If Bill Belichick dropped the shield that he dons walking into and during every press conference, he'd admit that the way the Patriots are playing offensively right now is not what he's looking for. When Bill - and his hand-picked Director of Player Personnel, Matt Groh - put together this team, they wanted an element of physicality that needed to be more robust.
"You want to get faster," said Groh at his post-draft press conference in 2022. "Just like if you want to get tougher, you'd better get tough guys. You want to get faster; you'd better get fast guys."
If you hadn't heard that clip so often, you could close your eyes and think that's something Bill would say because he has, at various points, in his way. Yet, to start 2023, the Pats haven't been particularly tough physically - in terms of moving people - nor have they shown the speed that threatens the opposition. Yet, through two games, no team in the National Football League has attempted more passes than the Patriots.
"I mean, what do you want to do?" asked Belichick. "Run the ball 50 times. Is that a goal? Alright, well, if you win, that's great. If you don't, then you know... We've won games throwing three passes, and we've won games throwing 50 passes. So, you do what you need to do to win."
Early deficits have heavily influenced some of the pass/run differentials: 16-0 to Philly and 10-0 and 17-3 to Miami. But we know this team doesn't abandon the run philosophically - need I remind you of that sizable deficit they overcame in a Super Bowl win over Atlanta, where even down 28-3, they kept running the ball? They've had to abandon it recently because they can't move anybody.
"We want to be more balanced," said Hunter Henry. "We haven't been able to run the football like we want to. Getting behind, that's on us as an offense, not scoring and kind of playing from a little bit ahead or a close game, and we've kind of been behind and had to push the tempo and had to throw the ball a little bit more."
The Pats are averaging just 3.5 yards per carry (23rd in the league) and 82 yards rushing per game (27th). Their longest run has come courtesy of Mac Jones. Mac Jones! He moves better than he gets credit for, but he isn't Lamar Jackson. Hell, he isn't even Zach Wilson athletically. But here we are, wondering why a team that wants to run the ball can't.
The offensive line has been a significant sticking point since the start of training camp. You could go further back than that and question how they built the group, especially at tackle. Trent Brown in the final year of a contract that left him woefully underpaid to be a left tackle (he signed to be a right) and the Riley Reiff/Calvin Anderson combo platter that was underwhelming even at the time they did it, and in this small sample size, has proven that concern to be correct. You can understand why that part has been hard to overcome between that and the revolving door at three of the five spots.
"People say the game's changing and all that, and there is some truth to that," said David Andrews. "But, like, at the end of the day, a good team is a balanced football team. They can run the ball. They can throw the ball. They can do it in all phases. I think that's a big thing I believe in. It all starts up front, starts with running the football. You run the football, and it opens up a lot of things, whether it's screens, play actions, not having to throw it 50 times. That's a huge part, especially against a good front. You don't want to do that. This (the Jets) is a good front."
When the Pats doubled down on running back Rhamondre Stevenson by adding Ezekiel Elliott to the backfield, you knew precisely what Belichick and company were telling you: We will run the ball. The plan was/is for it to be a big part of their identity. But that identity has yet to be revealed because it's primarily been a fruitless endeavor. On the lion's share of their carries this year, there have yet to be the kind of openings they need to survive and thrive.
"For any run, you gotta get used to who's running it, who's blocking, who they're blocking," said Stevenson. "It's a practice standpoint where you gotta repeat it and get used to it. I feel like there are some areas where you need to get comfortable with everybody on the field. I feel like, for the most part, we're pretty comfortable with each other. We just need to execute it."
That won't be easily accomplished this weekend. The Jets have one of the better fronts in the league and are coming off a poor performance in Dallas. They've been challenged by the coaching staff this week. They see you as a get-right game. As you used to - and probably still do - look at them. But if the Pats end up one-dimensional again Sunday, they're asking for trouble with an offense that has already courted it through two games.
FINDING A QUARTERBACK ISN'T EASY
Boy, the "excellent" quarterback draft of 2021 has been a bit of a dumpster fire. The 2nd overall pick, Zach Wilson, got benched for Mike White a year ago, and now Zach's back in power, but only because the most significant offseason addition in the NFL, Aaron Rodgers, had his Achilles tendon explode.
The third pick, Trey Lance, was a year away from being a year away, and between that - and injuries - flamed out in San Francisco and is already on a second team, traded to Dallas a few weeks ago, where he is now a backup to Dak Prescott. This after losing his job to an exiled Jimmy Garoppolo a year ago and then to Mr. Irrelevant, Brock Purdy.
Then there's the Justin Fields saga in Chicago. The former Ohio State star - who some wanted the Patriots to trade up for - had himself a day on Wednesday. It's the kind of day you hate to see for a young player trying to grow on the job.
