OFFENSIVE NOTES
Personnel breakdown: 78% of snaps in 11 personnel, 10% in 12 personnel, 10% in 21 personnel, 1% in 02 personnel and 1% in 22 personnel.*
Personnel production: 4.67 yards/play in 11 personnel, 2.86 yards/play in 12 personnel, 2.43 yards/play in 21 personnel, 4 yards/ play in 02 personnel and 2 yards/ play in 22 personnel.
Pressure rate allowed: 34% Play-action rate: 12.5%
Yards per carry: 2.9
First down splits: 75% pass (4.4 yards per play), 25% run (1.7 yards per play)
Third downs: 7-19
Red-zone efficiency: 0-1 Broken tackles: Kendrick Bourne 3, Jakobi Meyers
Sacks allowed: Damien Harris, Team 1
QB hits allowed: Team 4, David Andrews 2, Herron 2, Jonnu Smith
Hurries allowed: Team 3, Herron 3, Jakob Johnson, Isaiah Wynn
Run stuffs allowed: Smith 2, Team
Holding penalties: Andrews, Smith
Drops: Smith 2
Rough play-calling performance by Josh McDaniels. The Patriots started four of their first six drives with hand-offs against one of the NFL’s stingiest run defenses. Unsurprisingly, those calls averaged 2.5 yards per play, setting Jones and Co. back immediately in a game they couldn’t afford to fall behind.
Dialing up consecutive handoffs to Brandon Bolden during the offense’s first red zone visit late in the third quarter was equally perplexing. Bolden went backwards two yards, setting up an impossible third-and-12 for the NFL’s worst red-zone offense in the middle of an attempted comeback.
Bolden’s chief purpose in the Patriots’ backfield during the second half was to replace James White’s pass protection. Damien Harris gave up a sack on the offense’s fourth play from scrimmage, his second allowed pressure in seven pass-blocking snaps this year.
Harris has allowed pressure on 28.6% of the snaps he’s been engaged in pass protection this year, an untenable rate.
Every time Harris or J.J. Taylor appeared in the second half, they were sent out on routes; potentially a damning tell moving forward if neither can improve in blitz pickup. The Pats can’t fully function if forced to choose between solid pass protection and a respectable ball carrier at running back.
And they need to run the ball, because there aren’t many standard quick fixes for helping Jones. One of them, a higher playaction rate, may be off the table.
Through three games, Jones is the rare NFL quarterback playing worse off a play-fake. His sack rate, turnover rate and downfield aggression are all worse off play-action compared to standard dropbacks. Something to monitor for a rookie, who executed more RPO concepts in college than traditional play-action passes.
Credit to the Saints for heating the Pats up early. Their most effective blitzes were on early downs, as were their counters off those blitzes when New Orleans would drop eight and confuse Jones.
Jones’ slow trigger and the stonewalled running game were the driving forces behind the Pats’ slow start.
The Pats also waited too long to pick on Saints third-round rookie corner Paulson Adebo, who had trouble with Jakobi Meyers. They should have left Marshon Lattimore alone. Lattimore, a Pro Bowler, largely locked down Nelson Agholor.
The Patriots’ most productive personnel grouping in two of three games this season has been 11 personnel, meaning the offense has performed best when either Hunter Henry or Jonnu Smith is off the field.