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We're halfway through the month of November, and we have no idea what the Patriots' offense is or if they can still be good in 2022.
Tight end Hunter Henry didn't try to sugarcoat things when speaking to WEEI's "Gresh and Keefe" on Tuesday afternoon, saying the previous two weeks simply weren't good enough or up to the standard the team holds itself to.
He himself, like the rest of the Patriots passing offense, is having a very down year, catching just 19 passes for 240 and one touchdown after topping 600 yards and scoring nine times during his first season in Foxborough.
But more than just making schematic changes, Henry suggested the Patriots needed a shift in attitude as well coming out of the bye.
"It was good to have a week off, good to evaluate all that stuff as a team, as an offense," he said. "We've got to attack this second half of the season with a different mentality than we have these last couple of weeks. Our defense has been playing really, really good, but we haven't been offensively.
We're going to take pride in that, and we need to go show it on the field; instead of just talking, we need to go show it."
"Attack" is a word Patriots players have used before in regards to what they want to do on offense, but it's rarely manifested in the way they've played offensive football of late.
Sure, they get downhill and run the football, leaning on the offensive line's strength and dynamic running back Rhamondre Stevenson. But the passing game too often looks aimless with plays not building off of prior concepts, routes run with poor spacing into the waiting arms of a zone defense waiting to swallow them up and too few defenders looking like they're in conflict.
Now would be an excellent time to change that.
Some welcome changes might be more RPOs that can get the ball into receivers' hands -- and those of tight ends as well -- or simply quick throws meant to spread the defense out and force mismatches against weaker coverage players. Such adjustments might even get Henry and fellow tight end Jonnu Smith going, which this team needs if it's going to unlock its offense.
Whatever the Patriots end up doing differently, they'd be wise to adopt the more aggressive mindset coming from Henry and take their recent struggles personally. It's put-up-or-shut-up time starting this weekend against the Jets.