MORE THAN JUST NEWTON: PATS OFFENSIVE WOES GO BEYOND QB
Since Thursday night’s loss to the Rams, and even well before that disaster, much of the focus has been on the Patriots quarterback position.
And rightfully so. With Cam Newton’s continued struggles, and the team seeming to not have any faith in Jarrett Stidham, thoughts have focused not only on the quarterback for Week 15 in Miami, but also 2021 and beyond.
There’s no question the Patriots need a quarterback. That part isn’t up for debate. They are clearly desperate, and that’s priority No. 1 for Bill Belichick during the offseason. It’s the most important position on the field, and any hope of a future revolves around the next quarterback.
In the big picture, though, if you’re looking past this season, the identity of the quarterback is merely part of the equation toward fixing the offense.
Because no matter who plays quarterback next season, whether it’s Newton, Stidham, Tom Brady, Jimmy Garoppolo or some rookie to be named later, the results won’t be markedly different.
Not if the surrounding cast stays the same.
Patrick Mahomes couldn’t do much better with the talent the Patriots currently boast at the skill positions. Even Brady struggled during his final season trying to make chicken salad out of chicken bleep.
Perhaps the offense would improve a tad with an upgrade at quarterback, or someone who can at least hit a target, or simply throw the football competently. But when push comes to shove, the same issues are going to crop up if the quarterback needs to pass to win a game.
There’s no quarterback in the NFL or beyond who could improve the team that much with the current cast.
The players in the skill positions just aren’t close to being championship caliber.
It’s even debatable if any of the current receivers would be starters on any other team. With respect to the tight end position, the Patriots don’t have anyone rated in the top 50, per Pro Football Focus. Ryan Izzo can’t even crack that list. As for the wide receiver, you have to scroll down to No. 25 before Jakobi Meyers name shows up. And there’s no one beyond Meyers in the top 50.
Here’s the point: How can you drop a new quarterback into the offense next season and think it’ll be a lot better if everything else is left the same?
The Patriots need to fix their talent issue before even thinking about quarterback. They need to improve the cast, before sticking any quarterback, be it a rookie or veteran, into the fire. The roster is the bigger issue.
Maybe the Patriots find the “next guy” in the 2021 draft and land their franchise quarterback. But he won’t be put in a position to succeed without viable weapons at the skill positions.
Beyond running back, the offensive talent is that bad.
Solomon Wilcots, former NFL defensive back and current SiriusXM NFL radio host, agreed.
“It’s bad. It was bad (Thursday night). You can see that. They don’t have the talent to compete against a Rams defense,” said Wilcots when reached Friday. “The Rams have three cornerbacks that can flat out play. How are those receivers going to get open against that? None of them are going to get open, they cannot get open . . . look, you can’t keep winning with the Jimmy Joes. You can’t keep getting guys like that and think you’re going to win all over the place. Their roster is deficient.”
Especially when it comes to competent wide receivers and tight ends. Both Devin Asiasi and Dalton Keene played, but the rookie tight ends were virtually invisible.
Of the Patriots’ 12 possessions Thursday night, seven of those didn’t net a first down. Seven times they went three-and-out. It was one of the worst performances ever by an offense under Belichick’s watch in Foxboro.
Yes, Newton is awful. He’s still completely lost, hesitant and unsure of what he’s seeing, and understandably, Josh McDaniels doesn’t trust him to throw the football. But that’s left defenses to tee off on his running plays.
And somehow, Stidham isn’t considered an improvement, or a better option? He can at least throw the football. Newton lining up under center automatically makes the Patriots one-dimensional.
Naturally, McDaniels fell on the sword Friday during a video conference.
“Cam has certainly been the best option for us all year long, since he earned the opportunity in training camp. And, look, whenever the offense struggles, I know the attention is always going to get turned to that position. Me personally, it’s my responsibility to put us in a position to be more productive than we were last night,” McDaniels said. “Whenever we struggle offensively and don’t score enough points to win a game, I have to do a better job.”
Maybe the Patriots brain trust is trying to spare the fourth-round pick his sanity. Because it’s agonizing for a quarterback when his throwing options are so limited, and it’s all on him to make plays and put the ball in small windows when receivers can’t get open.
Brady pretty much lost his mind last year dealing with the same issue.
The view here is it’s worth seeing Stidham as the starter over the final three games, even if the Patriots aren’t technically eliminated from the playoffs just yet. But again, that’s not the bigger ticket item for the Patriots.
