The New England Patriots fell to 1-5 after a 21-17 loss at the hands of Josh McDaniels and the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
Coming off two disgusting losses to the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints by a tally of 72-3, the Patriots offense finally got into the end zone against the Raiders—not once but twice.
The two touchdowns came on the legs of both running backs Rhamondre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott.
The Patriots offense looked better, but it had some self-inflicted wounds, like an interception thrown by Mac Jones earlier in the game and the 10 team penalties throughout. They also gave up a sack for a safety to close out the game.
Although the game felt better than the last two weeks offensively, the team might be finding offensive success too late, as they are now 1-5 on the season. Only three teams have come back from a 1-5 start, and this team doesn’t have the talent to overcome that.
Let’s get into some leftover notes from Sunday’s game.
Offensive line is still putrid
The offensive line has been a struggle all season long, and this game was no different. Mac Jones looked better in the pocket, but there were too many instances where the pocket broke down.
It is clear that the offensive line is the main thing holding the offense back, which up until this game failed to get anything going on the ground or allow Jones enough time to throw to his receivers.
The Patriots also still haven’t solved right tackle.
Verderian Lowe has been bad as a starter, yet the Patriots keep trotting him out there to start at right tackle. The thing is, Patriots fans have been clamoring for offensive line help since February, and the team has failed to address it with real assets at any stage.
The team has made 11 roster moves to try and attack their offensive line struggles in the last two years. Six lineman were selected in 2022 and 2023. They signed three more and traded for the other two. Yet, the line is still the Patriots’ biggest problem.
The answer is for Belichick to put real assets via trade or free agency to address this moving forward, if they want any chance at being the fourth team in NFL history to come back from a 1-5 start and still make the playoffs.
Some names to look out for are Denver Broncos offensive lineman Garrett Bolles and free agent La’el Collins.
Feed Zeke
Ezekiel Eliott has looked like the Patriots’ most effective running back through the first six weeks of the season. He offers more in the passing game than Rhamondre Stevenson at this stage, and quite frankly, he has shown that he’s ready to take the fair share of snaps moving forward.
Stevenson is a good back, but Elliott is much better as a receiving and pass-protecting back. And the Patriots’ offense seems to flow better when he is on the field.
After a successful game, he may be in line for a larger workload moving forward.
Offense finding it's stride too little, too late
The offense itself, besides the offensive line, looked decent in a game against a leaky defense. They have yet to prove they can be a consistently efficient offense, which is why the team is 1-5.
In this game, the Patriots offense looked better, but it’s ultimately too late. Teams have a tough time coming back from a 1-5 start, and with the injuries piling up all across the board, the Patriots need to see if they can build week to week and just put a good product on the field.
Although it’s too little, too late, there have been some promising developments. Specifically, Bill Belichick might finally be realizing his offense needs help, as DeVante Parker played his least amount of snaps this week, with Kendrick Bourne getting more run than normal.
That decision led to a much more explosive offensive than we have seen this year.
