Despite the change of country, the New England Patriots couldn’t make good against a lowly 1-5 Jaguars team, dropping to 1-6 after a 32-16 loss that may have just saved Doug Pederson’s job. Looking at the game and schedule as a whole, this seemed to be a game the Patriots could win: an opponent with very poor play across the board, and one of only a few more games all season I think they could win. I even had this slated in the W column in last week’s article as a 28-14 Patriots win in Drake Maye’s second career start. However, things deviated from the plan.
There’s no doubt that the team has been more entertaining since the introduction of Drake Maye into the offense, but the efficacy of the group as a whole needs to be questioned. Has it looked better? Sure. Has it looked good? No, not really. The offense has put up 21 and 16 points in the last two games respectively and hasn’t looked like a cohesive unit. Pop Douglas left the game early after just two catches for 14 yards due to an illness he was dealing with beforehand. Hunter Henry looked very effective for the second straight week, recording 92 yards on eight catches. JaMycal Hasty showed some promise as a pass catching back with 49 yards and a touchdown on his five receptions. Individually Maye had a solid day again, but this time with no turnovers. He led the team in both passing and rushing, a testament to their hard-to-watch offensive line. The loss of left tackle Vederian Lowe made a bigger impact than most people may have thought, with PFF’s lowest graded offensive lineman, Demontrey Jacobs, stepping in on the left side. He sports a 28.4 pass blocking grade and participated in the Patriots’ seventh offensive line combination in as many games. The run game was a hallmark of offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt’s scheme, but it’s fallen off a cliff since Rhamondre Stevenson’s injury a few weeks ago. In his return, he recorded just 18 yards from seven carries, to go along with Antonio Gibson’s three for four yards and Hasty’s pair of carries for loss. The fact that Maye is performing as well as he has, given the situation around him is frankly miraculous, and gives hope for a positive next season despite their laundry list of flaws in 2024.
The defense has come a long way since week one. From holding a Joe Burrow led Bengals to 10 points and then undefeated Seahawks to twenty in regulation to giving up 72 points in two weeks. Wow. The losses of Christian Barmore and Ja’Whaun Bentley have shown the glaring need for run defenders this defense doesn’t have. Anfernee Jennings seems to be the lone player in the front seven capable of setting an edge and stopping the run, while the rest of the group seem to have very little interest in tackling. After getting a sizable extension, Jahlani Tavai has gone back to his Detroit days of missing tackles at a nearly 20% clip. Raekwon McMillan looks like he’s getting very worn out at this point – not something I fault him for given his two ACL tears in the last three seasons, Marte Mapu playing as a linebacker makes for a very light box as well. All this equated to a stellar rushing performance for the Jaguars, all while missing Travis Etienne. However, Tank Bigsby hit the century mark to go along with two touchdowns. The run defense was weak, but the pass defense didn’t show much either. For the second week in a row, Christian Gonzalez struggled; the Jaguars’ number one, Brian Thomas Jr., went for 89 yards on five catches to go along with a touchdown and two-point conversion. De’Ernest Johnson had just three receptions but made DB’s miss or powered through them as he went for over ten a catch. All in all, a very poor day for the defense as a whole, something that Jerod Mayo and defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington will surely be working on prior to the matchup against the 2-5 Jets.
The Patriot Way under Bill Belichick always centered around doing your job and being disciplined, but this team has been anything but. From allowing a 96-yard punt return touchdown to an offside on an extra point that led to a successful two-point conversion, this is the first week management and coaching is coming into question for me. Through the first six weeks, there were signs, yet, but from top to bottom, they seem to be more of a roster than a cohesive team. Penalties, not living up to expectations defensively, and now issues centering around drops between the head coach and second round pick Ja’Lynn Polk (five catches on his last 20 targets) have become issues. One thing I didn’t expect from a branch of Belichick’s tree was discipline issues, but we have seen that. It will be something they have to stay on top of as a coaching staff and organization as they return home to Foxborough to take on a Jets team that already beat them a month ago. As much as I’d love to say they’d beat their rivals, I’d expect Aaron Rodgers and company to hand them a loss. 27-13, the Patriots drop to 1-7.