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Patriots Quarterly Season Grade/Review

Mike Sullivan

Okay, first of all, yes, I know this technically isn’t a quarter of the way through. Roger Goodell screwed up the perfect 4×4 symmetry of the NFL season by adding a 17th game. But for all intents and purposes, we’re just about a quarter of the way through the year and the Patriots are 1-3. Not great! I wanted to give the Patriots a quarterly grade/review of the season so far, but there’s so many moving parts.

So I decided to break it down in 4 phases: Offense, defense, special teams and coaching. And at the end I’ll give my overall grade based on everything. Here we go.

Offense: C+

Easily the most frustrating unit of this team. In every game this season, you can see flashes of what this offense can be. But instead, you get the inconsistency that normally comes with having a rookie QB. The funny thing here is that the inconsistency…isn’t the fault of the rookie! Mac has had a good season all things considered.

So far on the year, he’s 112/160 for 1012 yards, 4 TD’s and 4 INT’s. Not going to blow you away at all, but definitely not a bad line. Especially when one could argue 3 of those interceptions weren’t Mac’s fault at all. Against the Saints, he was hit just as he released the ball (surprise, surprise). Causing a flutter pass that went right into the defenders hands.

There was the one against the Bucs that was a good pass, but Agholor just let it slip through his hands in the wet conditions.

And we all remember when Jonnu Smith essentially handed the ball to the Saints. This play still infuriates me every time I see it.

However!

He has 4 picks on his young resume. That’s a case of the stats not telling the whole story. Another case of that is where Jones ranks when it comes to almost every meaningful QB stat. While he sits at 8th in completion percentage, that’s really the only statistic where he even sniffs the top of the league. He’s 18th in yards per game, 17th in total passing yards, 27th in passer rating and 23th in QBR. But if you watch these games, you can’t tell me he’s looked how the stats say he should look. That’s not me saying Mac is this top QB in the league either. It’s just me saying that, hey, maybe the stats alone aren’t the best way to judge the rookie on his year so far.

And for what it’s worth, Pro Football Reference has the Pats at 7th best in the league when it comes to “Bad Throw Percentage” with only 8.8% of their throws being considered ‘bad’. They also have the Pats at 18th in the league when it comes to “On Target Throws Per Pass Attempt”, 2 spots higher than the Bucs. So in conclusion, Mac isn’t the issue.

Now, the offensive line on the other hand? They’ve been the biggest disappointment of the year. This OL took a huge hit when Trent Brown went out early in the first game of the season, but no one know it’d be this bad. Going into this weekend, they’ve been blitzed 4th most in the league while giving up 34 pressures (8th most), 17 QB hits (3rd most and they allowed 12 more hits in the Bucs game alone bringing the total to 29) and 10 sacks (5th most and they let up 4 more sacks this weekend). That’s not what you’re looking for when you’re trying to bring along your rookie, future-franchise QB.

Mac Jones has proven that, when he gets protection, he can make plays. I mean, even when he doesn’t have protection he’s still out there making plays. While the OL is clearly the biggest issue, help is on the way. Trent Brown is due to come back any week now, and we’ll finally get to see this line at full strength. And you have to remember Isaiah Wynn is still learning how to play with Thuney at his side. I think when it’s all said and done, the OL is going to become a strength of this team. And if not, well, Mac may not make it out of the season alive.

I guess I should touch on the running game too, right? Kind of a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde situation here. The Pats tallied 125 and 101 in their first two games, then sunk down to 49 and -1 yards in the next 2. I’m not going to crucify them here though. They were trying to throw their way back in the game against the Saints and no one has been able to run on the Bucs this year. The Saints and Bucs sit 3rd and 4th, respectively, when it comes to rush yards allowed on the season anyway. So you were never going to put up eye popping numbers there. And with an OL in flux, I can’t in good faith say this team has a rushing problem. But I will say this, ya gotta figure it out. Soon.

Defense: B-

The only thing preventing this unit from getting an A from me is their late game stumbles against the Saints and the Dolphins. Against Miami they only gave up 259 yards of total offense, but gave up a 9 play, 80-yard drive that resulted in the eventual game winning TD. Yuck. And against the Saints they gave up a 13 play, 75-yard drive at the end of the game when they needed a stop to give their offense any chance of winning. If you hold one of those teams at the end of the game, you may be walking out with a win. And instead of a 1-3 team, we’re looking at a 2-2/3-1 squad tied for first in the Division.

