Monday night, the New England Patriots defeated the Buffalo Bills 25-6 in a game at New Era Field in Orchard Park, NY. That score is in no way indicative of how the game played out. What fans witnessed on this week’s edition of Monday Night Football should give some concern about whether or not the Patriots can compete for a Super Bowl this season.
For some reason, New England looked inept without RB Sony Michel, who suffered an MCL sprain during last week’s match-up with the Chicago Bears. A combination of James White and Kenjon Barner would not be sufficient in the minds of Patriots coaches. Instead of adding a free agent or promoting practice squad RB Kenneth Farrow, the Patriots decided to try WR/KR specialist Cordarelle Patterson at RB.
This plan made absolutely no sense.
Patterson is one of the fastest players in the league, but it takes time for him to get going. He doesn’t have the burst that a RB would need to get to the hole. Every time he touched the ball out of the backfield, it felt like it took him two or three seconds to even get back to the line, many times being stopped before getting there. Yet, the Patriots stuck with it. I’m not sure if they felt that they couldn’t do anything unless the running game was working, but it just wasn’t, and they continued to force it.
In the past, the Patriots have thrown out “JAGs” at the running back position and had success. Jonas Gray and Brandon Bolden come to mind. They’ve had these guys who’ve been used in small situations and have at least proven they know how to do their job. Bolden even did it against Buffalo.
But this year, something appears to be different. Without a running game, they look lost. That’s not a problem the Patriots are used to having. Brady has always been able to get past that and find open targets to pick apart a defense. That’s not the case now.
Part of that falls on the lack of the RB in this game. A good amount falls on the coaching for not adjusting after seeing it didn’t work. However, another part of the equation is the mediocrity from the offensive line.
Marcus Cannon missed last week and this week with a concussion. In Cannon’s absence, the Patriots have promoted La’Adrian Waddle to the starting RT spot.
Last week, Waddle was only pressured by actual pass-rushers a few times (Leonard Floyd and Aaron Lynch). The rest of the time he was tested with interior guys, Akiem Hicks and Bilal Nichols. He struggled with the faster, more athletic Floyd and Lynch and held his own with the bigger duo. Chicago only ran to Waddle’s side roughly five times to limit his usage. Matt Nagy and Vic Fangio probably could’ve done more for their team if they rushed more at Waddle or even put an injured Khalil Mack on that side of the defense.
This week, the RT was faced with a tougher assignment. He’d have to face the likes of Jerry Hughes and Lorenzo Alexander. These two DE/OLBs brought chaos to the backup. Alexander finished with two sacks, while Hughes provided pressure. The athletic, strong pass-rushers appear to be the type that Waddle has a problem with.
It wasn’t just Waddle though. The offensive line wasn’t getting much push at all. Buffalo did a solid job crowding the middle of the field, making it tough for Brady to throw to guys like Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski on quicker routes, forcing the OL to hold their blocks at times. Outside receivers (really just Josh Gordon) weren’t doing enough to open up the middle of the field to alleviate the pressure.
And at what point are we going to mention Gronk? It’s known he’s been dealing with an injury, but he hasn’t been a factor in the red zone at all this season. He hasn’t scored since Week 1. That needs to change.
Defensively, holding a team to six points may look like a dominant performance. This wasn’t the case. Entering the game, Bills QBs had only thrown three touchdowns all season, and starting QB Derek Anderson had none.
Anderson, who’s only been in Buffalo for three weeks, still threw for 290 yards. Looking at the level the Bills’ offense and Anderson are competing at, it’s safe to state a competent offense would’ve continued to shred the Patriots.
At least Patriots fans can watch this on repeat:
Derek Anderson clearly was working more on his golf game than his football game during his time off.
84-yard pick-six by Devin McCourty.pic.twitter.com/Yu1INRxcOQ
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) October 30, 2018
If New England wants a legitimate shot at adding a sixth Lombardi Trophy in 2018-19, they’ll need to do a hell of a lot more than they did tonight. The offense can’t shut down because your rookie RB isn’t out there. Belichick, McDaniels, and Brady have a lot of work to do this week prior to the match-up with Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.