Ahead of this year’s training camp, New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel explained that he was looking at his team’s performances in three categories. There is the good, the bad, and, as he called
it, the s—t that gets you beat.
On Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, there was a lot more good than bad for Vrabel’s team or else it would not have won 25-19. That said, if the coach wants to look at the Patriots through the three categories he established, who are we to disagree? So, let’s break down the Week 6 game in exactly that manner.
The good: No letdown
The Patriots could have easily fallen into the dreaded trap against the Saints. Coming off a massive 23-20 primetime victory over the Buffalo Bills the previous Sunday, the young team was tasked with a quick turnaround and with keeping the energy up despite now facing a one-win opponent in a game flexed into the 1 p.m. ET slot.
To their credit, the Patriots managed to do just that. While the defense started a bit slowly, allowing the Saints to score on their first four possessions of the game, the offense was able to keep the team from falling into an early hole: Drake Maye and company opened with back-to-back touchdowns followed by a turnover on downs and another TD off a well-executed two-minute drill.
The action then slowed down a bit in the second half, with both defenses getting an upper hand. And yet, the Patriots remained locked in against what proved to be a competitive opponent. As a result, they out-competed the Saints in their home arena en route to their third win in a row.
“We just want to keep building momentum,” said quarterback Drake Maye after the game. “I think that’s the biggest thing. Week to week, and don’t just show up and linger on last week’s big win, and let this one come beat you. That was huge to get a win here, and we got to keep going and keep building them.”
The bad: Goal-line efficiency
The Patriots came out of halftime with a six-point lead in hand, and they were in a position for a double score to start pulling away from the Saints. A touchdown and successful extra point would have put them up 29-16 and given them some wiggle room down the stretch.
They came close, too, but ultimately were unable to seal the deal. Despite advancing to the Saints 2-yard line — in large part due to a conversion on 4th-and-4 and a 20-yard Drake Maye scramble — the team had to settle for a field goal.
What happened? On 1st-and-goal from the 2, Rhamondre Stevenson gained a yard. On second down, he was met in the backfield for a loss of 3 to set up 3rd-and-4. One delay of game penalty later, it was 3rd-and-9. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels opted to play it safe, and called a screen that saw Stefon Diggs gain 3 yards to set up a 24-yard Andy Borregales field goal.
“Disappointed in getting three points on the goal line,” said Mike Vrabel after the game. “Those are the types of things that will have to improve. We’ll have to make sure that we’re not beating ourselves down there and that we score.”
The s—t that gets you beat: Negative runs
The Patriots’ running game remained stuck in the mud against the Saints, with the team amassing only 47 yards on 24 run plays (excluding kneel-downs or scrambles) for an average gain of under 2.0 yards per carry. There were some positive moments, but all in all the team once again failed managed to establish a consistent presence on the ground.
One of the big issues for the Patriots were negative plays. In total, six of the team’s run plays went for a combined loss of 15 yards. The yardage is not the problem, though, but rather that those plays have the potential to disrupt entire series like in the goal line situation mentioned above.
Against New Orleans, quarterback Drake Maye was able to bail his team out time and again even when put behind the sticks. That is not a recipe for successful offensive football, however, and something Mike Vrabel, Josh McDaniels and company need to find a way to address — both in terms of player performance and play selection: at one point against the Saints, McDaniels called five straight runs on first down with New England gaining a grand total of 1 yard combined on those plays.
Obviously, output like that is more acceptable late in the game when the clock becomes an ally. However, so far the run game has not shown that it can help the Patriots maximize its win probability regardless of situation. It needs to be fixed, because other teams are better equipped to stop a one-dimensional offense than the Saints were on Sunday.
