FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — No matter which way you slice it, the Patriots aren’t about to morph into an edge-of-your seat, high-powered, rip-off-30 points-at-will-type of offense over the second half of the season.
They’re not going to be Kansas City, Buffalo or Miami. They don’t have the personnel to be as explosive as those teams.
But that doesn’t mean they can’t be better with the players they do have on the roster.
Coming off a bye week, the Patriots need to step it up offensively to give themselves a shot at a playoff berth. Mac Jones & Co. need to improve across the board, most notably at quarterback.
If not, it’s on Bill Belichick. He’s the conductor of this orchestra of dysfunction. And he needs to do whatever possible to change the narrative, and make the offense work at a more competitive level, even if it means calling the plays himself.
As everyone knows, Belichick somehow thought it was a good idea to replace Josh McDaniels, the offensive coordinator who coached Jones through an historic rookie season, with former coordinators who coached defense and special teams.
He was convinced the best way for Jones to make a Year 2 leap was to have a couple of coaches who were novices when it came to handling an offense and calling offensive plays, take over the offense.
This had failure written all over it, even if the great Belichick was the mastermind behind the move.
And right on cue, first-time offensive play-caller Matt Patricia and quarterbacks coach Joe Judge have sent the unit into a tailspin, starting with Jones.
During the recent break to sort out the mess, it behooved Belichick and his two cohorts to try and fix what’s broken. There were just so many things wrong, so many areas to correct prior to Sunday’s crucial meeting with the Jets. Time will tell if they got the job done.
It starts with Jones, who looks lost under center. It continues with a swiss cheese offensive line in pass protection, which Patricia coaches, and a collection of high-priced tight ends and receivers, many of whom are underperforming.
Add in pedestrian play design and play-calling, and it’s led to having an offense that’s ranked 26th overall, 28th in the red zone, 21st on third down, 21st in sack rate and 32nd in interception rate.
Outside of running back Rhamondre Stevenson, who is having a breakout season, and Jakobi Meyers, who improves every year and continues to be their most reliable receiver, there’s really nothing to hang your hat on.
And yet, while it seems like mission impossible, improvements can be made simply by putting Jones in better positions to succeed, and catering to his skillset, rather than trying to force-feed a new offense the coaches prefer.
Well, time’s up. Because it’s now or never to mend the offense.
The Patriots need to beat the Jets to keep in the playoff hunt. Let’s just say they won’t be able to survive Gang Green and the rest of their second-half opponents if the winning formula remains relying on stellar defense and the unflappable Nick Folk alone.
Getting a read on the situation from some of the players this week, they’re ready to apply all of the adjustments made during the bye, and see where that takes them.
Meyers felt like the practices the team had prior to taking a break were productive. So they’re hopeful they can turn it around.
“We had some good practices where we stepped back and looked at what was working, what wasn’t working, tried to fix it, and if it didn’t work, it didn’t work. We got rid of it,” he said. “I feel like the practices we had during the bye week were definitely helpful for the offense moving forward.”
If those practices involved letting Jones do what he does best, then they’re on to something.
Based on the statistics at hand, Jones fares much better when he’s operating out of the shotgun with spread formations. Just about everything else has led to pressure, turnovers, negative plays, and opposing players knowing what’s coming ahead of time, thanks to some predictability when it comes to Patricia.
On Wednesday, Belichick once again tried to downplay that, saying he believes the offense is varied enough, and having opposing players get a beat on their play calls is part of football. Funny, it wasn’t such a blatant issue with previous offenses.
In any case, you can bet the farm that was addressed during the bye. You can also bet adjustments were made.
Jones, who threw seven picks in the six games he started, acknowledged as much during his Wednesday media session.
“I think every staff around the league … they’re working through things during the bye week,” he said. “You obviously have your identity and what you want to be, and how you can get there, there’s some things you can improve during the bye week.
“We want to continue to improve every week … I felt good about the progress we made. We just have to apply it on Sunday.”
So maybe we’ll see Mac back in the shotgun where he’s comfortable. Maybe we’ll see more RPO’s, which worked well against the Jets.
After such a miserable first half, Belichick knows the players need to have confidence in what they’re doing, with the scheme, and game plans going forward.
Jones, who was chatting with Kendrick Bourne in the locker room about how a certain play worked well in practice, seems to be in a better place. Meyers also sounded upbeat.
“Confidence is definitely a big thing,” said Meyers. “Just being a football player, being an athlete in general. You want to know that you have faith in what you’re doing. If not, I don’t want to go out there and put some craziness on TV or film.”
There was certainly some craziness on display at points during the first nine games. The Patriots can’t afford to have any more of that during the final stretch.
Changes will no doubt have to be made during the offseason if Jones & Co. continue to backslide.
