Eliminate turnovers
The Patriots fumbled too many times, and had too many costly penalties during the loss to the Dolphins last week. So it behooves them to clean it up against the Jets, particularly on offense.
Rhamondre Stevenson and Damien Harris fumbled. Left tackle Isaiah Wynn was called for an offensive holding penalty with the Pats facing a 2nd-and-10 from the Miami 14. That triggered settling for a field goal during that red-zone try. Shaq Mason’s illegal blindside block in the third quarter negated a 17-yard completion to Kendrick Bourne.
“One thing we used to take pride in was not giving the game away. And we gave the game away. We took away our chance to win the game, and we can’t do that,” said running backs coach Ivan Fears. “There’s no way you feel good about that. We gotta play again. That’s the only good thing we got going here, we get to play again, and again and again, and hopefully we get to put this one behind us with some doggone solid play and dependable play.”
Running back James
White said, with the Patriots putting the ball on the ground four times, with two charged fumbles, teams will be looking to further test them by punching the ball out. He’s right. That’s why the team spent considerable time with the backs, receivers and tight ends on ball security in preparation of the Jets.