Patriots have to fundamentally improve before any quarterback change

Everyone in New England wants to talk quarterback. Will Drake Maye play again in San Francisco? Could he start in the next few weeks? Will the offense explode into the 2023 Houston Texans if Maye plays?

Well, forget it. Pink Floyd once said, “If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding!” Maye is the pudding, and the Patriots have to sort out their fundamentals at tackles and tackling after a disastrous Week 3.

Thursday Night Football in Jersey has to be rock bottom for the offensive line, if this offense is going to produce anything at all. The unit should immediately improve once their starters get healthy and find a rhythm with one another.

“When you have a good offensive line, it's not about the individuals,” Mayo said Monday. “It's about those guys being able to pass off those twist games, and going back to seeing the picture out of the same set of eyes. We've had guys in and out of the lineup, and we've got to get some continuity there and go from there.”

Across three games, it’s clear the biggest linchpin in the line is left tackle Vederian Lowe. He helped stabilize the pass protection against Cincinnati after Chukwuma Okorafor likely played out the last twelve snaps of his career in the first quarter. Lowe went on to play 96% of snaps against Seattle before suffering a knee injury that sidelined him for the quick turnaround against the Jets.

Without him, Patriots quarterbacks Jacoby Brissett was sacked five times, and Maye was sacked twice during his fourth quarter appearance.

Lowe told me he feels good, and that he’s progressing “slowly, but surely.”

“First two games, we were able to establish the run game, set the line of scrimmage, and be physically dominant play-in and play-out.
Those games were completely different than the one we just had. I feel like we kind of strayed off from that. As unit, we’ll get back to that,” he said.

The possibility of guard Sidy Sow’s return to the unit after being out with an injury through the first three weeks of the season presents another chance for the line to get down to the brass tacks that looked rusty last week.

“Just getting back to the fundamentals and not doing anything we’re not coached to do. [Coach Peters] is always talking about staying square.
We have a strike system, use the strike system,” Lowe said.

As gross as the offensive line looked against the Jets, the defense has to take a hard look at themselves, too. Jerod Mayo recognized 14 missed tackles from his area of expertise in the postgame. It was an heads-scratching performance from a unit that’s prided themselves on their motor and professionalism.

But one of the most disappointing issues the Patriots showed in Week 3 was the prevalence of individual shortcuts and brain farts that led to flags. Mayo’s Patriots looked ready and well-coached in Week 1. Whether it was the short week or just a bad matchup, they looked like a completely different team against the Jets.

“When you shortchange your techniques and fundamentals, you play outside your character,” Deatrich Wise Jr. said Monday.

Maybe the team was just exhausted from an overtime loss against Seattle days prior. Maybe the offensive line injuries were just too much to overcome. Maybe the coaches just embraced the wrong sort of plan leading into prime time.

The Patriots are already resetting their philosophy in Week 4.

Mayo brought the team in on Monday for what he called a “bonus day” to self-scout. During a morning team meeting, he put up a slide of a mirror and asked players to reflect on what part they had in last Thursday’s catastrophe.

“For me, I didn’t like what I saw from myself,” safety Kyle Dugger said at his locker an hour later.

Nobody enjoyed watching those Patriots, but improving isn’t as simple as throwing a rookie quarterback to the wolves. New England has to go back to square one all over the field.

Featured Image Photo Credit: Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images