Matt Patricia faces questions about Patriots' offense but offers little in the way of answers
BOSTON -- In the midst of facing questions over Zoom on Tuesday, Matt Patricia corrected one reporter who had put forth the notion that the Patriots' third-down offense has gotten worse.
"You know, I think third down this week actually was better than what it's been," a raspy Patricia remarked.
On that, Patricia is correct. The Patriots converted six of their 13 third downs against the Bengals, a conversion rate of 46.2 percent. That's markedly better than their overall season rate, which is at 34.9 percent, seventh-worst in the NFL
That, though, just speaks to how inefficient the Patriots' offense has been all year, with a unit that has failed to get better as the year has worn on.
Now with Week 16 complete, the Patriots rank 26th in third-down offense, 31st in fourth-down offense, dead last in red zone offense and tied for 31st in goal-to-go offense.
They rank 27th in average yards per drive and 24th in average points per drive. Considering the Patriots' defense ranks seventh and third in those same categories, respectively, it's putting a lot of focus on the offense for just not being good enough to deliver wins on a consistent basis. Sunday's loss -- a 22-18 defeat that featured a defensive score for the Patriots
Understandably, Patricia faced some pointed questions on Tuesday. As is his usual style, he answered those questions with many words, speaking for 10 minutes or so despite that strained voice. Below is a sampling of how some of the Q&A went, with some of the questions edited for brevity.
What went wrong on the first two failed third downs, the first of which led to a Hunter Henry-Jonnu Smith collision, the second of which led to Mac Jones looking to throw a WR screen with no WRs looking for the ball?
Patricia: Yeah. Yeah, and you know, it's a great, great point. I think, you know, the first third down, we usually go in on third downs we have, you know, typically, maybe a couple of different options on the plays, depending on the coverage that we're gonna see. And Cincy, they have a couple of different packages that they run, both versus a nickel defense and a dime defense. And really just, you know, when we went into that play, we had a really [good] play that we practiced, we thought that we had a couple of good options on it. You know, I think we saw the play a little bit different on the field and gotta just kind of clean that up from that standpoint. Certainly, I think those plays came up later in the game, and we executed them well later in the game. You know, we obviously didn't do a very good job on third down in the first half, trying to get a feel for some of the different looks that they had. Came out in the second half, and I think we went 6-for-6 to start the second half, somewhere around that end. So we got a lot of that cleaned up at halftime -- some of the different packages that they had, the people in positions that the had them in, because that was a little bit of a, you know, as we were going into the game, unsure maybe of what those matchups would be. And you know, we got some of that corrected. But, you know, not the way you want to start, certainly, from that aspect of it. You know, when you have those plays kind of designed and dialed up ready to go. So I was glad we got them fixed, and we were able to execute them better in the second half. We obviously just, you know, we've gotta start better than that though in order to give ourselves a better chance.
Do you understand why observers feel like it's getting worse?
Patricia: Yeah, you know, I think third down this week actually was better than what it's been.
But the design of the play was disastrous-looking.
Patricia: Yeah, no, I mean, it's definitely something that you know, you don't want to have happen during the game. You gotta get it fixed. And you know, what happens on third down, I would say a lot of times, is third down is the one down where it's very specific based on the defensive packages that come in. You know, the coverages change. A lot of times on early downs, you'll get a lot of zone coverage, you'll get maybe one particular man coverage. And Lou [Anarumo] does a good job with his defense and, you know, it has a lot of similarities to our defense and some of the coverages that they run and the pressures. We just, you know, we gotta do a better job of recognizing those and then going out and executing it when they come up. Absolutely.
On your final drive, the offense took a delay of game penalty before fourth-and-10, and then David Andrews ran upfield on a fourth-and-15 deep pass. Why are the communication issues still prevalent in Week 16?
Patricia: Yeah, I think only really just the one is the delay of game. You know, we were trying to get into a play, we had some guys in the game in different positions based on some of the injuries that happened earlier and maybe the previous four plays, you know, and kind of moved some guys around. Very specific plays for the time that was left on the clock, and getting that communicated and then obviously recognizing, you know, what Cincinnati was doing in that situation and trying to get that communicated. You know, I think the last situation with David, you know, that was probably just [him] not really sure if the quarterback was scrambling or not in the moment. And I don't think that was a miscue. But, you know, other than that, we were, you know, trying to get some specific thrown -- with the clock -- downfield in that situation, you know, to give us a chance to obviously put one up at the end.
Why have the results not been there for the offense?
Patricia: Yeah, I think every game's been a little bit different and that's probably been the hardest part. You know, it hasn't been let's say one particular thing. Maybe the area -- you know, certainly we gotta score more points in the red area. You know, we gotta get the ball in the end zone. But I would say it's been different things on different plays. And that's the part that's, you know, always the artists is, you know, you fix one thing or you try to concentrate on one thing, and, you know, maybe a couple weeks later, that thing is fixed. But something else shows up, and just that consistency, is really, you know, what we've lacked in. And I think that, you know, we're just trying to continue to execute those better and coach them better and put our guys in the best positions and certainly there's a fine line. You know, I think there's probably about six plays that I think everyone can think of the top of their head that, you know, in the game at the NFL, it's a fine line. And if they had gone a different way, certainly the outcomes would have been a lot different. And those are the things that we really, you know, we gotta change. We're just kinda, going in, we gotta change and make those plays in our favor and not put ourselves in a situation where they're not.
