FOXBOROUGH - On a day when the Patriots had 331 yards of total offense and a distinct time of possession advantage (34:05 to 26:55), their game against the Falcons came down to a missed extra point and a second chance to make a final impression.
But in surviving a day when the train went off the tracks a few times too many, the Pats won their sixth straight, and yet gave Mike Vrabel enough ammunition to make sure no one does what Stefon Diggs has repeatedly mentioned, and that's "drink the Kool-Aid."
"We're gonna learn from winning so that we don't have to learn from losing," Vrabel said. "(It's) about taking care of the ball and complementary football, and how quickly things can change."
It did change, especially for the offense and, in particular, quarterback Drake Maye, late in the first half. And it wasn't anything the Falcons changed schematically, at least according to the players I talked to in the postgame.
"We just weren't executing the way we were supposed to," Mack Hollins said. "I haven't looked at the tape, but when we look at it, I'm sure there's going to be missed opportunities, whether it's not being technically sound, not doing what we're supposed to do, that's going to affect why we didn't execute the way we wanted to."
"I've got to play better for this team down the road," Maye said. "I think it's tough, it's tough in a game where you win and you can feel in that locker room that these guys know we can play better."
Some trends are hard to overlook. Maye was sacked six times. He has now been sacked four or more times in 11 of his 21 career starts. Last year, it was a veritable smorgasbord of reasons why: a historically bad offensive line, receivers who couldn’t get open, a scheme that was as sophisticated as a boy's regular at the barbershop, plus a rookie QB getting his first taste of NFL experience.
This year?
For starters, the line hasn’t been as good as some of the metrics would have you believe. Twice today, Mike Onwenu failed to handle a simple two-man game with Morgan Moses. Both resulted in sacks, and the second came just before the half and opened the door for Atlanta. Maye was only protecting the ball with one hand on that play, and Jalon Walker knocked it free, leading to a 24-yard sack/fumble. Two plays later, the Pats' 14-point lead was cut in half (21-14).
"21-7, really got a chance to get some more points heading into halftime," Maye said. "Got a free rusher - I just told my quarterback coach (Ashton Grant) - I gotta protect the ball and tuck it into my chest. Getting into a bad habit of trying to break tackles on these guys that I don't have a great chance of breaking a tackle on."
Maye is also developing a nasty habit of bypassing open receivers underneath, looking for something better. Holding the ball for four or more seconds is not advisable. Nor is bailing from clean pockets, which has shown up more in recent weeks.
Then there’s the turnovers. They were long gone and hard to find after the Steelers. Not in this one. Never mind the sack/fumble. There was also the interception, an apparent miscommunication between Hunter Henry and Maye. The young signal caller ripped a throw down the seam, but Henry never turned to look for the ball; in fact, drifting more toward the post. It was the same play call the Pats hit on the Browns the week prior for a chunk play to Austin Hooper. No such luck this time around, and the interception led to three more points from Atlanta, keeping it a one-score game (24-17).
"Not on the same page as Hunt," Maye said of the INT. "And I think, like I said, get the ball back to them at midfield, and it'll just change the game."
"The Drake miscues that he's beating himself up on, we had our hand in it, too," center Garrett Bradbury told me. "It was protection issues, and we tried to make him do something that's out of what he's coached to do, and so we got to be better for him. We've got to clean the pocket up a little bit and give him some throwing lanes. Because when we do, everyone knows how good it can be."
There was plenty of talk from Vrabel in his press conference about the 5-minute offense being able to close things out - "All the stuff that we practice in five minutes, they're believing it, and they're buying into it, because they see that, he said. "That's what good teams do to end the game."
However, this group needed a second chance to end the Falcons, who saw their kicker, Parker Romo - remember him? - miss a game-tying extra point. However, instead of taking care of business in the immediate aftermath, the Pats' first attempt, which began with 4:40 remaining in the 4th quarter, resulted in a three-and-out. Maye's third-down throw was deflected by Walker - gulp - forcing a punt.
The defense bowed up on the ensuing possession, though not without some postgame chatter about what happened on the critical intentional grounding call against Michael Penix. Falcons coach Raheem Morris insisted the Pats "simulated the snap," and Penix said, "Supposedly they were clapping. For us, whenever I'm clapping, that means I want the ball. I knew he (center Ryan Neuzil) said he heard them clapping, and he thought it was my clap, and he snapped the ball." The refs didn't flag the potential infraction, and the Pats put the game on ice a few plays later. It came on a gutsy play call, the third-and-five throw to Henry in the flat.
“It was pretty quick,” Vrabel said of what he told offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. “Just go win the game. Go get the first and win it. So that was a quick conversation.”
Diggs and Hollins appeared to have run clear outs, drawing several bodies with them, but Hollins told me postgame they were all live on the play.
“We’re just running a pattern,” he said. “And kind of can look like that (a pick), but it does work out in that instance where it looks like a whole bunch of traffic is built up and Hunter comes out the backside. But it's not designed to go set picks and stuff, because there are many times where one or either me or him (Diggs) gets the ball. We’ll take it.”
They will. For the first time since their trip to New Orleans, the Pats found themselves in a real struggle and figured out a way to stop beating themselves long enough to end the game by taking a knee. It wasn't perfect - "that's this league," said Hollins - but it was sufficient to keep the winning streak alive, and that's what they play for.
