FOXBOROUGH - "This is NFL football. Just one play here, one play there. You never know which play it is." - Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo following Sunday's 23-20 overtime loss to the Seahawks.
Despite aggressively reworking offensive personnel this off-season — five of the 11 players lining up today were either not here or not starting a year ago — the Pats looked as challenged in the passing game as they did a year ago.
A week after throwing for 121 yards in a win, Jacoby Brissett could manage just 149 in a loss. The film will reveal if he had more opportunities than that, but the live watch showed a signal caller running for his life. The trickle-down effect was evident. The play sheet had to be reduced, the quarterback's eyes began to pay more attention to the rush than the receivers, and the accumulation of hits slowed down Brissett to the point where he took an awful sack in the fourth quarter, preceding the blocked Joey Slye field goal.
"Yeah, it was just a bad play by me," Brissett admitted when I asked what happened. "I was trying to get the ball out anyway, and I just didn't want to be careless with the ball and throw it into somebody or get stripped-sacked from behind. I felt someone coming from behind. So, I was trying to get the ball out. It was just a bad play by me."
"I thought Jacoby got hit too much," offered David Andrews. "I haven't seen the film, but just from turning around and seeing things, feeling things. We've got to do a better job. We've got to get more production out of our pass game. That's a team effort from everybody. It's not just one person, one position group; it takes a team - all 11 guys on offense - to do that. That's what we'll have to try and do this week."
Balance has been a massive issue for this group. While the team deserves to be lauded for bringing a real element of physicality — they hammered away from 185 yards against the Seahawks — trying to grind out each and every week is unrealistic. Their lone explosive pass play was a well-drawn-up tight-end screen. The ball was completed four yards behind the line of scrimmage before Hunter Henry turned it into a 35-yard gain,
"Honestly, just, I would say a great call, dialed up at the right time," said Henry of the play, which led to a field goal to move the Pats to within one, 14-13. "Man, I honestly haven't seen this green grass in a while. Usually I just fall in the field and get my knees chopped out."
Henry did a terrific job in the first half of finding soft spots versus Seattle's match zone, but he, too, disappeared in the second half. The Pats had 32 yards passing after intermission, including a possession in overtime.
The receivers might as well have been on the side of a milk carton. They were targeted only six times in the game, catching three for 19 yards. Pop Douglas, the team's best wideout in training camp, did not receive an official target (he was on the receiving end of a pass interference call against Devon Witherspoon). K.J. Osborn, who finished with one catch, carefully picked his words.
"I mean, at the end of the day, you don't want to point the finger and blame it on, you know, nobody," he said of the lack of action. "But, as a receiver, of course, you want to catch the ball. But again, the run game was going and, at the end of the day, we gotta do, we gotta do to win. That's the thing."
Did he think he was getting open?
"Yes. Of course."
The Seahawks didn't fear what the Pats presented on the outside or in the slot. In fact, they eventually sold out against the run, almost to their detriment. Antonio Gibson ripped off a 45-yard run in which three defenders had a chance to stop him before the sticks, and one had a chance to nail him for a significant loss. But the drive fizzled (the aforementioned Brissett sack), as did the offense as a whole, accounting for 11 yards after that chunk play. Again, sustainability is an issue and will continue until they get the wideouts more involved.
"We definitely have to start to get the ball down the field," acknowledged Mayo. "We've got to start pushing the ball down the field to get that shell defense - the 2 high - I'm sorry, yeah, the shell defense. We've got to be able to run. We've got to be able to pass. We've got to be able to ping-pong between the two. It's something that we need to work on. That's what I would say."
One other issue popped up late. And that was an Alex Van Pelt play call.
In overtime, the Pats had the ball first and were in a third-and-one situation from their own 39-yard line. They were operating with starting left tackle Vederian Lowe, who injured his knee during the final offensive play of regulation. Rookie Caedan Wallace assumed that role on the first two plays of the drive.
Still, in the short yardage situation, Van Pelt decided to use an unbalanced line, shifting Wallace from the left side to right - sort of the "muscle" tight-end package that the Pats succeeded with in week one - lining up outside of Mike Onwenu. But in this case, no additional linemen were brought in. Henry was actually lined up as the left tackle, and Tyquan Thornton, of all people, was sharing the backfield with Rhamondre Stevenson. The Pats tried to run Stevenson behind the unbalanced side, but linebacker Tyrel Dodson filled the hole and stopped the running back in the backfield.
To make matters worse, Wallace was flagged for an illegal formation. Why? Because he was uncovered on that side — there were no receivers to his right — the youngster needed to report as eligible (he was the tight end). Wallace did not. Seattle declined the penalty, and instead of going for it (I wouldn't have), the Pats punted and never got the ball back. There is a lot to unpack there.
"That's all on us," said Mayo. "That's on us as coaches. I don't put anything on the player. Look, he was in there at times. He had to report. Then he played some tackle, and there was some confusion. Once again, there was no receiver outside of him. That's our fault 100 percent."
For a coach who preaches being a tough team - and again, they have been so far - why get 'cute' or 'fancy' at that moment? Why not just line up and run it at them? The Pats had a distinct advantage in time of possession, and though the late numbers weren't indicative, it felt like the Seahawks were worn down.
"I don't think we tried to do anything fancy," said Mayo when I asked about the play call. "I think we tried to run the plays that we felt pretty comfortable with going into the game, and then at halftime, made some adjustments. And this isn't a fancy football team. This is one of those teams - whether we throw it or run it - we just have to be a tough football team, but at the same time, we have to be smart."
They weren't there, and as we don't have access to the assistants after a game, I can't ask Van Pelt what his thought process was. In the interim, I can say that the long-time assistant will have to lean into his 30-plus years of NFL experience as a player and coach to find more from his passing game. Otherwise, there's bound to be more frustration ahead.