Taking a closer look via video at three key Patriots sequences from Saturday night's loss to the Colts, which include:
- Offense breakdowns leading to the blocked punt for a TD;
- Mac Jones' two interceptions and the poor team play that led up to them;
- Jonathan Taylor's game-clinching touchdown.
2-6-NE 35 (1:06) R.Stevenson left tackle to NE 32 for -3 yards (K.Moore).
3-9-NE 32 (:26) (Shotgun) M.Jones pass incomplete deep left to J.Meyers.
4-9-NE 32 (:21) J.Bailey punt is BLOCKED by M.Adams, Center-J.Cardona, RECOVERED by IND-E.Speed at NE -8. TOUCHDOWN
So this is a real doozy of a sequence.
On the first play, the Patriots are running a basic counter where Jonnu Smith is the pulling blocker. It's all set up well for the Patriots. The right end, Kwity Paye, would be unblocked and will be kicked out by Smith if he doesn't flow left. Isaiah Wynn and Ted Karras will double team the RDT, Taylor Stallworth, and work up to take out the MLB (likely Karras). Little bit of an issue with Jakobi Meyers having to block Darius Leonard, but that's an issue down the line. The first thing that needs to happen is the double team. And that completely fails when Wynn is beaten easily to the outside. He just flat-out whiffed. That means Smith now has to take Stevenson, no one is blocking Paye, and the play is very challenged at this point. Further compounding his initial error, Wynn, for some reason, thinks it would be a great idea to block the player that is now 4 yards behind him. So he starts back toward the goal-line and essentially tackles Stevenson. This play was FUBAR from the get-go, all thanks to Wynn,
The Patriots have a chance to convert on third down when Meyers beats the corner off the line. Jones makes a decent throw, but Meyers can't come up with it. I did not like the throw on this — it was too flat and tough to catch. Jones got sped up a little, didn't get his legs into the throw and failed to get the proper air under it. Yes, Meyers could have had the pass, but this is not a drop. The throw and catch both could have been better.
Then on the fake punt, Jakob Johnson just missed his block with bad technique. The numbers were fine on that side — Cody Davis wasn't concerned about pressure coming from there — but Johnson just messed up.
2-1-IND 13 (2:00) PENALTY on NE-J.Smith, False Start, 5 yards, enforced at IND 13 - No Play.
2-6-IND 18 (2:00) (Shotgun) B.Bolden left end to IND 15 for 3 yards (A.Sendejo). Timeout #1 by IND at 01:52.
3-3-IND 15 (1:52) M.Jones pass short middle intended for H.Henry INTERCEPTED by D.Leonard at IND 6. D.Leonard to IND 3 for -3 yards (Jak.Johnson).
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1-10-NE 25 (15:00) (Shotgun) R.Stevenson right tackle to NE 27 for 2 yards (B.Okereke, D.Buckner).
2-8-NE 27 (14:30) M.Jones pass short right to J.Meyers to NE 34 for 7 yards (I.Rodgers).
(13:49) (Shotgun) M.Jones pass short right intended for B.Bolden INTERCEPTED by B.Okereke at NE 36. B.Okereke to NE 20 for 16 yards (B.Bolden).
Oh boy, a lot to digest here, starting with Smith falling for the oldest trick in the book — something the Patriots have done for years, especially on FG attempts — and is basically Smith telling us he hasn't been a Patriots for long, without uttering the words.
On the interception, Jones looks left at N'Keal Harry to create room to throw to Hunter Henry coming from the backside, but just fails to see Leonard and the pass really wasn't very good. There was room to fit it in, Jones, again, just failed to put enough air underneath it. Jones has to know where 53 is on every play, especially pass plays that may go to his area. Once he saw Jones there, I would have preferred going backside to Meyers. Asking for trouble going at Leonard.
And then, if you needed an illustration of just how bad the Patriots were for 2.5 quarters the other night, the Patriots couldn't even run the first play of the second half right. Half the team think it's a run, some think it's a pass. Watch Teddy Karras, the pulling guard, on the play. He literally turns the corner and blocks no one, while Stevenson was on his back, waiting to read the block. It appeared like Karras thought it was a pass and he did not want to be illegally downfield. What a cluster.
On the interception, Jones was not good. He does a good job seeing the robber take out Henry, but with more patience, he could have had Meyers in the second window. Instead, he went quickly to his checkdown in Bolden, looked at him, then threw. That gave Ben Okereke time to jump the pass. I also didn't love Bolden's route on the play, it was rounded off. He made his cut to the outside at the 36 and winds up at the 38. That 2-yard bubble gives a defender space to undercut the route.
2-8-IND 33 (2:11) J.Taylor left guard for 67 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
With no Carl Davis due to injury, the Patriots had to put rookie Christian Barmore at RDE with Davon Godchaux at nose. And with Ja'Whaun Bentley injured, Kyle Van Noy was at LB and Jamie Collins was on the edge. Not ideal personnel, but good enough to get the job done.
There are no issues with numbers here. The Patriots have one more player on the strong side, but the weakside is hat on a hat. But if you're the Colts, you're going to run left to the weakside with this count. That's what they do, and the Patriots' call — it appears the line is slanting weak — would be the right one in this situation. But Barmore, it appears, slants left instead of right. That's not a huge deal, he's getting double-teamed anyways, but he gets absolutely caved in. Van Noy comes on a run blitz to fill the A gap, and Dont'a Hightower makes a good read and flows with the play, almost like a scrape over the top of Van Noy. The guys up front do their job. Hightower is unblocked, and Devin McCourty is there to keep the play inside. Hightower just overpursues slightly, and Taylor makes a great read and cutback. It has half Hightower not making the play, and half Taylor just being damn good. Ballgame.