When an offense enters a game against any team — it could be Pop Warner, high school, college or the NFL — the coaches usually decide there is one person or one facet of the opposing defense that the offense must deal with in order to win.
When you face the Titans, there is one person you worry about: DT Jeffrey Simmons. With Aaron Donald retired, Simmons is in the mix with Chris Jones, Dexter Lawrence and Cam Heyward as the best defensive tackle in the game. Simmons is a person that you must game plan around. Don't take my word for it, listen to Jerod Mayo.
"You look at their defense, it just starts with the front," Mayo said on Wednesday. "They have a lot of good players up front, and it starts with [Jeffrey] Simmons. He's one of those guys that's a huge disruptor."
The Patriots, entering Sunday's game against the 1-win Titans and with career backup Mason Rudolph starting at quarterback, decided to eschew any plan to limit Simmons. Not only that, but they decided that it was the right time, after bemoaning for weeks about the lack of continuity on the line due to injury, to shake things up after having the same line for two straight games, and better results at that.
The Patriots moved $19-million right guard Mike Onwenu back out to tackle for Demontrey Jacobs, and inserted promising but struggling rookie Layden Robinson in at right guard.
How'd that go?
Simmons basically derailed the Patriots' offense in the first half – including forcing Drake Maye into his first interception — and Robinson was benched before halftime.
Alex Van Pelt is responsible for this, but Jerod Mayo is the head coach who approves every position switch and tactical decision.
It was the latest in a long line of epic fails by this coaching staff in 2024, and at least partially responsible for ruining yet another good-enough start for Drake Maye.
If you're looking for reasons to move on from Van Pelt after this season — if not sooner — this game would be near the top of the list, and yet another example that Mayo has no clue about the offensive side of the ball.
It's one thing to start Robinson against Simmons (who split his time between left and right tackle) but to then not have a plan on how to deal with him was dereliction of duty from an offensive coordinator.
On the first drive alone, Simmons was left 1-on-1 and delivered two tackles and helped create a sack on Maye on the final three plays. On the second drive, Simmons was left 1-on-1 and that yielded a knockdown. On the third drive, Simmons helped force the interception. You get the idea.
By the end of the game, Simmons had eight total pressures — one sack and seven hurries — when his previous season-high was four against the Colts. It was the most pressure Simmons generated in a game since Week 9 of 2021, when he had nine against the Rams.
Not bring up the previous coaching staff again, but there's no way in hell Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels would let that happen. How many times did we see them completely erase the likes of JJ Watt, Aaron Donald, and Ndamukong Suh from games? Belichick would have told his coaches on Monday, "There is no way we are letting 98 ruin this game. That is Job 1, and the only job this week."
What happened on Sunday was a complete and utter coaching failure on the part of Van Pelt — and Mayo allowed it to happen.
Of course, we could also compare what Van Pelt did to what Brian Callahan managed with Rudolph at quarterback. Callahan's scheme was outstanding and was mostly to blame for the Patriots having issues on defense. All the motion, overloads, pulling linemen this way and that way ... he made it easy for Rudolph, hard for the Patriots to bring pressure, and caused them issues with the ground game. The Patriots got completely out-schemed.
This game wouldn't have been remotely close if Callahan's head coaching ability remotely resembled his ability to call plays. Of course, he has the excuse of calling offensive plays. Mayo doesn't have that burden and still bungled kicking a 56-yard FG into the wind, the end of the first half, and choosing which end in overtime.
Meanwhile, the Patriots have an offensive coordinator who refuses to even say he's entertained using Maye's running ability in the offense, despite his QB's legs being the only reliable part of this offense. If he did make Maye's legs a threat and designed an RPO offense around that, he would make reads easier for Maye (watch the Commanders any given Sunday) and help the receivers to get open. Van Pelt looks like a caveman sticking with his 1999 West Coast offense. He just calls plays, without regard for setting things up later.
About the only thing people can say that's positive about Van Pelt is that he "developed" Maye. But has he? Correlation does not imply causation.
How do we know Maye wouldn't be here without Van Pelt and their QB Collective? I still maintain that once Maye took a step in the Eagles preseason game, if they gave him more reps and ramped up his preparation as far as reading defenses and had him start Week 1, he'd at least be here if not further along with more playing time. Physically, he's still the same player in terms of footwork and mechanics. He ran all summer when plays broke down. He obviously learns and gets better the more he plays. If the Patriots split everything 50-50 from the jump, Maye would be further ahead. And can you imagine where he'd be if, like Jayden Daniels, he had an OC like Kliff Kingsbury who incorporated his athletic ability and used it as a strength with their scheme?
A look at the struggles in the first half as I graded the film:
Here are the positional ratings against the Titans:
OFFENSE
Quarterback (3.5 out of 5)
This is true: Since he took over the starting position in Week 6, Drake Maye leads the league in turnover-worthy play percentage at 5.7% ... Baker Mayfield leads with 10 plays, Maye is 2nd with 9 in 33 fewer dropbacks. It all might be higher if he played more than 11 snaps against the Jets. The first 5 weeks, Jacoby Brissett was 11th at 3.5% (5 of 6 came vs. SF).
