Column: Patriots find their passing groove in the backfield

NEW ORLEANS — Ten days ago, he was the quarterback who couldn’t shoot straight, and was surrounded by a bunch of players with cement feet.

Suddenly on Sunday, Tom Brady couldn’t miss and had his pick of targets on any given play as New England completed 30 of 39 passes (76.9 percent) for 447 yards and three touchdowns (139.6 rating) in the Patriots’ 36-20 victory over the Saints.

Why the big change?

Yes, the opponent had something to do with it. The Saints were fresh off making Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford look like an MVP candidate. Bradford was 27 of 32 (84.4 percent) with four touchdowns (143.0 rating) against New Orleans in the opener.

The combined line of Brady and Bradford vs. the Saints: 57 of 71 (80.3 percent), 815 yards, 11.5 yards per attempt, seven touchdowns, 147.4 rating. Yes, that’s the worst opening two-game performance as far as completion percentage and passer rating by a defense in modern league history. It’s the second-most when it comes to yards allowed (822, 2010 Texans).

Something stinks in The Big Easy, and it’s not just Bourbon Street at 6 a.m. So I wouldn’t be printing up any, “We’re back bitches!” t-shirts or anything quite yet. We’ll know a lot more about where these beat-up Patriots (the last receiver standing, please turn out the light in the meeting room) are after they play the Texans, Panthers and Buccaneers — three good man-coverage teams — next in successive weeks.

But there was something else that keyed the Patriots: after missing the mark against the Chiefs, they found the identity of the passing game. Ride the backs with a dose of Gronk, and a dash of deep shots.

Against the Saints, Brady was 13 of 14 for 143 yards and one touchdown when he threw to the running backs. Against the Chiefs, Brady threw to them just eight times.

You didn’t have to be a football genius to realize against the Chiefs that the Patriots had a speed advantage against their linebackers with the backs. But for some reason against Kansas City, Brady decided to chuck the ball down the field instead of taking the check down, despite the fact the backs were open. Evidently, Josh McDaniels and Brady saw that on film their opening drive against the Saints went like this:

Pass to RB Rex Burkhead, 4 yards.
Run.
Pass to RB James White, 12 yards.
Pass incomplete to WR Brandin Cooks.
Pass to RB James White, 2 yards.
Pass to TE Rob Gronkowski, 12 yards.
Run.
Run
Pass to RB James White, 10 yards.
Pass to RB Rex Burkhead, 19 yards, touchdown.

https://twitter.com/Patriots/status/909467993909870593

Five targets to the running backs on the first drive. The Patriots threw to the backs a total of four times in the first half against the Chiefs. Think of the opening drive as a mea culpa after the opener. It’s like McDaniels and Brady forgot about the Super Bowl, when White’s 14 catches for 110 yards on 16 targets basically rescued them from defeat.

“I think all offseason, we were trying to put different guys in different positions,” Brady said. “We have a lot of versatile running backs. Dion Lewis, Rex Burkhead, James White, Brandon Bolden, Mike Gillislee … (they catch) the ball well, and all of them are good matchups against linebackers. If we get them, great. And if we don’t then, we will have to do other things.”

The Patriots have four running backs (White, Lewis, Burkhead and Gillislee) who catch the ball well, and they can make a guy miss. They are usually covered by linebackers, and the occasional big safety. That means the backs have a speed advantage in just about any matchup, and the Patriots passed on that in the opener.

The frequency of passes to the backs also signals they now realize that without Julian Edelman and (at least for a time) Danny Amendola, the offense can’t run through the slot receiver. And the next-best option is not their new-found speedy targets in Cooks and Phillip Dorsett, considering Brady’s strength has never been the Don Coryell deep-passing game. The Chiefs game showed everyone that. How can the Patriots produce a reasonable facsimile with what they do have? Get the backs on the edge in a variety of ways and see what happens.

And, then, why you need a big play, look for the Big Fella. Like on their 53-yard improvisational touchdown to make it 13-3.

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/909468751803826176

“He had a crossing route and I was able to hold onto the ball with the great protection,” Brady said. “We sort of made eye contact. I think he saw me just put some air on it and I saw it was open behind him. If he does wheel then the linebacker doesn’t have any vision on me and it worked out just like I was hoping. I let it go, he turned, found it, caught it, and ran. He’s a tough guy to tackle in the open field.

“It was a big play in the game and we need some more plays like that. If a play breaks down, it is not necessarily the first type of the route call. But guys make adjustments, work hard on their routes, sound cover, and find open space. When you make those type of plays like that, it hurts the defense pretty bad.”

So do the little, annoying passes to the backs. They're like death by a thousand 5-foot-9 papercuts.

Running backs and Gronk. That’s the path forward for this Patriots offense. Took a rough opener and a trip South to figure that out, but they found the right formula, no matter the opponent.