A year ago, Mike’s Musings was a happy, safe space for those who think everything is awesome because, let’s face it, it pretty much was. The Patriots won 16 out of 17, retaking the AFC East crown, then the conference title, earning a spot in the Super Bowl. That night in San Fran went sideways, but after a productive offseason, optimism abounded.
After week one’s loss in Seattle, there are still plenty of reasons to be hopeful - a 10-0 lead in that environment is definitely noteworthy - but the negatives outweighed the positives, as reflected below.
During and certainly after, there's been a ton of bitching and moaning about the offensive playcalling and stubbornness in the running game. I have no problem quibbling with some of the actual plays Josh McDaniels called in-game, but as I wrote yesterday, the philosophy starts and ends with Mike Vrabel. He wanted to protect his line and his quarterback by, as he said Monday, not turning this into a straight drop-back game. Vrabel is on the headset and can, and will, say ‘run,’ ‘pass,’ ‘what the hell are you thinking?’
He also sent mixed messages about how he played the end of the half, okaying the draw call to Rhamondre Stevenson on 3rd down, punting in plus territory, then calling two timeouts to try to get the ball back, or so it seemed. For some reason, he decided to heck with it, kept the final timeout in his back pocket, and went into halftime. We asked him about it Monday, but the answer was non-illuminating.
“Yeah, just wanted to get into the locker room and go from there and regroup.”
Thank you?
I’ve already devoted a bunch of words to Drake Maye’s performance, but what I found concerning in my rewatch was a) how bad his mechanics were and b) his inability or unwillingness to go through his progressions. The former showed up countless times and hurt his velocity; he ripped a handful of throws, but mostly he morphed into third-year Mac Jones (not a compliment). As for the latter, look no further than the second interception. Maye never even considered the possibility that Julian Love could and would enter the picture. In fact, based on the all-22, I don’t think he ever identified where he was and what someone that smart could do. McDaniels and QB Ashton Grant have work to do over the next 10 days. While I'm on that 2nd INT, pretty sure Pop Douglas was supposed to bend that route more to the middle of the field and didn't, a continuation of a career-long theme with him of not always being where he's supposed to be.
Let’s hope that Wednesday night was Alijah Vera-Tucker knocking the rust off. He was a weak link in pass pro, especially during the second half. By my count, he allowed five QB pressures and one sack (Will Campbell expected to pass the stunt off, but Vera-Tucker didn’t see it the same way; he should have). In addition, while the run game rarely found success for most of the evening, it seldom came off the left side (Campbell was just OK in that regard).
I got a text from a pro-Stefon Diggs-ite on Thursday afternoon. That person wanted to be clear about how strongly they opposed the Romeo Doubs-for-Diggs switcheroo that Vrabel and the brass executed this offseason. Needless to say, that person had every right to crow. Doubs was a non-factor, and that drop sets a bad tone for the start of his Patriots career. His instincts on the play were right. Catch the damn ball.
Zak Kuhr leaned into the big nickel approach, especially at the start of the game, but Dell Pettus was either out of position or ineffective during his snaps. There were a couple of reps I tried to describe in print but couldn’t find the words, so let’s leave it at that.
In the immediate aftermath of the game, I had Eli Raridon as one of my “Ups,” mainly leaning on the touchdown catch and how often the Pats kept trotting him out there in their bigger personnel groupings. But his run blocking was largely ineffective, and he got blown up several times at the point of attack. To Raridon’s credit, he kept working and did help spring Stevenson on a nice run in the 4th quarter.
We don’t spend much time talking about offensive line coach Doug Marrone, but after the criticisms of Campbell’s technique issues in the playoffs, he’s been on my radar. Nothing that happened in Seattle has put him in a safer space for me. The Seahawks kept using overloaded blitzes to the tight end side and successfully broke the Pats’ protection plan. Where was the adjustment? Hell, where was the 7 months of film study to adjust those rules coming into this game against this opponent? Not great, Doug (or McDaniels).
After a tepid summer, Dre’Mont Jones was the ass-kicking edge player that he’s going to need to be. I had Jones for five pressures and the sack that knocked Sam Darnold out of the game. His first run rep was poor. Jadarian Price went for 13 yards. But after that, Jones was a hard man to move.
I didn’t watch the game and find myself drawn to the interior defensive line like I was so many times a year, but Christian Barmore had a QB hit and a couple of pressures and played a solid game. What I’ll want to see from him going forward is a level of consistency that, quite frankly, was absent a season ago.
I’m not giving Will Campbell any medals for his work in the run game, but as a pass blocker, I thought he was exceptional. Not to beat a dead horse, but his variety of sets and his overall jump in strength showed up early and often against that talented Seattle front. Between the run game and the two penalties (one was dicey at best), neither Campbell nor his defenders get to scream from the mountaintops, but that was a nice rebound from his playoff work.
Gabe Jacas did more with his 19 snaps on Wednesday than he did with the 81 he received over the three preseason games. His sack was thanks to everyone else, including Drew Lock, but his legs never stopped on the play. That tackle for loss that got clipped and posted all over the internet was a great display of his athleticism, even if that was a “you better be right” snap. But it was a tackle in the red area that got Vrabel’s attention.
"I thought his, probably his most instinctive play since he has been here was the unbalanced play in the red zone. They went with a speed break and a tackle over a little bunch into the boundary, and they tried to block down on him, and he just reacted across the guy's face and was able to make a tackle for just a few yard gain. So, I think that was probably the play that I was most pleased with and saying, "Hey, this is kind of, you are just out there playing. You are getting lined up. You are reacting. The guy blocks down on you and you cross his face and go make the tackle."
Light starting to go on?
Nobody, and I mean nobody, talked more junk and backed it up in the opener quite like Mack Hollins did. He had 50 snaps and was a force on half of them, either with his powerful and dogged approach in the run game or in reestablishing himself as a prominent figure in the passing game. He had two huge 4th-quarter catches, including a fourth-down conversion of what should have been, at the very least, the game-tying drive.
You can call me a Rhamondre Stevenson apologist if you want, but it takes one tough son of a gun to play 60 of 71 snaps at the running back position against that defense and to find what little was there over and over again. 50 of his 51 yards came after contact, and Stevenson made some exceptional cuts to turn losses into gains and then, late, into runs of 12, 8 and 7. He did allow one QB hit, but it was a workmanlike effort.
Christian Gonzalez would have been my number one player defensively, but I remain unclear whether the TD pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba was his responsibility. My inclination is no, but I haven’t gotten an answer on that yet. Otherwise, Gonzalez played like the same guy we saw all summer: strong, confident, and ready to find a higher level. He was all over Smith-Njigba during their head-to-head reps, only allowing one catch, and that was on a screen.
Others of note: Carlton Davis had a run stuff and jumped an out route that, had it been thrown better, might have ended up as a pick-six for the veteran corner. Milton Williams had a pressure and a run stuff, but otherwise was a little too quiet for my liking.
PATRIOTS PUT A.J. BROWN ON IR, DT DA'QUAN JONES SIGNED
A.J. Brown will miss at least the next four games, as he was placed on injured reserve on Friday.
To take his spot on the roster, the Patriots signed former Bills DT Da'Quan Jones. Of course, since it comes after Week 1, his salary is not guaranteed.
Jones, 34, has always been more of a pass rusher and gap penetrator. Will be interesting to see how the Patriots use him with Cory Durden.
