The Patriots need a lot more from their wide receivers and other Week 2 takeaways
FOXBORO -- Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt touted the versatility of New England's offense heading into their Week 2 showdown with the Seahawks. After Rhamondre Stevens ran wild in Week 1's win over the Bengals, Van Pelt voiced his optimism that the New England offense could also get it done through the air.
Given the team's limitations on offense -- with an unproven set of receivers and an offensive line that seems incapable of pass protection -- many took those as just kind words to boost the offense's self esteem. It could have also been Van Pelt's way of trying to get the Seahawks defense to think a little more about the pass on Sunday.
But outside of a five-yard touchdown grab by rookie receiver Ja'Lynn Polk, Patriots receivers were invisible in Sunday's 23-20 overtime loss to the Seahawks. Jacoby Brissett targeted his receivers just five times, and they finished with just three catches for a grand total of 19 yards. Polk had two of those catches, while K.J. Osborn accounted for the other on a seven-yard reception in overtime.
Nineteen yards from receivers in an NFL game. That's embarrassing. Top receivers get that off one reception.
Last season, Demario Douglas was the safety blanket on offense and led the squad in receiving. He saw one pass on Sunday on a play where he drew a DPI, but that was it. This comes after he saw just three targets in Week 1.
While the Patriots ran the ball well again on Sunday, with Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson combining for 177 yards on the ground, the lack of an aerial attack is extremely worrisome. Brissett threw for just 149 yards, with tight end Hunter Henry accounting for 109 of those yards. He was Brissett's favorite target whenever the quarterback was under duress, which happened early and often on Sunday.
Brissett took the blame for his receivers not playing a major part in Sunday's game.
"Yeah, I think obviously we would like more in our passing game," said Brissett. "I've got to do a better job of getting a lot of those guys involved in the game plan and throughout the game. I take responsibility for that."
The problem is Brissett doesn't have the time to let plays develop downfield. With the pocket collapsing quickly -- or never existing -- he's had to get creative with his legs and dump the ball off to anyone who is open. That leaves little time for his group of receivers to get separation downfield. And even when they do, there's no guarantee that Brissett has the arm to be able to hit them.
While Brissett took the blame Sunday, it's on New England's coaches to devise a scheme that gets receivers open faster for their QB. If the routes are taking too long to develop downfield, they need to design more quick hits -- especially for Douglas.
That will help the offensive line, which can only hold their blocks for so long (if at all), and will force opposing defenses to at least think about the threat of a pass.
It's clear that the Patriots are going to be a run-heavy offense, and they should be with Stevenson breaking tackles left and right. But the heavy workload is going to catch up to the running back at some point. What is going to happen when the Patriots face a defense that can stop the run?
The Patriots need to get their receivers involved in the offense, and they need to do it quickly. Had they gotten a little more from their receivers on Sunday, the team would likely be sitting 2-0 heading into their Thursday Night tilt against the Jets. Instead, they're sitting at 1-1 and their offensive coaches have a lot to think about on a short week.
Here are the other takeaways from Sunday's loss at Gillette Stadium.
The play before the blocked field goal changed it all
Seattle blocking Joey Slye's 48-yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter changed everything. But it was the play before the block that ultimately doomed the Patriots from winning their home opener.
While Brissett did a pretty good job at alluding Seattle's pressure for most of the day, he wasn't able to escape the rush on a third-and-6 at the Seattle 21-yard line. With Mike Onwenu and Layden Robinson both getting beat on the play, Brissett and the Pats lost nine yards. It pushed the field-goal operation back, and after Seattle blocked the attempt, the Seahawks took over at their own 38. Geno Smith and crew marched 48 yards downfield and kicked a game-tying field goal with 55 seconds on the clock.
With a little better pass protection on the play before the field-goal attempt, Brisett may have been able to pick up the first down on his own or simply thrown the ball away. But the offensive line faltered, and then special teams failed on a number of levels at an extremely costly time for the Patriots.
Jerod Mayo's learning moments
Mayo got some on-job training in Sunday's loss, with a few decisions he'll be second-guessing ahead of Thursday's game.
First was his approach just before halftime. The Patriots got the ball trailing 14-13 with 1:28 on the clock and two timeouts. They were pinned at their own 8-yard line after an excellent punt by Seattle, so Mayo had a decision to make.
Should he push it downfield and go for a score, since the Seahawks were getting the ball back out of the half? Or should he try to run out the clock and keep Seattle from pulling off a potential double-score.
