For the first time in three weeks, the New England Patriots scored a touchdown on Sunday afternoon. It only took over two hours of game clock and two agonizing blowouts to accomplish the feat.
The touchdown came against a Las Vegas Raiders team coached by former Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. Ultimately, like most of Bill Belichick’s former assistants coaching against him, McDaniels emerged from the game victorious. His Raiders won the matchup 21-17 in front of an energetic Las Vegas crowd.
The matchup gave Las Vegas their third win of the season while dropping New England to 1-5 on the year.
Here are five big takeaways from the game.
1
The coaching staff seems to be (finally) recognizing the issues at quarterback
Last season, the Patriots went the entire year with a so-called defensive mastermind calling the offense. As a result, quarterback Mac Jones slumped in his second NFL season, and the offense as a whole took a near-complete nosedive.
But New England stuck it out with Patricia in the position, despite the offensive ineffectiveness. With him at the helm, the offense finished the season ranked No. 26 in total yards, No. 28 in first downs and No. 26 in expected points contributed.
But the Patriots brought in a true offensive coordinator this offseason with the hope this would be the year Jones took a true step forward in his development. After the first six weeks of the season, Jones has not given the team reasons to invest in him, but reasons to move on.
And it seems the coaching staff is responding to the poor play. Undrafted rookie quarterback Malik Cunningham starred in the preseason and ultimately ended up on New England’s practice squad to begin the year. But with Jones’ poor play—as well as the lackluster preseason and regular season performance of backup quarterback Bailey Zappe—the Patriots made a move before Sunday’s game that could signify a potential turning point in the coming weeks.
Cunningham was signed off the practice squad to a three-year contract, and was designated the No. 2 quarterback for Sunday’s game—significant in its own right as the coaching staff had mostly been working with him as a wide receiver while he was on the practice squad. The team also made Zappe inactive for the game as the designated third emergency quarterback
Jones has the position for now, but the move showed that the coaching staff is willing—and ready—to try another player out if he keeps struggling.
2
Outside of J.C. Jackson, the secondary is in rough shape
New England’s secondary has been subject to the brunt of the team’s injuries this season. After rookie sensation Christian Gonzalez went down with a season-ending torn labrum two weeks ago, the Patriots were forced to turn to a unit made up mainly of reserve corners Myles Bryant and Shaun Wade.
Thankfully, the team reunited with former standout outside corner J.C. Jackson before last week and was able to re-insert slot corner Jonathan Jones, coming off an injury, into the secondary.
But on Sunday, the secondary looked rough outside of Jackson. While the outside corner did a great job locking down his receivers (mainly top Raiders wideouts Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers), the others gave the opposing quarterback plenty to work with.
Starting signal-caller Jimmy Garoppolo threw for 162 yards on 14 completions before going down with a back injury midway through the third quarter. Veteran backup (and three-time Patriot) Brian Hoyer then came in and completed six passes for 102 yards, gaining 10.2 yards per attempt.
While Hoyer’s entrance into the game coincided with the second half and a less-energized defense, the Patriots made it far too easy for the 38-year-old career backup to move the ball downfield. Hoyer had struggled in recent seasons with New England to look like anything more than an emergency quarterback on the field, but some of his throws on Sunday made him look less like a geriatric veteran and more like Joe Burrow.
Since when could Brian Hoyer do this? #RaiderNation
— Matty B (@mattthew_jordan) October 15, 2023
New England’s secondary has to get it right soon. The offense isn’t doing them any favors, and there will be far more difficult opposing quarterbacks to face.
3
Screw it, Kendrick's down there somewhere
Another facet of Patricia’s destruction of the 2022 Patriots offense was his misuse of wide receiver Kendrick Bourne. After a report came out early in the season that Bourne and Patricia were on bad terms, the wideout barely saw action the rest of the year, despite leading the team in yards after catch by a very wide margin.
But this season, Bourne has turned a new page and is proving his worth to New England’s offense. His combination of size, agility and top-end speed allows him to easily make defenders miss in the open field and get some separation for Jones to identify.
And Jones has made Bourne a favorite target as a result, with Sunday’s game showing just how reliable the receiver has been. Bourne had 10 catches on 11 targets for 89 yards and had his longest catch go for 36.
I am once again begging the #Patriots to feed Kendrick Bourne pic.twitter.com/rLDj9CnMea
— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) October 16, 2023
The receiver began drawing more balls in the back half of the contest, as he seemed to be the only wideout getting consistent separation from the defense. At one point, Jones threw him the ball on three consecutive plays in an attempt to generate offense late in the game.
Everybody in the building knows Kendrick Bourne is getting the ball and he's still making plays.
— Alex Barth (@RealAlexBarth) October 15, 2023
Bourne clearly brings a much-needed spark to an otherwise lackluster receiving corps. And until defenses plan for it, his connection with Jones seems like one New England can rely on.
4
Bad, bad penalties
The Patriots started their first play from scrimmage with a false start penalty. A bit frustrating to see, but it was a mistake and then they continued the drive—right?
No, because they followed up that play with a screen pass that was penalized (though declined) for an ineligible man downfield. Make that two penalties on the offense in less than 10 seconds of game time.
New England was penalized all game long on Sunday, to the tune of 10 total infractions resulting in 79 yards for the Raiders. Many of the penalties were costly, too.
On the Patriots’ third drive of the game, Jones threw a swing pass to running back Ezekiel Elliot who carried the ball 74 yards into the end zone with a burst of speed. But what would have been the first touchdown for the team in three weeks was called back, as tight end Hunter Henry held a defender to create the hole.
Have a day, Zeke. Thought this was the best he's looked in a #Patriots uniform. pic.twitter.com/QYA01R1Zph
— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) October 16, 2023
And as New England was on the verge of scoring again midway through the fourth quarter, two offensive penalties pushed them from near the goal line to about 15 yards back. If not for a lucky roughing the passer penalty on Las Vegas’ Maxx Crosby, the team likely would not have scored their second touchdown of the game to get within striking distance in the last few minutes.
With their offense playing the way it is currently, the Patriots need to play technically sound football to stay competitive in games. And they are not doing that.
5
The offensive line needs upgrades. Badly
New England’s offensive line unit came into Thursday’s game comprised of the following players:
Patriots offensive line in warmups
LT: Trent Brown
LG: Sidy Sow
C: David Andrews
RG: Atonio Mafi
RT: Vederian Lowe— Mark Daniels (@ByMarkDaniels) October 15, 2023
With two rookie players (Mafi, Sow) and a newcomer in Lowe, the Patriots did not make life easy for Jones with the offensive line play on Sunday.
In total, the line let up four sacks throughout the matchup and was consistently beaten by Las Vegas pass-rushers throughout the contest. The defining play of this trend came on New England’s last offensive snap of the game when Lowe failed to block Crosby, who promptly sacked Jones for a safety.
#Raiders DE Maxx Crosby beats the TE and NE to seal the win with a safety. DC Patrick Graham also deserves a lot of credit for what he has done with this defense. Great pressure plan put in for this week. #RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/2sa5gr1glF
— Chris Reed (@ChrisReed_NFL) October 15, 2023
It also didn’t help that tight end Mike Gesicki, who looked to be attempting to chip Crosby on the play, whiffed almost entirely on his attempt.
Some on social media poked fun at the complete ineffectiveness of the unit.
The Patriots offensive line every week pic.twitter.com/xNVHLFTJGA
— Boston Diehards (@Boston_Diehards) October 15, 2023
The state of New England’s offense is dire, and the lack of quality play within the offensive line is both a contributor and a result of it. The battle is always decided in the trenches, and the Patriots have been losing the battle.
