I can't say Sunday was for sure the worst Patriots regular season loss of my lifetime, but believe me when I say it's undoubtedly an honorable mention. Despite an excellent opening quarter, the Patriots managed to lose control of the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, soundly losing in the run game, couldn't make life difficult for Trevor Lawrence in the pocket, gave up timely bad plays on defense and even special teams this week. Despite another solid outing for Drake Maye, this one was over after the Parker Washington punt return.
While I understand injuries and Jabrill Peppers' absence due to his impending legal situation haven't helped, I don't have too much of an issue with Jerod Mayo calling his team, specifically defense, soft. Now, do he and DC DeMarcus Covington bear some blame for that at this point in the year? I can't say for sure, but I don't think that's an unfair accusation to put on this staff. Mayo and Eliot Wolf did bring up the idea of a less hard-ass vibe during the combine, and for better or worse, that looked like it showed up in the defensive trenches on Sunday..often.
Working to the Second Level
While things were ultimately a defeat by 1000 cuts in the run game by Tank Bigsby and D'Ernest Johnson, the Patriots allowed five total runs of 10 plus yards, three of which were duo concepts with Bigsby where Jahlani Tavai either got outmuscled, misread a counter run, in the case of the first play, simply missed an easy tackle. Take a look.
At a certain point, we can't just fall on the Ja'Whaun Bentley excuse, as valid as it may be. The bottom line is that Tavai has not been great in his expanded role, and that's now bled over into the run game. He's at his best in the run as a slotted-in edge defender, but the Patriots don't have the luxury to put him down there much, if at all, given their health on that side of the ball. I highly doubt either or all of these plays are net negatives with Bentley in, and the missed tackle was brutal. Tavai was also responsible for the presnap extra point penalty that led to the Jaguars successfully going for two after the kick return. Not that he was the only bad run defender, but just an all-around bad day from a guy who was so dependable a year ago.
What Went Right on the Opening Drive?
While I think Alex Van Pelt did not do this offense any favors outside of a handful of drives, I did like the plan of attack on the opening touchdown drive. He got Pop Douglas working in motion to great success right away after that initial play-action shot (like the idea, probably not the best play against a team you know is running heavy, man). He ultimately put Drake Maye in good situations with many quick stuff and some well-timed/designed screens. That screen call to Hasty on that 3rd&10 was perfect in that you caught Ryan Nielsen with his pants down with a horrendous blitz call.
Under no circumstances should Josh Hines Allen (No. 41 in your program) have to work to the opposite side of the field to cover a running back on a designed blitz, let alone be in a coverage look at all, and luckily, Hasty made them pay. You can also extend most of my thoughts here to the field goal drive, and I thought Drake Maye made some dynamite throws in both. Here were some of my favorite.
What Went Wrong After?
Once the Patriots lost Pop Douglas due to "illness" for a large chunk of this one, they couldn't get anything going. My big question for Alex Van Pelt would be, why weren't you attacking the slot on every passing down? Second, why were they committed to the run as much as they were given? They couldn't do anything all day. A lot of individual things went wrong in the middle quarters, but this third-down play kind of sums everything up.
Where do you want to start here? 3rd&6, two receivers fall down, Osborne working over the middle is only open for a quick stretch, then Maye throws it to him too late and lucks out with this being an incompletion and a punt instead of a pick-six. It's one of a handful of throws, including the Kendrick Bourne third-down incompletion, that I can comfortably put on Maye, who had some struggles with pass placement on occasion in this one.
As far as some of these other receivers go with off-the-field headlines, I can't say I like KJ Osborn going public with an unregistered agent (???) airing out that he wasn't going to play this week until Javon Baker got sick, and I definitely think they need to bench Ja'Lynn Polk for a week just to get him in a more positive headspace. There's a chance it wouldn't go over well, but I think a mental reset would do him some good at this point, and it would give Baker a shot to get in the lineup.
Gaffney's Three Stars from Patriots-Jaguars
3rd Star - Jonathan Jones (0 Receptions Allowed on 11 Coverage Snaps, 6 vs. Brian Thomas Jr.)
2nd Star - Hunter Henry (8 Receptions on 9 Targets for 92 Yards)
1st Star - Drake Maye (26/37, 276 Yards, 2 TDs, 3 Rushes for 18 Yards)
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