MAC JONES’ OFFENSE BEYOND
PATRIOTS FILM REVIEW
Until 1:47 hung on the game clock Sunday, only two teams in the NFL had yet to score 20 points in a single game.
Both were playing in Las Vegas.
The Patriots had the ball, but it was the Raiders who were about to end their drought.
You’ll remember Las Vegas dropped Mac Jones in the end zone for a game-sealing safety and won 21-17; a microcosm of this miserable Pats season.
In sacking Jones, the Raiders beat left guard Antonio Mafi and center David Andrews
with the same pass-rushing stunt that produced a sack in the first quarter. Simultaneously, Las Vegas defensive end Maxx Crosby tallied the 18th pressure Patriots right tackle Vederian Lowe has allowed this season when he met Raiders Bilal Nichols in the backfield to split credit for the safety.
But before Jones went down, 3.2 seconds passed from the time of the snap and the moment he was first hit. In that time, Jones quickly cocked his arm before collapsing on himself. He could have flipped the ball to a scurrying Rhamondre Stevenson over the short middle of the field or Mike Gesicki waiting as a release valve in the right flat; anything but take a sack that would lose the game.
He didn’t.
Downfield, the Pats’ receiving corps again failed to create meaningful separation. That group has four catches versus man-to-man coverage in the last two games, a sad number. But not as sad as
DeVante Parker’s shrug of an explanation for why he dropped a perfect 40-yard pass the snap before Jones’ safety.
Yet the hardest truth of Sunday is that the Patriots and Raiders intended to play the same, safe game. Both teams schemed around subpar quarterbacks and porous front lines. Defensively, their plans leaned into zone coverage and hoped to force the opponent into mistakes via long, patient drives.
Accepting that dare, the Pats offense actually stayed on-schedule with steady gains more often than Las Vegas did. But the Raiders’ raw talent generated more explosive plays, and thus four extra trips into the red zone. While questionable coaching and poor execution steered some of those drives into quicksand, Las Vegas nonetheless staked an early lead, and widened its margin for error.
The bare-bones Patriots have no margin for error. They do not start fast and cannot play from behind. In 38 career starts, Jones has managed one fourth-quarter comeback. This season, the Pats have led in one game: their Week 3 win over the Jets.
Each Sunday, Jones and Co. walk a tightrope that springs them off again and again sometime in the first half when they inevitably trail by double-digits. It’s not strictly because of Jones or his receivers or the coaches or an overmatched offensive line that committed three penalties over the Patriots’ first and final drives.
It’s all of them. Blame is on everyone’s hands, and the stains aren’t washing away anytime soon.
Here’s what else the film revealed about Sunday’s loss: