In the wake of the Patriots' eye-opening 24-3 loss to the Jets on Thursday night, a lot of ire from the fanbase has been targeted at the personnel issues and specifically at Eliot Wolf.
There are certainly issues there and Wolf is ripe for criticism for not giving the team more options at offensive tackle, and not securing a top-level receiving talent. That's all legit.
But that doesn't explain what's wrong with this passing offense, not even close. Just because the Patriots have issues at offensive tackle and don't have a stud WR, that's no excuse for the Patriots averaging a pathetic 102 passing yards through three games. And it's not just because Jacoby Brissett is the quarterback, either.
The Patriots have more than enough talent to be a middling offense. David Andrews is a good player. Mike Onwenu is making $19 million a year. Hunter Henry and Rhamondre Stevenson are making $9 million. Ja'Lynn Polk and Tyquan Thornton are second-round picks. Demario Douglas is a good player. Austin Hooper is solid. Layden Robinson, while a rookie, is a good player. Michael Jordan has played in this league and is serviceable.
Yes, left tackle is an issue. There's also no one who "scares a defense."
Who the hell cares? A good offensive coordinator should be able to figure it out to do more than what the Patriots have to this point.
And Alex Van Pelt has not been up to the task to this point. There's no cohesion to what he's doing. He's just picking plays off a sheet, with little thought to what they're building to.
We're going to show you an example of what real coordinating looks like with the Saints and first-year coordinator Klint Kubiak, who interviewed for the Patriots' vacant position. Yes, the Saints have some talent with Alvin Kamara, Chris Olave and former UDFA WR Rashid Shaheed — we're not going to deny that. But shouldn't Stevenson approximate Kamara (who some thought was washed up last year), and shouldn't the combination of Polk, Douglas and Thornton give you something close to Shaheed, who was available to anyone on the Saints' practice squad two years ago?
The Saints do not have blinding talent. Like Van Pelt, Kubiak also has serious line issues with a RT in Trevor Penning who was benched last year, a left guard in Lucas Patrick who was signed in May for $1 million and a rookie left tackle in Taliese Fuaga (14th overall) who most scouts thought was only a right tackle, maybe a guard.
And then there's quarterback Derek Carr, who most Saints fans were done with after last season.
Now, through two games, the Saints have the league's best offense with 35.21 expected points added. In 2023, they finished 13th at -20.99.
The Patriots do not.
On the practice field all summer, we saw the Patriots repping wide zone runs and play-action boots off it, and Van Pelt has said they want to be the best screen team in the league. That was going to be the bread and butter of this offense. The Saints aren't all that different than the Patriots in that regard.
The difference? A coordinator who knows how he wants to play, and sets it up correctly. The Patriots playing the Jets and the Saints playing the Cowboys is an apt comparison. Both defenses are aggressive rushing the passer, and the line wants to get up the field.
On the Patriots' very first play of the game, the Patriots ran play-action boot to Hunter Henry. The problem was Jets end Will McDonald tore up the field, leveled Brissett and the Jets immediately tackle Henry for no gain. Now, Brissett checked at the line. It was probably a called run play. But he should not have been allowed to do that. Why? Because you need to set up the boot first with the run, if not multiple runs. Another problem: the Jets are heavy zone on the first two downs, so Henry was likely going to be covered, and he was. You run that on third down, when the Jets are more of a man coverage team.
On second down, the Patriots call a gap run that goes for 1 yard. Again, no wide zone. No movement from the Jets' defensive line.
On third down, Mike Onwenu blocks out instead of down which gets Brissett hit again, and that negates what could have been a nice play to Stevenson (the Jets were in man, and lost him blocking).
Three plays, the Jets have basically had to defend a 10-yard box.
(Apologies, but my microphone was off for all these videos - it's on for the Maye one)
Let's contrast that to the Saints against the Cowboys.
First play: Toss run that presses the right edge.
Second play: End around that presses the left edge.
Third play: Pull both the TE and Taysom Hill to the left with playaction. Keep Kamara in for Parsons. It's only a two-man route, that means eight blockers, and the under route is open.
Fourth play: Press the right edge (and Hill should have bounced it even more).
Fifth play: Both backs go out to the left, widening the defense, and opening up an easy completion for Carr.
Sixth play: Bring the TE across in motion, another 2-man route with max protection, throw the under again.
Seventh play: Kamara running TD.
Saints made them defended sideline to sideline, and blocked it up.
PATRIOTS SECOND DRIVE
First play: This is better. Quick pass wide to Douglas.
Second play: Brissett should have thrown left flat to Douglas but does not, finally finds Polk.
Third play: Stevenson motion widens the Jets, opening the middle for Henry. Brisset throws late for some reason.
Fourth play: Productive run left with two pulling.
Fifth play: Wide zone fake left, boot right. Henry is kept in, Patriots run a two-man route and Hooper is open. Brissett misses it.
Sixth play: Brissett sacked but had Douglas for something. Too much pressure. Routes not very creative.
SAINTS SECOND AND THIRD SERIES
First play: Bring FB over in hard motion and pull the TE to make Dallas respect the outside run left, fake outside zone right. Another two-man route. After throwing the under twice, the safety bites on it, giving Shaheed a chance deep. Perfect pass from Carr. Again, another two-man route with lots of built-in protection.
First play, third series: Press the left edge with the run.
Second play: Quick pass left
Third play: Wide zone run right.
Fourth play: Hard motion left, playaction, another over/under concept down the field, but throw the screen to Kamara that goes for a TD.
