How can Patriots offense begin to build its game in 2nd half? A stout O-line performance against Jets would be a great start

The Patriots have a daunting undertaking in front of them when it comes to righting the ship of a floundering offense.

And given the various ways in which that unit has regressed across the board, there doesn’t seem to be one easy fix available for Bill Belichick, Matt Patricia and Joe Judge.

Whether it be interception rate (32nd in NFL), red-zone conversion rate (28th) or DVOA (26th), Mac Jones and the Patriots are out of whack in multiple facets of the game — with a banged-up and ineffective offensive line and a predictable scheme that has been called out by opposing defenses further muddying New England’s attempts of stringing together sustained drives.

And while the bye week offered a window for Belichick and Co. to reassess this offense and identity the best practices needed to get Jones and this personnel in sync, such a resurgence is not going to come overnight. 

More than anything, a second-half surge for this offense only becomes tenable if gradual steps are taken to address the various faults sprouting up across the roster. 

“I think it’s constantly trying to find an identity,” Jones said Wednesday. “Every offense is finding that through the year. It’s going to be defined through the year. We’ve gotta work through that. At the end of the day we know what we want to do. We need to score more points and eliminate the turnovers and negative plays. And that’s kinda where we’re at.

“From there we just grow together. Coaches, players, everybody. I feel like we have good effort and energy and all that stuff. So, we’re controlling those things and then the results are going to come here soon.”

The Patriots' offense may not have an identity carved out by the end of its Week 11 matchup against the Jets. But if certain facets of New England’s offensive operation can shore up their respective games against New York, Patriots fans can at least breathe easy for a week — hopeful that this unit is, at long last, heading in the right direction.

And when it comes to areas of the roster in need of a bounce-back performance, it’s hard not to look at New England’s offensive line, especially in wake of their showing down at the Meadowlands back in October. 

Jones has been far from stellar so far this season, and some of the blame for New England’s inefficiency on offense does fall on his shoulders. But he sure hasn’t been helped out by a porous offensive line — and that sentiment has to be shared by a pretty effective running game anchored by Rhamondre Stevenson.

Even with Stevenson routinely bailing out New England’s offense in its last meeting with New York thanks to a few big-yardage plays, New York’s front seven largely had its way with the Patriots in that contest — due in large part to big bodies like Quinnen Williams and Sheldon Rankins (has since gone on IR) putting dents in New England’s O-line. 

Of course, New York’s pass rush made life miserable for Jones throughout that matchup — with Williams, John Franklin-Myers and Carl Lawson all getting to the Patriots QB in a game where he was sacked six total times. And even in the instances where Jones wasn’t brought down, that constant pressure often led to hurried throws that either sailed into no man's land or were snatched out of the air by Jets defenders.

But beyond the pressure that New York brought on Jones, Williams and Rankins' work inside also gave backs like Stevenson very little to work with — with C.J. Mosley feasting (13 tackles) against a Patriots rushing attack that ended the game with just 3.7 yards per carry.

Whether it be getting Jones back on his feet and settling him into a rhythm under center or establishing the run game — the easiest way for New England’s offense to take a step forward on Sunday is for its offensive line to finally push back against the likes of Williams and the Jets’ big bodies up front. 

It’s a task easier said than done, given the personnel matched up against them.

"They've been playing that way for multiple years,” Belichick said of New York’s defense.” They have their way of doing things and they've been very successful with it. They have a lot of good front-seven players, defensive linemen. They've got good linebackers and they do a good job of communicating and getting their things right in the secondary.”

Of course, getting some reinforcements back on the O-line should help the Patriots in the form of David Andrews — who missed the previous two contests due to a concussion. Having a key cog like Andrews back in the middle should help alleviate some of the pressure that the Jets will bring, while also potentially serving as a stabilizing presence next to left guard Cole Strange — who has struggled at times to find his footing in his first season in the NFL ranks.

Of course, a recurring issue for the Patriots when it comes to their O-line woes has involved the play at right tackle — with Isaiah Wynn routinely benched throughout the season after surrendering 16 pressures and four sacks over eight games played.

Yodny Cajuste logged reps at right tackle during Wednesday’s practice at Gillette, with Wynn shifting over to left tackle in place of Trent Brown. Given that Brown was not listed on the Patriots’ latest injury report, it does seem as though LT will be set on Sunday — but either Wynn or Cajuste will need a much stronger showing on the right side against that Jets pressure.

And even though right guard Michael Onwenu — arguably New England’s most consistent contributor on the offensive line this season — could be an option to move over at right tackle if things get dire, Belichick seemed to hint on Wednesday that such a switch won’t be in the cards for the Michigan product. 

“That’s what we’ve tried to do since we drafted him,” Bill Belichick said Wednesday of Onwenu. “We didn’t really ever anticipate playing him at tackle, and then we got into a bind, we put him out there and he played pretty good. But I think he’s built to play guard. He’s comfortable playing guard. He has a really good skill set in there. That’s where we would like to play him, for sure.”

If the Patriots’ offense is going to spring to life down the stretch in 2022, it’s going to need an awful lot to go right after weeks of poor execution and sub-standard play. 

But if Belichick and his staff want to chart out a proper first step for this unit to take ahead of a push for the playoffs, it’s hard to not focus on the O-line as a unit that has a lot more to give.

Because if this grouping up front can’t keep Jones clean in the pocket and buy him more time to make proper reads, whatever hope that New England has of this offense taking off is destined to be grounded for the foreseeable future.