seam for a potential touchdown. Brissett instead escapes the pocket and fires an incompletion.
Anticipation throws have also been rare from Brissett when receivers are open, which raises the question as to how much trust the quarterback has in this receiver core? No play highlighted that more than the third-down sack late in the fourth quarter.
Brissett has K.J. Osborn and DeMario Douglas both running out routes to his left. An anticipation throw to Douglas at the top of Brissett’s drop should results in a first-down. He also could have stuck on Osborn and trusted that the veteran gets open, which he eventually does.
Brissett instead holds the ball and pressure off the right side results in a sack. The rest is history.
Long story short, there’s many factors that are currently plaguing this Patriots’ passing attack. While the team has made it clear they want to push the ball downfield, some schematic changes to operating more of the quick game should also help the entire offense look better in the short term.
Beyond continuing to rely on the run game, that could be the path this Thursday night against a tough Jets secondary.
We heard all summer that the run game’s purpose was to set up play-action, yet we’ve seen almost no play-action. Any idea why? Seems like that’s the only way this team will get the ball downfield. – ed.liebfried
Pressure is again an issue with the play-action game as Brissett is not being given ample time to try and push the ball down field off their run fakes.
The other issue they’ve run into is again a league-wide problem as passing is down throughout the entire league. Team’s are playing more two deep safeties in order to limit explosive plays — something Seattle did on Sunday.
The New England problem, however, may be that they’re also tipping off when these downfield shot plays are coming, something Brissett mentioned after last week’s game. If there is a tell, the coaching staff must figure that out immediately.
I’m onboard with sitting Maye for development reasons, but given JB’s sparse passing yards and the milliseconds he’s afforded in the pocket, wouldn’t Maye be better suited to buying time in the pocket with his legs? – TricornTrauma
Maye is a great athlete for his size, but I don’t know how much better he could be in this area that what Brissett has shown. Brissett has been awesome through two weeks working in the pocket and evading pressure — and even making plays off script after that.
So far this season, Brissett has taken just four sacks despite New England allowing the second highest pressure rate in the league — leading to the QB boasting the eighth best pressure-to-sack rate.
The one area you could argue Maye would make a difference is with his aggression in the passing attack. As touched on above, there are several plays per game where Brissett seems hesitant to test tight windows — likely due to him not wanting to turn the ball over in close games and perhaps for his job security.
But, Maye is an aggressive passer with more arm strength who can attack these tight windows, such as the Hooper seam play we touched on. Plus, Maye was money in the red area throughout the summer and seemed to make more anticipatory throws. If there’s a case to play Maye, that would be my main argument.
Is Demario Douglas’ ceiling just a little lower than his preseason hype might have indicated? Does he have the route running ability to get himself open or does he need plays designed specifically for him to get the ball in his hands? – ghosthaus
Pop Douglas said it himself: check the film and you’ll see him getting open.
Pop is right to be upset pic.twitter.com/LDrlZJG4uM
— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) September 16, 2024
To sound like a broken record, the pressure is again playing a factor in Douglas not getting the ball when he’s open. But, his limited involvement through two weeks comes down to two other things in my mind.
First off, Douglas is playing just 58 percent of the snaps through two weeks largely to him playing just 2-of-20 snaps in 12 personnel. Due to his size, the coaching staff prefers players like K.J. Osborn and Ja’Lynn Polk on the field in running situations.
Secondly, I wonder where the trust level is between Brissett and Douglas. Going back to training camp, Brissett mentioned multiple times how he was having to adjust to throw to a shorter receiver. Brissett has never been the most accurate QB to begin with and perhaps trusts himself more throwing to the bigger targets.
Either way, there is zero excuses for Douglas having zero targets in a game. He’s their best receiver and made the offense noticeably better during training camp. The use of more quick game should lead to more Douglas, while Van Pelt should at least be building in schemed touches into the game-plan for the receiver as well.
Why no passes ro Gibson? He’s averaged 40+/yr the last 4 seasons. Wouldn’t that help alleviate some of the defensive pressure? And also open things up a bit? Really surprised by this as he’s got the talent to help in this area. – BostonStrong305
This is another addition to the passing attack I would like to see. Whether it’s in the screen game (which should see an overall uptick in usage) or elsewhere, Gibson has the skillset to make an impact as a pass catcher.
Getting Gibson involved more will also be helpful in limiting Rhamondre Stevenson’s workload. While Stevenson has been excellent, he’s on pace for a league leading 433.5 touches. Last year’s league leader, Christian McCaffrey, tallied 339 touches. No player has recording more than Stevenson’s projected total since DeMarco Murray in 2014 (449). Before that, you have to go all the way back to Larry Johnson in 2006 (457).
Again, Stevenson has been awesome and clearly is set to play a huge role in this offense. But, this workload does not seem sustainable in a 17 game season. In a short week, Gibson should see more involvement.
Do you think they will stop playing musical chairs with the OLine anytime soon & just put each starter where he’s at his absolute best & just work on the areas that are weakest till they maybe luck into that guy where he’s at least somewhat slowing the hemorrhaging that’s currently happening? I mean it just looks like they keep trying to smash a square peg into a round hole & instead of moving pieces to where they will fit, they just try to use a bigger hammer!! – KissBillsRings
The Patriots offensive line enters Thursday’s game seriously banged up, which could be a blessing in disguise. With Vederian Lowe ruled out, rookie Caedan Wallace should draw the start at left tackle. New England has trusted Wallace as a run blocker — using him as their muscle tight end — but his usage suggests they feel differently about his pass blocking ability.
With injuries taking over, they now don’t have a chance but to see Wallace man the blindside in live action. If he impresses, that could lead to him taking over one of the starting tackle positions.
From this point of view, Wallace playing well enough to earn the starting right tackle spot and allowing Mike Onwenu, who struggled against Seattle in pass protection, to move back inside to guard would be the best case scenario. A healthy Vederian Lowe can then return to left tackle with Sidy Sow and Layden Robinson battling it out for left guard duties.
With the OLine still having issues, what is Cole Strange’s status? – 1stStateSoxFan
No timeline for Strange yet as he continues to work back from the torn patellar tendon he suffered last December. He has been spotted on the conditioning field during practice of late, but still seems ways away.
They were awarded 4 guys on waivers. None of them has played a down on offense or defense. Two of them, D Jacobs and Z Thomas, can play OT. Neither was great last year but both played well in this preseason. Why do none of these guys play, especially the OLinemen? Why were they even claimed? – BobbyBodacious
As I recall, the Patriots signed four players after the roster cutdown to 53. Do you have any info about how those guys have looked in practice? Does it look like they’ll get any playing time anytime soon? Thanks. – SouthboundEventually
There is not much of an update here, except that Zach Thomas is playing guard. While has 35 snaps of experience at left tackle from last season, he’s been an interior player in New England.
They may need to start relying on some of these claims, however. With Vederian Lowe now out, Demontrey Jacobs may be active for the first time this season as the team’s third tackle. The loss of Ja’Whaun Bentley could also lead to a small role for Curtis Jacobs.
That’s all for this week’s #PostPulpit mailbag. If you have questions you’d liked to be answered next week, submit them online in our weekly submission post or on Twitter using #PostPulpit. Make sure to be following @iambrianhines and @PatsPulpit as well.