The Patriots stink.
On Sunday, they turned the primary NFL workforce in 30 years to lose consecutive video games the place they allowed 10 factors or fewer. They scored seven factors or fewer for the fourth time this season. And for the fourth time, Bill Belichick benched his beginning quarterback.
After the sport, Belichick stated he believed each Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe deserved to play. With solely a half apiece, Jones and Zappe managed to gave Belichick causes to by no means see the sector once more this yr. It’s that unhealthy proper now in Foxboro, dwelling to the NFL’s worst quarterbacks room, offense and workforce.
Again, the Patriots stink.
Here’s what else the movie revealed about Sunday’s loss:
Mac Jones
12-of-21 for 89 yards, 2 INTs, sack
Accurate throw share: 61.9%
Under stress: 1-of-4 for five yards, 2 INTs, sack
Against the blitz: 6-of-13 for 51 yards, 2 INTs, sack
Behind the road: 6-of-6 for 37 yards
0-9 yards downfield: 6-of-11 for 52 yards, INT
10-19 yards downfield: 0-of-3, INT
20+ yards downfield: 0-of-1
Notes: He’s damaged. Simple as that.
Bill O’Brien tried to construct Jones again up with easy play-action passes early within the sport in opposition to a Giants protection anticipating run. O’Brien known as play-action on half of the Pats’ first six first-down snaps. On these throws, Jones hit a 19-yard vast receiver display screen, a checkdown, an invisible goal miles over Mike Gesicki’s head, then … all-time low.
Once the Giants cracked the backfield, they cracked him. Jones repeatedly folded in opposition to stress, risking a turnover on 60% of performs the place he felt some warmth. Pressure triggered all of his worst performs.
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Jones fired his first interception into triple protection, then fell away and lofted a duck at two Giants defenders contained in the purple zone for his second decide; one other panic transfer that probably took factors off the board. Jones’ remaining error (and snap) was a strip-sack the Patriots recovered.
Jones completed along with his third-lowest correct throw price of the season at 61.9%, regardless of additionally posting his third-shortest common depth of goal at 5.2 yards downfield. O’Brien baked minimal danger into the sport plan, and his quarterback unearthed it anyway. That’s the story of his season.
According to Pro Football Focus, Jones has nearly triple the variety of turnover-worthy performs (23) as he does throwaways (8). His 12 picks rank second within the league. He leads all energetic beginning quarterbacks in interception share and should have taken his final snap for the Patriots.
Bailey Zappe
9-of-14 for 54 yards, INT
Accurate throw share: 76.9%
Under stress: 3-of-3 for 17 yards, sack
Against the blitz: 7-of-7 for 44 yards
Behind the road: 5-of-6 for 31 yards
0-9 yards downfield: 4-of-5 for 23 yards
10-19 yards downfield: 0-of-2, INT
20+ yards downfield: N/A
Notes: He ain’t it, both.
O’Brien did not even do Zappe the courtesy of producing straightforward downfield throws. He took the ball out of Zappe’s palms.
The Patriots pivoted to a 75% run price on first down as soon as Zappe took over. O’Brien hardly let Zappe throw lengthy on any down, even whereas driving for a potential game-winning landing within the remaining minute. O’Brien known as a jet sweep to Tyquan Thrornton on third-and-8, the Pats’ remaining offensive snap, as an alternative of asking his quarterback to, you already know, play quarterback.
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More than half Zappe’s completions had been screens. As famous by NESN’s Zack Cox, Zappe’s 9 completions totaled minus-4 air yards, that means they coated extra distance behind the road of scrimmage than they did downfield. To his credit score, Zappe dealt with stress significantly better than Jones, however he additionally repeatedly stared down his receivers.
Zappe’s fourth-quarter interception in Giants territory, which led to the eventual game-winning area aim, was probably the most egregious instance of this. He is unfit to begin within the NFL, proving within the league’s most miserable quarterback battle there are merely no winners.
Critical areas
- Turnovers: Patriots 3, Giants 1
- Explosive play price: Patriots 5.8%, Giants 10%
- Success price: Patriots 41%, Giants 29%
- Red-zone effectivity: Patriots 1-2, Giants 1-2
- Defensive stress price: Patriots 36.4%, Giants 27.3%
Offense
Game plan
- Personnel breakdown: 56% of snaps in 11 personnel, 42.5% snaps in 12 personnel, 1.5% snaps in 13 personnel.***
- Personnel manufacturing: 4.75 yards/play in 11 personnel, 3.3 yards/play in 12 personnel, 5.0 yards/play in 13 personnel
- First-down down play-calls: 60% go (5.4 yards per play), 40% run (4.7 yards per play)
- Play-action price: 27%
Player stats
- Broken tackles: Rhamondre Stevenson 6, Ezekiel Elliott 2, Demario Douglas
- Pressure allowed: LG Cole Strange 2 (sack, hurry), LT Conor McDermott 2 (QB hit, hurry), Stevenson 2 (2 hurries), C David Andrews (sack), Team (sack, hurry)
- Penalties: QB Mac Jones (delay of sport)
- Drops: WR Tyquan Thornton, RB/WR Ty Montgomery
Notes
- How unhealthy, precisely, was the quarterback play? The Pats averaged a full yard extra on run performs than dropbacks Sunday. That ought to by no means occur within the trendy NFL.