Assembling more talent has to go hand-in-hand with getting the next quarterback.
“Cam can’t throw, but I can’t really blame Cam,” said Wilcots. “If he could throw, who is he going to throw to?”
This is another great wide receiver draft coming up. While they completely passed on the last one, the Patriots have to stop missing the boat when they do select receivers.
Either that, or spend some money on receivers and tight ends in free agency who can play.
“They scheme some points on the board. But it’s incredibly vanilla,” Wilcots said of the offense. “When they can’t line up and put together a string of plays because they don’t have the talent to produce in that way, that’s a problem. They gotta resort to some trick stuff, or Wildcat stuff just to move the ball.”
McDaniels didn’t even try
any of that Thursday night. He was beyond basic against one of the best defenses in the league.
When the Patriots had Brady, he could make up for a lot of the warts. He didn’t need all-world receivers, although toward the end, he could no longer carry an inferior group.
When you have the worst skill position group in the league huddled around the quarterback, it’s not a recipe to winning football games.
While criticism of Newton is certainly justified, there’s so much more to the team’s offensive woes.
The Brady Chronicles
Understandably, Tom Brady’s diss of New England and its climate and change of seasons didn’t sit well with the locals.
“You won’t catch me dead living in the Northeast anymore,” he said during his video conference this week. “I’m loving the warm weather and it’s been a great feeling.”
Translation: Anyone dreaming about a Brady return to the Patriots, don’t hold your breadth.
Beyond that, some interesting stats were compiled by the Tampa Tribune with respect to their quarterback.
Brady’s had 3 multi-interception games in the last four contests. He had 4 multi-pick games total, in a three-year span from 20162019.
In terms of offensive line protection, which was good in New England, he’s already been hit 44 times while passing this year (3rd in NFL). In all of 2019, he was hit 37 times.
And here’s one more. According to Pro Football Reference, Brady has made 95 “bad throws” this season, which leads the NFL
The Hurts File
While the Patriots aren’t making a switch at quarterback, the Eagles are, benching Carson Wentz in favor of rookie Jalen Hurts.
Some interesting details about Hurts: he was a weight lifter in high school. As a sophomore, he was reportedly capable of squatting 500 pounds. As a junior, at a power-lifting event, he benched 275 pounds, squatted 570, and dead-lifted 585 pounds to finish second in the event for the 198-pound class.
If that helps him as a quarterback, who knows? He’s now 6-foot-1, 223 pounds. He ran a 4.59 at the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine, second-best among quarterbacks.
Coaching carousel
It’s going to be interesting to see who fills up the coaching vacancies down the road. It was fun reading about Robert Saleh’s family, as well as others, already lobbying for him into the head coaching job in Detroit, which Matt Patricia now out.
Beyond the 49ers defensive coordinator being a qualified candidate, he’s from Michigan. He grew up in Dearborn, which isn’t far from the Lions’ training facility. Saleh was a Lions fan growing up. Niners corner Richard Sherman has been campaigning for him. But so have a ton of Saleh’s family members.
Of course, Saleh isn’t paying attention to the noise. Not with the defending NFC champion 49ers struggling, and clinging to any playoff hopes.
“I know my family’s uber excited (about the possibility),” Saleh said during an appearance on the Adam Schefter Podcast. “I know friends from high school and all that, they blow my phone up every day and they’re super excited. But I’m not lying to anybody when I can say genuinely that it would be irresponsible for me to really think about it when there’s an organization who is counting on every person in the organization to do the best they can. (If) my mind is elsewhere, then there’s no way in heck that I can do my best. And so I really haven’t had time to reflect on any of the job opportunities or any possibilities moving forward.”
Fitzgerald details COVID recovery
Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald was active off the reserve/COVID-19 list and is hoping to play Sunday after missing back-to-back games.
During a video call with reporters Thursday, Fitzgerald provided some perspective on the virus.
“The scariest part I think for anybody that’s had it is nobody really can give you any answers,” he said via the Arizona Republic. “I mean, you learn new information every single day. You feel symptoms and you ask, and nobody really can tell you it’s going to be better or this is how long it usually lasts. There are no real answers.
“So, your mind kind of wanders. You’re sitting at home and you’re watching TV and you see the cases and you see the deaths across the nation.
“All these things are running through your mind. Obviously, you worry. Fortunately, I was able to get through it and I feel much better.”