Kendrick Bourne made a number of great plays in the game after not playing much this season. Will he be a part of the offense more going forward, and has there been a reason that he hasn't been on the field much this year?
Patricia: You know, I think there's a couple of really good plays in the second half, like even Jakobi Myers, you know, who, that was great play by him, great awareness to be in the right spot, you know, with Scotty [Washington[ going up for the ball in that situation and being able to catch it and go in. And I think Kendrick had some of those plays too, in the game. I think our skill guys in general, you know, each one of them kind of had different games through the course of the season where they've been able to step into a role. Maybe it's dictated by maybe a coverage that we're seeing or a matchup that we're seeing, maybe some defenses are trying to go after a particular receiver that we have or a tight end. And those other guys when they have those opportunities, you know, have been able to come through. And I thought KB did a great job of that. You know, we needed him in those spots. We had certainly moving parts that were going on and you know, defensively they had shifted some things to some other players and attention in a different way. And it just really opened up the opportunity for him and that was great to see him do that. You know, he's a great guy. He works really hard. And, you know, we've got a room with a lot of good players in there. But, you know, from that standpoint, it's been different every week, you know, which guy. And certainly, you know, with [DeVante] Parker not in, or Parker in, or Jakobi in or Jakobi not in, we've had some moving parts there from that standpoint, too. So that consistency is kind of what we're obviously still pushing for. We're running out of time here, but you know, we gotta get it this week against Miami. You know, Josh Boyer obviously very familiar with Josh, does a great job of mixing those coverages and mixing the packages in. And I'm sure, they'll do like they did at the beginning part part of the year, try to take something away from us. You know, we're gonna have to identify that and try to work off of it as quick as we can. And that's, you know, that's the game of football. That's what happens week in, week out. I would say, Lou, last week with Cincy, he's in that same mindset. So you're trying to identify early in the game, all right, what's their game plan? Who are they going after? How are they going to attack us? And you gotta shift and go the other way and, you know, it was good we were ale to get that done at halftime, but, you know, just obviously you want to be more efficient. You just want to obviously, have more or better production to start the game.
There was more, as Patricia took a question about Josh Boyer, and then took a question about what he'll do if his voice doesn't improve by Sunday. But in terms of the meat and potatoes offense questions, those were it.
So ... what to make of it?
For one, if you're looking for a simple, direct answer to just about anything, you won't be getting it. Ask about why Kendrick Bourne hasn't been a focal point of the offense all year until Week 16, get an answer about Jakobi Meyers making a heads-up play to catch a deflected touchdown on a broken play. Ask why the offense took yet another delay of game penalty when facing a fourth-and-10, get a vague explanation about the basics of offensive play-calling. Ask why the results haven't been there for the offense, get an answer that says things would be different if six plays had gone the other way.
Gotta do better, gotta do better, gotta do better.
It's not particularly illuminating. But it is what it is.
Additionally, there's a bit of public relations work at play. You brought up the third downs that didn't work ... but we went 6-for-6 on third down to start the second half. You say it's getting worse, but our third-down offense was better Saturday than it's been this season. You bring up a penalty that would have crushingly negated a potential fourth-and-15 conversion, but I don't think that was a miscue.
That is all a bit disingenuous at best.
There's also an element of you not being able to see things that Patricia and the staff and the players can see.
Our play call depends on certain coverages we are seeing. They have a couple of different packages with nickel and dime. We've got some moving parts.
The underlying message seems to be, "It's more complicated than you realize, you're not seeing what we're seeing."
Which certainly can be true. But we also see and know well what a high-functioning NFL offense looks like. A properly functioning NFL offense doesn't send two tight ends running into each other on its first third down of a game. A properly functioning offense sees certain coverage looks and then executes plays with regularity in order to ... be that properly functioning offense. It's not altogether complicated.
Twenty-five teams read coverages and execute plays better than the Patriots do on third down. Every single team in the NFL reads defenses and executes in the red zone better than the Patriots. The question isn't "why do some plays not work?" The question is "why is this offense worse than most everyone else in the league?"
Considering last year's team, with a rookie at quarterback, ranked 10th in third-down offense, tied for fourth in fourth-down offense, 11th in red-zone offense and seventh in goal-to-go offense, it's difficult to conclude that a fall as precipitous as this one falls on the players, most of whom were part of that offense a year ago. Josh McDaniels left, and so did Mick Lombardi, Bo Hardegree and Carmen Bricillo. Only Patricia and Joe Judge filled the vacancies.
It looked like a bad setup in the spring, it looked like a bad setup in the summer, it looked like a bad setup in the fall, and it remains a bad setup in the winter. There's no amount of filibustering or misdirection that can change that.