PATRIOTS THIRD SERIES
First play: Like the orbit motion with Douglas that widens the defense, potentially big run left for Stevenson but Jets tackle well.
Second play: Patriots in 13 personnel, when they're at their best. Big Stevenson run right but negated by his penalty.
Third play: 3-step shotgun pass to Thornton, who drops it. Would like to see some motion here to create an easier throw.
Fourth play: Douglas orbit motion results in a toss left that's productive. Nice play. Promising drive.
Fifth play: 2nd and 1 playaction shot play that is sacked. Jets just had a better call. No one was going to be open so obviously the Patriots have not established the run enough to make Jets respect it.
Sixth play: Shotgun, no motion. DPI on Jets.
Seventh play: Same play as the first of the game, same result with a playaction sack. Direct result of the Patriots not establishing the run and wide zone enough.
Eighth play: Screen isn't blocked.
Ninth play: Bubble concept goes nowhere. Lost opportunity on this drive.
FOURTH SAINTS SERIES
First play: WR motion/mesh with RB makes Dallas respect backside. Run left.
Second play: Toss right and press the edge, get Dallas moving sideline to sideline again.
Third play: FB and guard pull right but nothing there to the right.
Fourth play: Two blockers on Parsons during just a three-man route, hit the under. Flow back to the left on this play, so they keep mixing it up.
Fifth play: Same boot action concept the Patriots tried twice and were sacked. Minimal gain. Flow to the right.
Sixth play: Same toss play the Patriots used. Kamara goes untouched for about 15 yards. Flow to the left.
Seventh play: Toss left to press the edge.
Eight play: Orbit motion to the left. Inside run.
Ninth play: Orbit motion to the right, screen is dropped.
Tenth play: Speed motion to the left, Kamara basically goes in untouched for a 15-yard touchdown.
Why?
Because Kubiak had the Cowboys spinning at this point with his motion and plays to one side and then the other. Saints were running them ragged.
AGAIN I APOLOGIZE FOR LACK OF AUDIO ON THE VIDEO, MY BAD. Hope the written explanations help.
Kubiak and others like him (wait until you see the 49ers) don't give a crap what the defense is doing. They are going to the edge, they are going to make you defend the edge, they are going to make the big guys inside chase them, they are going to make the backside of the defense defend the cutback run.
Now compare that to what Van Pelt did with the Patriots.
The Jets coaches were basically saying, 'These guys aren't running these outside plays, so if it looks like it's going away, you just run up the field and smash the quarterback, in case it's the naked.' You can't run the play action passes without the runs.
And the coordinator, like Kubiak has clearly done, has to protect his weaknesses. There's no scheme production at all. The coordinator has to help them a little bit.
Right now, Van Pelt isn't doing that.
Here are the offensive positional ratings against the Jets:
OFFENSE
Quarterback (1 out of 5)
Not much out of either of these guys, not that there were a ton of plays for either to make. Brissett has to hit the Hooper play. It was one of the few times Van Pelt actually built to something. Brissett was responsible for a hurry, had two minus decisions and missed a screen throw to Henry. Brissett's 22-yard throw to Douglas while getting drilled was the offensive play of the game.
Wasn't overly impressed with Drake Maye in his time, although he had double the plus plays of Brissett (11-yard scramble, throw to Demario Douglas over the middle). His same quick-to-run decisions and sloppy footwork were again present. Motion is still long. Almost threw a pick on his first attempt. Left the pocket too quick and got drilled on his second dropback. Made Boutte's 2-yard catch harder than it needed to be. Had opportunities to Douglas and Hasty on his first sack. On his scramble, I would have liked to see him hit Henry from where the blitz came from - I know he can run, I want to see him make plays from the pocket. Threw wide of Hooper when Boutte was a better option. Was hit as he threw to Boutte, but he was open earlier. On the incompletion to Douglas, the receiver sat in the zone and Maye thought he was going to keep going. Not sure who was right, but I throw on Douglas would have been nice. Maye's 15-yarder to Douglas was a thing of beauty with the pocket movement and layering the ball in. There was nothing he could do on the final sack.
Running backs (1 out of 5)
Like we said last week, Stevenson has to stop putting the ball on the ground. Belichick would bench him.
Receivers (2 out of 5)
This was about what I expected out of Douglas in every game. A little bit of everything. Thought he did well with his touches and proved to Van Pelt he can handle this load.
Offensive line (1 out of 5)
The pressure rate was 51% but I do think Van Pelt is partially to blame considering that 1 sack, 2 hits and 2 hurries were put on the team because the Jets were just ready for the plays. That's Van Pelt just being beaten. He needs to and can do more to help this line out, as shown in the Saints videos. ... Caeden Wallace (2 sacks, 5 total QB pressure) had a rough debut, but he wasn't god-awful. The Jets are a tough matchup, and the score didn't help either. More run earlier from Van Pelt could have help these guys, and someone like Wallace. ... David Andrews has had back-to-back rough games. Unusual for him. Short week might have affected him, and he was questionable for the game. ... Layden Robinson looked improved, and Michael Jordan was the best of the bunch. He's been very solid.
ONE UP
Demario Douglas: Looked the part of a No. 3 receiver. Too bad the Patriots don't have a 1 or 2. Need to get Polk involved more. Osborn needs to play less.
THREE DOWN
Caeden Wallace: Asking a lot of the kid to debut on the road in a NY night game and falling behind 14-0.
David Andrews: Had a tough time staying up against the Jets' interior.
Jacoby Brissett: For the team to have any hope, he has to hit the Hooper play.