The third-year pro has struggled mightily to start the season, and the Bears are 0-2. Fields was sacked four times in the opener and also threw an interception. He tossed two more picks this past Sunday and got sacked six times. So when asked why he's struggling, he dropped this on the media's lap and his bosses.
"You know, could be coaching, I think … they are doing their job when they are giving me what to look at, but at the end of the day, I can't be thinking about that when the game comes," Fields said. "I prepare myself throughout the week, and then when the game comes, it's time to play free at that point – thinking less and playing more."
That caught fire, and Fields had to hold an impromptu press conference at his locker later.
"I'm not blaming anything on the coaches. I'm never going to blame anything on the coaches. I'm never going to blame anything on my teammates. Whatever happens in a game, I will take all the blame. I don't care. If it's a dropped pass, it should have been a pass. Put it on me… I just want to clear that up. Just know I need to play better. That's it, point-blank. That's what it should have been in the first place."
That's how Fields - or anyone quarterback - needs to talk in public, whether he believes it or not. However, the clock - already ticking - may have just been sped up for Fields, second-year head coach Matt Eberlus, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, and the rest of that staff. The Bears play the Chiefs this weekend.
PROBLEMS IN VEGAS
After an excellent opening day win in Denver, Josh McDaniels and the Raiders stayed on the East Coast, practicing at the Greenbriar in West Virginia (the Pats had worked there twice when McD was the team's offensive coordinator) before visiting Buffalo. A little team bonding and an adjustment to the players' body clocks to get on EST and stay there. Great in theory, but Vegas' execution on Sunday was piss poor.
After marching down the field on the opening drive, the Raiders got outscored 38-3 the rest of the way. Jimmy Garoppolo was picked off twice, and Josh Jacobs rushed for minus two yards on nine carries. That's the first time since the NFL's merger that the defending rushing champion finished with negative yardage.
"I thought we created some momentum at the beginning of the game. But momentum is just a word," said McDaniels. "We need to play well and coach well for 60 minutes. We can't just live off the momentum of a drive. We had five decent plays and then didn't play very well the rest of the game."
That stinker is only part of the problem for McDaniels and Vegas. The team had to place one of their biggest free agent signees a year ago, Chandler Jones, on the non-football illness list with what's described as a personal matter.
The former Patriot hasn't been with the Raiders since Labor Day weekend when he took to social media to accuse the team of locking him out of the building and took shots at owner Mark Davis, GM Dave Ziegler, and McDaniels. He added that he didn't want to play for the team anymore, though later said he did but wasn't being allowed. According to Jones, the Raiders had a crisis counselor come to his house, and the NFLPA has attempted to reach him.
This past weekend, there was more from Jones, saying a family friend's daughter was being abused, and the team knew of it. The defensive end later insisted he had been hacked. If you're wondering where his family is in all of this, he reportedly is estranged from them.
Because Jones is on NFI, he can't play for the next four weeks. This is the second year of a three-year, $51-million contract.
"We're just respecting that process and understand the situation, and that's really all I can say about it," said McDaniels Wednesday.
Let's hope Chandler finds the help he needs.
FREE AGENT FOLLY?
As a prerequisite for working at Boston Sports Journal under Bedard, I'm contractually obligated to write about offensive line play, or offensive linemen, at least once a week. Fine. FINE.
Let's put Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor in the spotlight. It's not pretty. Taylor committed a career-high five penalties in Week 2, the most in a single game by one player since 2000. It got so bad Andy Reid yanked him mid-game and mid-drive after a second holding call in the span of three plays. Yikes. This is for a guy who inked an 80-million-dollar deal (spanning four years).
Of course, this shouldn't come as a big surprise. No one in the league has been flagged more since 2019 (44), and it was Taylor's alignment in the season opener that led to all 32 teams receiving a notice from the New York offices, complete with video, that showed Taylor lined up too far off the line of scrimmage. Talk about an ignominious start.
The Chiefs offense is lagging right alongside their big tackle. They've scored just 37 points in the first two games, their lowest total of the Patrick Mahomes era. Their all-world QB has thrown an interception in each game, and that, too, is something that he's never done. Mahomes is having to manage a bunch of pass catchers who - aside from Travis Kelce, who missed the first game - are either inexperienced (Skyy Moore, Kadarius Toney & Rashee Rice), journeymen (Justin Watson), or classic one-trick ponies (Marquez Valdes-Scantling), but until he fails to elevate them, I'll still bet on that dude, and Reid, figuring it out.
NERD NUMBERS
- The Patriots have not started 0-3 since 2000 (first season under Belichick). They finished 5-11 that year, but rookie Tom Brady made one appearance as a backup. That was the start of something.
- The Pats are 1-17 when allowing 25 or more points since 2020.