While the Patriots’ offense was able to move the ball on a few drives, they ultimately came away with just seven points in Sunday’s season-opening loss in Miami.
Plenty has been made of the Patriots’ offensive coaching setup and play-calling, but CBS analyst and WFAN host Boomer Esiason pointed to another big problem during his weekly appearance on The Greg Hill Show Monday morning: A lack of offensive star power.
“You have to have stars. You have to have playmakers,” Esiason said. “Give me the list of playmakers in the NFL, and where’s the first Patriot on the list? 20th? That’s what it is, and that’s kind of what it’s always been, other than [Rob] Gronkowski. [Julian] Edelman worked his way into becoming the player he became. Wes Welker, the same thing. But those guys were playing with Tom Brady. These guys are playing with Mac Jones, who’s trying to be recreated as Tom Brady.”
While the Dolphins had Tyreek Hill making eight catches for 94 yards and Jaylen Waddle breaking loose for a 42-yard touchdown, the Patriots’ top receiver was Jakobi Meyers at four catches for 55 yards. They did have one big play on a 41-yard completion to Kendrick Bourne, but Bourne didn’t even play until the fourth quarter.
Esiason called the Patriots’ offense “lifeless” and suggested that they’ve fallen behind the league-wide trend of investing in star skill position players.
“Their passing game is not electric. It’s not what we’re seeing around the league,” Esiason said. “It’s not what Kansas City has, what Minnesota has. Even Aaron Rodgers struggled yesterday with a new bunch of wide receivers and inexperienced guys. It goes around the league, but there’s no question they do not have that superstar speedster that’s going to change the game.”
Esiason said that taking a more “collective” approach may have worked with Brady, but that it’s asking a lot of Jones to expect him to elevate the offense without a stud No. 1 receiver to make his job easier.
“Mac Jones is not Tom Brady,” he said. “Tom Brady for years and years and years would do it with lesser known players. He didn’t have the Tyreek Hills of the world or the top-end Antonio Brown when he was in his prime. He did have Randy Moss for a couple years there, and you saw how he could flourish with that type of player. It’s not who the Patriots are. They’ve never been that. It’s always been a collective group that has played well together, led by the greatest coach of all time and the greatest quarterback of all time.
“Now, you look around and you watch some of the wide receivers in this league and you see the plays that they’re consistently making week in and week out, and you realize that’s what the Patriots are truly devoid of. They don’t have stars. They have a collective group that they’ll eventually win more than they lose, but yesterday was an indication of just how stars do impact the game.”
