Anyone who’s watched the Patriots offense struggle to develop chemistry, consistency, points or even just positive yardage this season can tell you something’s off. The debate as to whether the offensive regression has come from Mac Jones, his receivers or the plays from first-year offensive coordinator Matt Patricia has raged on in recent weeks. A former quarterback turned television analyst and regular WEEI guest took time Wednesday to point out that the offense is suffering from a timing issue and there’s plenty of blame to go around.
On both “NFL Live” and his weekly appearance on “Merloni, Fauria & Mego”, ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky highlighted how timing issues between quarterback and receivers has been off this season for Mac Jones and the Patriots.
“There’s a disconnect right now with the timing and the pace of Mac Jones’ drop in relation to the depth and route of the receivers and actually getting their head around for the football.”, Orlovsky said during his weekly radio spot.
The seven-year veteran turned prominent football analyst added, “The timing has to be married to the quarterback’s drops, and the pace and the speed of the quarterback’s drop has to be married to the depth of the routes as well.”
Later on TV, Orlovsky, in highlighting the route issues with video, added that the spacing between receivers in some of the pass plays the Patriots have run is “god awful” and that receivers don’t have their heads turned or aren't looking for the ball by the time Jones is ready to deliver it. “No one’s even ready for the pass concept!”
Translation: Mac and his receivers just aren't all on the same page. OK, but why? Mac isn’t a rookie, and he’s surrounded by veteran receivers with whom he’s previously displayed an ability to work productively. They’ve spent so much time together this year, from private offseason workouts in Florida and California to OTAs and training camp, and yet they’re all out of whack. As we dig deeper and try to figure out the root cause, who’s the culprit behind this disconnect?
“Based on what Dan just showed us…that to me says that’s on the coaching,” added former NFL receiver turned analyst Keyshawn Johnson.
This would likely lead one and many to point the finger of blame at Matt Patricia, who’s been taking lots of heat this season from fans and media alike. Play-calling has been recently labeled as predictable by film experts, so much so that coach Bill Belichick had to admit that players for the Colts and Jets were yelling out the playcalls at the line of scrimmage in recent games. That’s all unacceptable at this point in the season, and underscores just how much work the Patriots passing offense, at every level, needed to put in during the time off that Jones referred to as a good time to “self audit”.
Orlovsky wasn’t looking for heads, just the effort to make things better quickly: “This isn’t the blame game, but you have to have hopefully addressed and fixed in their bye week.”
We’ll see just how much timing and syncing work was done when the Patriots host the Jets Sunday at 1 p.m. at Gillette Stadium.
