For the Patriots to have any chance to steal a win in Drake Maye's starting debut on Sunday, they needed their defense to stand and deliver for the first time since the season opener (Remember that? Fun).
Instead, the Texans scored touchdowns on their first two possessions, putting the rookie in a borderline untenable situation less than 12 minutes into the game.
Oh, sure, it's here where you'll tell me I'm holding that unit to an unfair standard, that because of the injuries (and off-field troubles), they're incapable of being a top-10 defense. That's not unfair, although it conveniently dismisses what they did a year ago despite missing Matthew Judon and Christian Gonzalez for most of the season. Under the watchful eye of everyone's favorite whipping boy, Steven Belichick, that group finished 9th in DVOA. Under high school cheer captain DeMarcus Covington this year, they're 28th.
Covington/Pats apologists can argue that the 2024-25 Patriots defense has been crippled by the losses of Christian Barmore, Ja'Whaun Bentley, and Jabril Peppers. I can accept some drop-off. Barmore was developing into a blue-chip player, and Bentley, despite his limitations, was the on-field brain. But to go from the upper half of the league to damn near the bottom? With a defensive-minded head coach? Oh no. That's unacceptable, and excuses don't just ring hollow but sound like a loser's lament.
"Big plays killed us," said Jerod Mayo to The Greg Hill Show Monday morning. "They had two runs for over 50 yards. Take those away, and it looks a lot better."
Excuse me? It wasn't as if those runs came in garbage time. But worse yet, the Pats had a week to plan for C.J. Stroud and company, who were without one of the best receivers in the league (Nico Collins) and yet looked solely unprepared and incapable of dealing with a Texans offense that, quite frankly, hasn't been what it was a year ago and has needed Stroud to bail them out of some hairy situations.
The opening march took 11 plays and nearly six minutes off the clock. It began with a poor run fit by linebacker Raekwon McMillan (that could be his nickname: 'Poor Run Fit' McMillan). Two plays later, Stroud stepped into a chasm created by defensive tackles Daniel Ekuale (ridden past the QB) and Davon Godchaux (walled off to the outside) and completed a 20-yard strike to Tank Dell.
The blame game continued. Christian Gonzalez was beaten by Stefon Diggs on a 12-yard out. Jahlani Tavai blew an edge on a Joe Mixon run and was bailed out by an excellent open-field tackle from Kyle Dugger. On the first third down of the series, Marte Mapu's blitz was handled by the Houston offensive line (it is possible), and Stroud calmly hit Diggs with Gonzalez chasing for another 13 yards.
After a nice run stuff by Jaquelin Roy, the Pats caught their first break. Tavai lost leverage against Mixon coming out of the backfield, but an easy touchdown pass sailed incomplete when the running back slipped. Then came the call that got folks all up in arms: the pass interference on Mapu. You're right. It shouldn't have been a DPI. It was, however, illegal contact (he got flagged by both the side and back judge). Either way, that's an automatic first down. Two plays later, Dell beat Jonathan Jones off the line of scrimmage on a crossing route, and it was 7-0.
After a three-and-out in Maye's first series, the Texans took advantage of a poor punt from Bryce Baringer, reeling off a 19-yard return to the plus side of the 50-yard line. Okay, it happens. It's time for the defense to make a play or two to pick up the team. Instead...
On third-and-six from the Pats 41, Stroud had enough time in the pocket to smoke a cigarette, make a collect call, and wave to the attractive woman sitting in section 118. He then found Dell for 12 yards (Marcus Jones was closest in coverage, but it wasn't that close). A four-yard run saw Tavai and McMillan get bused; then, on second down, Stroud escaped the pocket when Godchaux and Anfernee Jennings left far too much of a gap in their pass-rush lanes. That was good for eight yards and another first down. Kyle Dugger later got away with a blatant trip of Mixon - the safety looked at the ref with guilty eyes - before Marcus Jones arrived a step early on Dell, getting flagged for another defensive pass interference. The completion would have been short of the sticks on 3rd and 9, but we've seen this movie before in 2024.
The drive ended with Tavai getting picked by tight Dalton Schulz, creating an easy release into the left flat for Mixon and an even easier touchdown. Dugger and Tavai conversed afterward, and it felt like the linebacker wanted help but didn't get it, which was par for the course yesterday.
"Look, we feel like crap right now," acknowledged Mayo post-game, "and I would say just for a rookie quarterback to go out there and do some good things – I just felt like we could have done a better job supporting him."
Oh sure, the Pats gave you a glimmer of hope on that 40-yard touchdown pass from Maye to Kayshon Boutte late in the second quarter, but the second half started with a strip sack, and two plays later, Diggs was spinning the ball in the end zone after a touchdown catch. This wasn't a game. This was another opponent playing with their food, toying with the Pats in a way that you used to toy with them.
"It was just a good old-fashioned butt whupping," said Jonathan Jones. "From running the ball to not being able to stop the pass, everything they wanted to do, they were able to do."
That's been the theme for five weeks and five straight losses. Doesn't matter who trots out there: the Pats are doing their best to boost resumes league-wide, except their own.
Mayo on Maye, 'He did a good job'
After watching the film, Mayo had this to say to reporters today:
"Obviously disappointed in our performance overall," he said. "We’ve just got to play better. We’ve got to coach better. We’ve got to win the turnover battle. We’ve got to do a better job with penalties early in the game. We had a lot of penalties that just – nothing good comes from that. I would say in the second half, it kind of settled down as far as the penalties were concerned, but we just can't play in that way. Defensively, I would say just big plays. Big plays killed us. They had two runs that were over 50 yards. You take those away and it looks a lot better, but at the same time, that's what the NFL is. You’ve got to limit those big plays, and then offensively, we have to make big plays. I thought yesterday, overall, Drake [Maye] did a good job with his reads and getting the ball out. Was it perfect? No. Will he get better? Absolutely. But we’ve got to do a better job supporting a rookie quarterback. Yesterday, the run game, something that we've been good at for the majority of the year, was non-existent. We’ve just got to get back to the basics.