Given the ineffectiveness of New England’s offensive line, Mac Jones' own lapses in decision-making and the lackluster execution that falls on both the players on the field and the coaches preaching it on the sideline, the Patriots' offense has been facing an uphill climb for most of the last few weeks, if not the entire 2022 season.
And given all those setbacks, it sure doesn’t help that opposing defenses are seemingly starting to recognize New England’s plays before the ball is even snapped.
After New England’s 26-3 win over the Colts on Sunday, MassLive’s Mark Daniels reported that “multiple offensive players” for the Patriots "could be overheard talking about Shaquille Leonard calling out their play calls" in the locker room.
Speaking on Tuesday, Bill Belichick all but confirmed the sentiment shared by his players, noting that Leonard seemed to be a step ahead on a number of plays called by his team — adding that a similar situation played out the previous week against linebacker C.J. Mosely and the New York Jets.
“Yeah, we definitely want to prevent that,” Belichick said. “Yeah, I thought there were two or three plays for sure that Leonard really got a big jump on and stopped us basically on those plays,” Belichick said. “Mosley got a couple of those a couple weeks ago in the Jets game. It almost looked like he heard the play in the huddle, he was on it so fast and Leonard had a couple like that, too.
“Whether that’s something we were giving away or something he anticipated based on whatever the keys were that he might’ve picked up, we certainly want to try to prevent that. I thought Leonard for sure did it and Mosely I thought had a couple plays like that as well.”
New England might have its own issues that it needs to sort out on offense during the bye week, but the Colts routinely snuffed out a number of drives for the Patriots on Sunday by way of some heads-up playmaking — especially on screen passes and outside runs.
In total, the Patriots gained just 203 total yards of offense against the Colts — converting just six of their 17 third-down situations and only averaging 2.5 yards per carry on the ground. Against Mosley and the Jets, the Patriots only gained 288 yards, with New England averaging 3.7 yards per carry and Mosley finishing the afternoon with 13 tackles.
Of course, some of that awareness and production put forth by both Leonard and Mosley could just be the byproduct of some stellar players — with Leonard and Mosley each with four All-Pro honors on their respective resumes.
“That’s what good defensive players do,” Belichick added. “They anticipate things and are able to sometimes get a read on what they think is going to happen. They’re not always right, but they sometimes are and can certainly make you look bad offensively. As an offense, you always want to be balanced and try not to give things away to the point where you don’t have something complimentary that goes with them. That’s kind of the game within the game there.
“Obviously, if a player or team is stopping one thing, if you have something complimentary to go to you can offset that. We certainly had that situation come up as well to where we were able to take advantage of a player thinking he knew what the play was or the defense trying to play a certain play, but not defend another play. You have to kind of strike that balance. Yeah, that’s what it looked like to me, too.”
In what should already be a busy couple of days for Belichick, Matt Patricia and Joe Judge — add masking tells and switching up situational calls to the already long list of things on the docket for New England’s offense during the bye.
Other notes from Belichick’s press conference:
On Rhamondre Stevenson’s efforts to improve his ball security this season:
"We talk about ball security every day. And certainly 'Mondre has taken that to heart. His ball security has become very, very good. And it's not just the balls that come out, it's really all the time. It's how the ball is handled and carried. Whether the player is running in practice, whether he's getting tackled or whether he's in the open field and seemingly no one's around them. But we all know in the National Football League, if you do have the ball, there's gonna be a lot of people after you and they're gonna be coming fast and in a hurry. So ball security is at the utmost, at the top of the list. And he's been a great example of someone who's improved his ball security tremendously. He takes a lot of pride in it. And again, the thing is you see it every time he touches the ball, not just on game day, and not just when somebody's trying to rip it away. But he keeps it very secure all the time. And it's done a really good job of that."
On his impression of the Patriots' rookie class past the halfway point of the regular season:
"I think our rookie class has been attentive. They've tried to, I think, really learn and be coachable and take the information and instruction that they've gotten from their coaches and also from their teammates. Have a long way to go. As you said, we're kind of in around the halfway point of the regular season, when you take a look and pile the preseason and training camp and all that onto it, we're well past that.
“These guys have played a lot of football and they have improved, but of course, the biggest gains are yet to come and there will be more challenges and more difficult challenges going forward than what they've had already. So how good they are or aren't or how well they respond or don't respond — for all rookies in the league, not just our rookies, but of course, everybody's will be a big question mark.
“And it'll be a big question to be answered for each of them individually and their teams of how they perform in the second half of the year. If they hit the proverbial rookie wall or level off, or do they build on the experience and the things that they've learned already this year to grow and become better and contribute more in the latter part of the year? And I think we've seen plenty of examples of both. So we'll see how all that plays out.”