And the following is also true and important:
Josh Allen was 2nd in the league after his first four starts at 6.7%. Of course, Allen started Week 2 and didn't have the "development" Maye did. Allen also played with largely crap, but he went 6-10 with Brian Daboll. LT Dion Dawkins and RB LeSean McCoy were the headliners. Zay Jones was his leading receiver with 58 catches.
Maye played fine in this game, and made many more plays to even offset his turnovers, which I put squarely on him. The first interception can't be thrown. The strip-sack fumble was caused by Kendrick Bourne running yet another questionable route, but Maye should have seen the rusher beating Vederian Lowe and gotten rid of the ball. The final interception was late and underthrown thanks to Mayo not taking the correct end in overtime.
Maye's biggest issue to this point is hanging on to the ball too long, which happens with athletic quarterbacks as they learn the limits of what they can do at the NFL level in terms of timing. In roughly 3.5 games, he had 4 sacks, 4 hits and 2 hurries (10 total QB pressures). In roughly 5.5 games, Jacoby Brissett had 3 sacks, 3.5 hits and 3 hurries (9 total QB pressures). ... On the miss to Douglas down the field, Maye ran into the back of Ben Brown and caused the incompletion. At least twice Maye moved into pressure. ... On the final play, Maye had Henry earlier.
Running backs (3.5 out of 5)
This was all Rhamondre Stevenson. He had two tremendous touchdowns, and two extraordinary blitz pickups that were extremely physical. He had two questionable run decisions.
Receivers (1 out of 5)
Hunter Henry continues to be terrific and is probably the best-performing player on this offense. Other than that, woof. ... Demario Douglas (fell), Kendrick Bourne and Kayshon Boutte all had questionable routes. Ja'Lynn Polk had two penalties and one for Bourne. Douglas had a drop that almost turned into an interception. The lack of details in this group is astounding an indictment on coach Tyler Hughes. He looks overmatched.
Offensive line (1 out of 5)
Once the Patriots reverted back to their usual line after Robinson's benching, this group wasn't all that bad. ... However, LG Michael Jordan continued his big slump. Forget center, the Patriots need Cole Strange back at LG when he returns. ... Brown had some issues in this game, but he's largely been solid in pass protection.
DEFENSE
Defensive line (1 out of 5)
This unit, outside of Keion White, just got gashed in the running game. They had at least nine blown gaps and four blown edges. That's not about talent or not having bodies, it's about attention to detail and playing leverage correctly. It's the same thing, outside the Jets game, every week. And it's always something or somebody different. Gap and edge integrity continues to be lacking and I put that on coaching. They're not coaching it hard enough. ... Doesn't help when Davon Godchaux and others are just exhausted at the end of games. Having Eric Johnson be inactive for this game was a mistake. The Patriots needed more bodies.
Linebackers (2.5 out of 5)
Jahlani Tavai had, largely, a big bounceback game, but he also gave up some plays, including the 32-yard run, a 13-yard run, a 24-yard pass and added a missed tackle. He's having to help out a lot of people in the front seven an occasionally that leaves him a half-step late. ... There was a revolving door between Christian Elliss, Raekwon McMillan and Sione Takitaki at the other ILB spot and none of them was good. McMillan had one nice read through the line, but he busted two other plays.
Secondary (1 out of 5)
Thanks to a lack of consistent pressure up front, due in part to Callahan's scheme, this group had a tough time with Rudolph. He completed 74% of his passes at 9.0 yards per attempt when not pressured. And he completed 70% at 9.4 YPA against the blitz. ... Jaylinn Hawkins had two really poor coverages in zone, and jumped a tight end to leave Christian Gonzalez hung out to dry by Calvin Ridley. ... Jonathan Jones allowed a TD but he was left by himself on the left side of the field when there were six defenders against two receivers on the other side. That shouldn't happen. ... Marco Wilson allowed a touchdown and had a missed tackle. ... Dell Pettus had a big run tackle that saved a touchdown and was a four-point play. He's been on the upswing.
THREE UP
DE Keion White: It wasn't perfect, but he was a game-wrecker with 4 pressures and 3.5 stuffed runs.
QB Drake Maye: Even with his turnovers, Maye kept the team in the game by accounting for 95 percent of their yards.
TE Hunter Henry: He's the only reliable receiver Maye has at this point, and they should be asking him to do more.
THREE DOWN
WR Ja'Lynn Polk: Two penalties in nine snaps. The Patriots need to help him. He's much better than this.
RG Layden Robinson: Put this on Van Pelt and Mayo.
LG Michael Jordan: After a surprising start, he's come way back down to Earth. Cole Strange, heal up quick.