Why are Patriots struggling with once-dependable part of passing game?

FOXBOROUGH — There were no offensive players on Bill Belichick’s conference call with the media on Tuesday, but if they could have heard him, they would have known that a storm was coming.

The coach was asked about the Patriots’ recent ineffectiveness in the screen game, and his response was damning.

“Any plays you're not making yards on, it's hard to get excited about those,” Belichick said. “Our screen game hasn't been as productive as we need it to be. We need to, obviously, coach it better and execute it better. We're not getting enough out of it. It's disappointing.”

Small wonder that a few offensive players begged off the chance to talk about the issue on Tuesday afternoon. “We heard it pretty good (Tuesday) morning,” said one offensive lineman.

To Belichick’s point, as of late, it's been a mess. After years of relative success, currently, the Patriots screen passes have been one of the least impactful offensive options for New England. For as good a collection of offensive skill position players they have on the roster, the Patriots currently rank as one of the worst screen pass teams in the NFL.

“Based on what we're gaining on them,” Belichick added, “(Our opponents) should be happy every time we run one.”

All stats need to be put in some sort of context, and with that in mind, it’s important to note that over the first five games, the screen game was actually pretty good. To that point, the Patriots had completed 14-of-15 screen passes for 91 yards. Not exceptional, but certainly good enough where it was still considered a usable weapon in the New England passing game. The Patriots were 5-for-5 for 57 yards on screen pass attempts in Week 2 against the Saints, a game that included an 18-yard screen pass to Rex Burkhead and a 23-yarder to James White.

But since then, the screen game has fallen off the map. The accuracy is still there (18-for-19), but because a screen pass travels three to four yards max, we’re not necessarily grading for completion percentage. Since Week 5, those 18 passes have gone for just 51 yards. That includes nine completed screen passes the last two weeks against the Raiders and Dolphins … that went for a combined 7 yards.

Overall, according to Pro Football Focus, the Patriots rank in the bottom half of the league in most screen pass categories, including attempts (34, 20th in the NFL), completions: (32, which puts them 16th), yards (142, 26th), touchdowns (none, tied for 23rd) and yards per attempt (4.18, which is good for 29th).

That stands in stark contrast to the screen pass numbers from the 2016 regular season: 65 attempts (seventh), 56 completions (seventh), 366 yards (11th), three touchdowns (tied for third) and 5.63 yards per attempt (19th).

So what happened? Based on a rewatch of every screen pass attempted by the Patriots this season, a few things jump off the page.


One, their timing is off, particularly along the offensive line. Two of the offensive linemen I spoke with this week said that timing plays a major role in being able to execute a successful screen pass attempt. There are several different disparate elements in play when you’re talking about a successful screen pass, and linemen, skill position players and the quarterback all have to work together effectively — moreso than most other offensive plays — for it all to come together.

“Screens are unique,” said left guard Joe Thuney. “A big part of it is getting the timing right. It’s a whole team effort to execute the play successfully.”

“One big thing in the screen game, in general, is just timing,” said right guard Shaq Mason. “I wouldn’t say that’s the biggest part of it, but that’s definitely a big deal.”

Timing is developed through reps, and because the Patriots have leaned on backups at the center and right tackle position the last few weeks. (New England has used four different offensive line combos through 11 games.) Because of that, the level of familiarity along the offensive line could be off. Check out this 18-yarder to Burkhead against the Saints where Mason, David Andrews and Thuney were all out ahead of the play.



Two, a lot of successful screen passes need to be within the context of the offensive game plan. Just like the fact that you can’t run no-huddle all the time, you have to find the right time and take advantage of a potential personnel edge to have an effective screen game.

“Obviously, you're trying to counter teams' aggressiveness,” said offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. “You know, there's a lot of good defensive linemen in this league, a lot of good pass rushers, so if you can create a couple big plays on some screens, it's not going to stop them from rushing, but it may make them think about rushing a little bit more under control at times.”

On Sunday, it looked like a good day to run some screen passes against an overly aggressive Miami front seven, but Miami's Lawrence Timmons and Kiko Alonso had good days diagnosing and disrupting the screen game, as one or both of them were around the ball on multiple screen pass attempts for the Patriots, including this one.



Bottom line? Like anything in football, there are some things that work better against opposing defenses than others. A team with good sideline-to-sideline defenders -- particularly at the linebacker spot -- will be able to match up well against a team looking to throw screen passes.

Three, they haven’t consistently executed some of the basic screen game elements all that well, including getting out ahead of the play, making clean blocks, and engaging in those blocks. That doesn’t just go for the offensive linemen, but for the wide receivers as well. On this screen pass against the Dolphins, wide receiver Brandin Cooks is whistled for two penalties on the same play, negating what would have been a modest gain for the Patriots.



Contrast that with this play from the 2016 preseason opener against the Saints, when Aaron Dobson and Mason deliver perfect blocks to help spring James White for a 56-yard pickup.



This is one area where Julian Edelman is missed. One of the better blocking wide receivers in the league, he’s been known to take pleasure in delivering some crushing hits on opposing defenders over the years … and not just in the screen game.

One thought on this to keep in mind a couple of weeks down the road — the Patriots have historically done a very good job at using Pittsburgh’s defensive aggression against them with reverses, play-action and other fakes. I’m not completely sure how the Steelers have done when it comes to defending screen passes, but if New England sharpens its overall level of execution between now and then, it could be a weapon against Pittsburgh.

“Obviously, we'd like to improve our production in that area of our offense,” said McDaniels. “We've always taken a lot of pride in executing screens well and doing it properly and trying to gain some chunk yardage in those plays. As of late, we haven't done as well as we would like, and we're certainly going to work hard to try to improve that.”

Ultimately, it’s important to remember that the Patriots’ offense is still one of the best in the league. Their 29.5 points per game are third in the NFL, and they feature a stable of backs as good as any in the league. While their screen game struggles haven’t necessarily hindered them over the course of their most recent seven-game win streak, the return of an effective screen game could give Brady and the rest of the offense the sort of ace up their sleeve they could use when they get to the Steelers, and beyond that, the postseason.