High priority on security
Brissett must be astute with his protection
FOXBORO — Jacoby Brissett’s most significant goal this week should be an improved sense of self-preservation. The Patriots rookie quarterback took three hits, including one sack, during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s victory against the Dolphins because of miscommunication issues with blocking assignments. That typically falls on the quarterback for failing to identify the blitz and sliding the protection accordingly, so his pre-snap checks will be a priority during the expected series of walk-throughs in anticipation of Thursday’s game against the Texans.
Aside from that, Brissett ran the standard offensive game plan in relief of Jimmy Garoppolo. It merely looked like a scaled-down playbook due to extenuating circumstances, such as LeGarrette Blount’s 19 carries for 102 yards and one touchdown with Brissett in the game (10 carries for 21 yards with Garoppolo at QB) and earlydown penalties and sacks that yielded impossible thirddown situations for a young signal-caller in his debut.
So expect Brissett to handle similar responsibilities in his first career start. The offense shouldn’t run as smoothly as it did with Garoppolo, but Brissett’s style closer resembles G ar op polo than Tom Brady. It shouldn’t be too drastic of a schematic alteration, though the Patriots will need to adjust quicker to protect Brissett with plays that suit his strengths if things go awry.
Brissett handled himself well against the Dolphins. He was a little too jacked up on his first throw that rocketed through Julian Edelman’s hands on an out route before Stephen Gostkowski’s field goal made it 24-0 in the second quarter. Brissett’s second attempt also hit the ground when Edelman couldn’t hang on, but it wouldn’t have moved the chains anyway. That thirdand-5 bid was a bit more interesting because the Pats kept James White and Martellus Bennett in to block, but Danny Amendola and Chris Hogan were covered so Edelman was the only available option.
Brissett did a fine job on his first play of the second half, which was a play fake to Blount and a seven-step drop. Edelman was the first read on a deep route, but he was bottled up so Brissett found Bennett for 37 yards on a backside drag.
Brissett was 6-of-9 for 92 yards, and two of his completions were screens, a 15-yarder to Bennett after Joe Thuney’s holding penalty put them in a second-and-19 hole and a 5-yarder to White on third-and-22. His other three completions were a 7-yard under route to Edelman for a third-and-4 conversion, a 12yard out route to Hogan and a 16-yard connection with Bennett on a 5-yard hitch route.
The Pats got Brissett on the move a couple of times, too. He turned a play-action rollout into a 10-yard run and later needed to throw one away during a rollout that was sabotaged after Marcus Cannon missed his block.
They’ll probably help move Brissett a bit more Thursday to set up different types of passes and keep the pass rush in check, but he doesn’t look as quick as Garoppolo.
And again, it will be vital for Brissett to do a better job of diagnosing the blitz before the snap. He was hit on backto-back blitzes by the blindside cornerback when the left side of the line didn’t slide to the left and forced the running back (Blount then White) to choose one of the two free rushers. He was hit again later when Blount initially looked to the right side of the line and couldn’t recover in time when the blitzer came from the left. It’s hard to know for sure who was at fault, but that’s usually on the quarterback.
Brissett can’t replicate Garoppolo’s experience in the coming days, but he can cram like crazy to study the Texans’ tendencies. For what it’s worth, Brissett appears to be further along now than Garoppolo was at this stage of his rookie season in 2014.
The Pats were ultra-conservative with Brissett upon his entry by calling run-run-pass for his first two series, but they let him get comfortable in the second half. The results likely would have been better if he got more help from his linemen. Brissett didn’t get many chances to air it out, although Josh McDaniels couldn’t exactly call low-percentage plays in long-yardage situations.
They did overcome Thuney’s first hold on the touchdown drive, and they gained 23 yards on the second series of the third quarter before Shaq Mason allowed a sack and White lost 4 yards. They then gained 46 yards on the next series before Thuney’s second hold and another sack (Brissett’s miscommunication) staked them to third-and-29.
Brissett’s final drive was aided primarily by Blount’s eight carries for 35 yards, but the quarterback converted two sneaks and moved the chains another time on his 16-yarder to Bennett prior to Gostkowski’s missed field goal.
Brissett’s first appearance was impressive relative to expectations. He didn’t take a single preseason snap with the starters in front of the media, but that changed behind closed doors.
The Pats have shown they’ll give Brissett a chance to run a significant amount of the offense, so don’t expect a