But late game blunders aside, it’s tough not to be excited about what this defense can be moving forward. Especially after holding Brady and the Bucs to 19 points when they were averaging over 30 every game. And while they got knocked down a few spots from 5th to 7th ranked D overall after this weekend, there’s still plenty to be excited about. The Pats are Top 5 in essentially every pass defense stat. 5th in completion percentage, 2nd fewest pass yards per game, 4th fewest TD’s allowed, 3rd most INT’s and 2nd lowest quarterback rating. That’s real good. They’re also tied at 6th in sacks. But it always seems like even when they’re not getting to the QB, they’re still applying pressure.

The Pats are towards the bottom of the league in many rushing stats, but that game against the Saints skews a lot of those numbers. I think the rush defense is similar to the offense in the sense that it’s still rounding into shape. Not great, but not beyond repair.

This is an overall unit that, I believe, will be the strength of the team for years to come. And I think we can all agree that Matt Judon is one of the best free agent signings Bill Belichick has ever made. Him and his red sleeves. Oh, and you know who comes off of PUP in a couple weeks? Stephon Gilmore. AND third round pick LB Ronnie Perkins is set to come back at some point as well and he’s a player the teams expects to have a big impact. The defense isn’t something you should be worried about.

Special Teams: A

Having a top notch special teams unit has become a staple of any Bill Belichick coached team, and this year is trending that way. Yes, they had the blocked punt against the Saints and they kicked it out of bounds on the kickoff, but those are outliers. This unit is going to be good just like it always is. They’re ranked 6th in yards per punt and tied for first in the league with the longest punt of 68 yards. Jake Bailey is still a weapon and Folk has been nearly perfect all year. And as long as you have Matthew Slater and Justin Bethel on your team, you’re in great shape.

Coaching: B-

Let’s just get one thing out in the open: I don’t subscribe to the “Let’s Hate Josh McDaniels” newsletter that gets passed around every season. While I may dabble in it here and there, I’m for sure not a subscribed member. It’s not a secret McDaniels makes some questionable calls each game. Running on third and long, an apparent excessive amount of screens, etc. immediately come to mind. But I don’t want to hear the “Unleash Mac!” argument anymore. It’s tough to ‘unleash’ your rookie QB when you have an OL that struggles to protect him.

While I’d love to see more games like he had against the Bucs when it comes to letting Mac cook, I can’t bring myself to torch the McOffense completely this season. Screens and quick passes are what you need to protect your QB and build him some confidence. The offensive playcalling definitely deserves criticism, but let’s stop calling for Josh’s head on a spit, okay?

The defensive coaching on the other hand has been relatively good this year. I’d say Steve Belichick’s best performance of the year came this weekend when they held the Bucs to one TD and got somewhat consistent pressure on Brady all night. Also, it was nice to see them clamp down towards the end of the game and give their offense a chance to win it. All in all, the coaching has been pretty good this season. It’s the questionable offensive playcalling at time that knocked this letter grade down a notch. But with Mac progressing and the inevitable fix to the OL, I see these issues ironing themselves out.

Overall: C+

At the end of the day, you are what your record says you are I guess. And the Patriots are 1-3. I have to grade them on what they’ve shown more than what I think they can be. Even though both were factors here. There are certainly more bright spots than there are…not bright spots, but the issues with this team can be huge if they don’t get fixed asap. But as I mentioned, these issues can be fixed. The offensive line will get better when Trent Brown gets back. The defense has already showed signs of improvement each week. And you have to assume the fumbles will stop as almost every Bill Belichick coached team is good at handling the ball.

You have yourself a ‘get right’ game coming up against the Texans and Davis Mills. That’s a game you need to win and make a statement in doing so. You bring that momentum into a winnable game against the Cowboys in Week 6 and you find yourself at .500. Then after that you go take care of business against the Jets and you’re right back on track with a 4-3 record. Take a deep breath Pats fans, it’s going to be okay. We’re onto Houston.

(Featured Photo Credit www.patriots.com)

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Mike Sullivan (@msully5433 on Twitter)

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