NOTE: Due to issues with getting the game film this week, Bedard's Breakdown has been significantly delayed. Look for offense tonight, defense on Wednesday.
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For the second straight week, Mac Jones didn't attempt a throw beyond 20+ yards down the field. The Patriots survived and even thrived somewhat against the Bills, scoring a season-high 29 points. But employing a similar approach versus the Dolphins Sunday, the Pats' offense reverted back to prior weeks form, sputtering for most of the afternoon and finishing with just 17 points, which doesn't win you many games - unless you're playing the Pats this season.
This certainly isn't what Bill O'Brien expected when he returned to Foxborough as the offensive coordinator this winter. Difficult doesn't even begin to describe it. If I've written it once, I've written it a dozen times; nothing comes easy for this unit. The windows Tua Tagovailoa was throwing into against your defense - a good defense - were consistently sizable. In contrast, the Pats must have everything in concert just to convert a throw at the sticks. That's no way to live and certainly no way to find consistent success.
"We called and tried to execute a number of plays last week that had levels to, you know, a shot down the field and intermediate and then a shallow element to it," said O'Brien Tuesday. "Look, at the end of the day, we didn't make many of those plays. And so, to be really clear, it's like Bill (Belichick) said after the game - we have to coach it better, we got to detail it up better, maybe we got to have some better plays, and then the players have to execute it better. We all have to do better."
O'Brien has embraced significantly more motion in recent weeks, and that's good. In fact, it played a role in both of their touchdowns. Progress. There's also been a fair amount of play action and throws on first downs. Again, these are needed elements in any modern offense and essential for one that has Mac Jones playing quarterback. He struggled on tight-window throws in Miami, completing just two by my count.
"I mean, really, it's just the way it is," said O'Brien on everyone needing to be accountable for the failures. "I say this every week, but there's such a small margin for error in the National Football League, and it comes down to five or six plays in each phase of the game. And if you don't make them, you're not going to win, and we're not making them right now, and we have to get back to making them like we kind of did against Buffalo."
That challenge becomes even more significant with the season-ending knee injury suffered by Kendrick Bourne. He had been eating up a lot of snaps - 73% - and targets, leading the team in receptions, yards, and touchdowns. There is no one-for-one replacement on the roster. And there's the energy that the free-agent-to-be brings to the table. You might roll your eyes at that, but during a long season, having that guy's personality and positivity spread through the huddle and locker room.
"I'd only been around him for the seven or eight months that I've been here, and he's a great guy, and he's having a really good year," said O'Brien. "The next guy has to step up and fill that role, and it'll probably be several guys. I don't know who those guys will be right now. You know, it comes down to the practice field. It really does. Like, you know, how do you practice? Are you ready to go by the time Saturday or Sunday rolls around? Then, Bill will determine who's active for the game. That's really how it is. And so it's a big week for the receivers. A big week."
That means you, Tyquan Thornton, Kayshon Boutte, and JuJu Smith-Schuster, who clearly wasn't going to play Sunday against the Fins, recording no snaps through the first three quarters. But injuries to Bourne and DeVante Parker (who would seem unlikely to play this weekend with the concussion) got the higher-priced wideout 15 snaps and his first touchdown as a Patriot. Meanwhile, Thornton was inactive in Miami, as was Boutte, continuing a 7-week run on that list. Both players have been supplanted by Jalen Reagor, who's bounced around to several spots in his brief NFL career. The lack of consistency in that position has only added to the challenges of being a real offense.
"Yeah, it hasn't been hasn't been what we want it to be," said O'Brien. "It's been very inconsistent. There's been glimpses of, hey, this is good. This is what it can be. This is the rhythm that we need to get into. These are plays that are well executed, well coached, well designed, and then these are other things that aren't as good, and so it's very, very inconsistent, which - you know, in my career, I've been doing this a long time - sometimes you have years like that… We have to try to make it more consistent. There's a lot of football left in this season."