Mayo had his team try to do both and it cost them. They let the clock run down after a first-down handoff to JaMycal Hasty, so it looked like they were just going to burn the clock and head to the locker room down by a point. But they lined up five wide on second down, and the clock stopped when Brissett's pass to Henry was nearly picked and fell incomplete.
The Patriots threw again on third-and-8 rather than running and burning more time. Brissett felt pressure as soon as the ball was snapped and was able to elude a sack near the goal line, but his desperate toss to Henry on the sideline fell incomplete. That stopped the clock again with 47 seconds left.
The Seahawks got it back at their own 49 after a 26-yard punt return (another costly miscue by New England's special teams) with 35 seconds left and all three timeouts. They tacked on a field goal before the break, and those three points were pretty important in the end.
Expect Mayo to be a bit more decisive with his approach in the final minutes of a half going forward.
His decision-making in overtime also raised some eyebrows, but also speaks volumes to his trust in the offense. Facing a third-and-1 on their only possession of the extra frame, Mayo called for an unbalanced offensive line, with Caedan Wallace (filling in at left tackle) lined up next to right tackle Mike Onwenu while Henry served as the team's "left tackle." Tyquan Thornton also lined up in the backfield next to Stevenson.
Even with all those run blockers on the right side, the Patriots failed to convert as Stevenson was locked up in the backfield. And had the play worked, it would have been called back because of an illegal formation penalty, since Wallace was uncovered at the end of the line after Thornton motioned in the backfield.
"That's on us as coaches," Mayo said of the miscommunication on the play. "That's our fault 100 percent."
It had the Patriots facing a fourth-and-1 at their own 39, and Mayo had to make another tough decision. Trust in the run game to pick up one yard, or punt it away and trust that the defense could get the ball back to the offense. He opted for the latter, and Seattle marched down the field for a game-winning field goal.
Mayo said there was "some consideration" to go for it on fourth down. But he ultimately "did what I thought was best."
He has all the faith in the New England defense, but no faith in the offense. And who can really blame him with that offensive line and lack of firepower from the receiving corps?
At least Hunter Henry came to play
The tight end had a monster game, finishing with eight receptions for a career-high 109 yards on 10 targets. He was all the Patriots had in their passing game on Sunday, though Seattle made adjustments and were able to keep him in check in the second half.
Henry did a great job improvising and adjusting whenever Brissett had to scramble and came back for a handful of those eight receptions. They were big receptions for the Patriots, as seven of them went for a first down, including three when the team was facing a must-have-it third down.
His 35-yard catch on New England's second field-goal drive of the day is the offense's biggest passing play of the season.
Strong run game isn't doing anything for New England's play-action
The Patriots had another great day on the ground, with Stevenson, Gibson, Hasty and Brissett combining for 185 yards on 36 carries. Most teams will gladly take 5.1 yards per rushing attempt.
But the run game is truly at its best when it helps set up the passing game and keeps defenses uneasy with the threat of play action. So far, the Patriots haven't been able to get that strong rushing attack to help their incapable passing game.
After the game, Brissett even hinted that the Patriots are tipping their hand before running a play-action play.
"They had a good tell on us whenever we tried to push the ball down the field. They had a good plan as far as not letting us get behind them," said the QB. "We tried to, but we have to find ways to get on top of that and continue to push the ball down the field."
Just another big problem that Van Pelt and New England's offensive coaches will have to solve.
Keion White is still a beast, but Pats need more pressure
We'll likely be talking about how much of a force Keion White is on defense each and every week. After his 2.5-sack effort in Week 1, White was his disruptive self again in Week 2, logging another 1.5 sacks and causing a lot of havoc in the pass rush. He set up another sack for teammates early in the game, and drew a holding call that negated a big passing play by the Seahawks.
But overall, Geno Smith had a lot of clean pockets to operate from and plenty of time to pick apart the secondary. Kyle Dugger had a sack on a safety blitz and the Patriots had seven QB hits overall, but the pass rush is going to need to generate a lot more pressure going forward.
As good as White is becoming, he can't be the only player teams have to worry about from the New England pass rush.
We'll get you ready for Thursday night's Patriots-Jets clash starting at 7 p.m. with Patriots GameDay on TV38! After the game, tune in to Patriots 5th Quarter on WBZ-TV for full reaction and analysis.