- And but for some purpose, Bill O’Brien known as six extra passes than runs. How? Why? The Giants personal a bottom-5 run protection, and performed with out defensive sort out Dexter Lawrence, a second-team All-Pro.
- Recognizing all they need to must win 14 factors, the Patriots ought to have unapologetically pounded the gentle center of New York’s protection again and again. Instead, they allowed Jones and Zappe to play starring roles and destroy the present.
- Jones additionally tried simply two passes over the center, the place he works greatest, and missed his first six downfield throws exterior the numbers. How O’Brien did not scheme extra alternatives for Jones there’s a powerful.
- The greatest non-quarterback takeaway, nevertheless, is that this: the times of the Patriots’ offense morphing every week to assault its opponents’ weaknesses have been gone and will not return anytime quickly. This is a tragic, static group.
- Due to personnel limitations, O’Brien has successfully diminished his playbook all the way down to screens, probably the most fundamental and customary go ideas, uncommon play-action photographs and a steady-eddy run sport.
- That simplicity has left the Patriots predictable, as seen on the final performs of every of their first two drives. Giants cornerback Adoree Jackson sat on and jumped third-down slant passes to DeVante Parker and Tyquan Thornton to drive incompletions.
Giants CB Adoree Jackson ended the #Patriots first two offensive drives leaping slant passes and forcing incompletions. He sat on each routes pre-snap, unafraid of any throws exterior. pic.twitter.com/MjbtJyzypE
— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) November 27, 2023
- Parker performed 51 snaps in his return from a concussion, probably the most he is seen since Week 5. He accounted for the offense’s two longest positive factors on a display screen and slant go, each from Mac Jones. The Pats didn’t document a single play of 20 yards or extra.
- If Demario Douglas (head) is out this Sunday, the Pats might not generate an explosive play for weeks. Douglas is the one weapon who stresses a protection by himself, and the Patriots have tried to leverage his expertise by means of elevated pre-snap movement, both utilizing Douglas a decoy or by giving him a head begin into his route.
- Losing Douglas would additional trim the playbook and distribute targets to much less impactful gamers. Douglas has led the Patriots in targets for 4 straight weeks.
- During that point, JuJu Smith-Schuster has posted two video games with a single catch and Tyquan Thornton, Kayshon Boutte and Jalen Reagor have been wholesome scratches at totally different instances. They mixed for 37 receiving yards Sunday, unable to unstick from the Giants’ man protection.
- Tight ends Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki had been additionally non-factors, regardless of the actual fact the Patriots are enjoying by means of a number of tight ends on roughly half their snaps in most video games. Gesicki additionally might have run the unsuitable route on a key incompletion throughout a three-and-out within the second quarter.
- Rhamondre Stevenson dominated operating again snaps, seeing 53 to Ezekiel Elliott’s season-low 15. Both backs appeared to run more durable within the second half, when O’Brien went run heavy on early downs.
- O’Brien’s play-calling shift helped powered the Pats’ solely landing drive, then Zappe killed half of the remaining drives with a sack and an interception.
- Up entrance, the offensive line that struggled to guard exterior of left sort out Trent Brown and proper sort out Mike Onwenu.
Defense
Game plan
- Personnel breakdown: 60% three-corner nickel package deal, 20% three-safety nickel, 20% dime.****
- Coverage snaps breakdown: 66% zone, 34% man
- Blitz price: 33.3%
- Blitz efficacy: 4.6 yards allowed per dropback, TD
Player stats
- Interceptions: None
- Pass deflections: CB J.C. Jackson, DB Myles Bryant, S Jabrill Peppers, LB Mack Wilson
- Pressure: OLB Anfernee Jennings 4 (sacks, 3 hurries), DL Christian Barmore (sack, 2 hurries), OLB Josh Uche 2 (2 hurries), DL Keion White (sack), LB Ja’Whaun Bentley (sack), Peppers (sack), DL Deatrich Wise (half-sack), DL Lawrence Guy (hurry), DL Jeremiah Pharms Jr. (hurry)
- Missed tackles: CB Jonathan Jones, Uche, Jennings, Pharms Jr., Wilson
- Penalties: White (pointless roughness)
Notes
- Starting on a excessive observe: the defensive entrance managed this sport after a rocky first quarter.
- Giants operating again Saquon Barkley bounced exterior simply twice for lengthy positive factors and completed with 46 complete dashing yards at a innocent 3.8 yards per carry common.
- Defensive lineman Christian Barmore continued his midseason breakout, and had firm from exterior linebacker Anfernee Jennings. Together, they mixed for seven pressures and a go breakup.
- Rookie defensive lineman Keion White nearly single-handedly destroyed a sequence, and earned a sack; as did Jabrill Peppers on an early blitz and later Ja’Whaun Bentley.
- Peppers’ sack got here off a slot stress designed to short-circuit the Giants’ early-down deep photographs. Head coach Brian Daboll helped scheme up 4 explosive performs within the first quarter alone, thanks partly to an expectedly aggressive passing plan that exploited holes on the intermediate degree of the Patriots’ protection alongside the sideline.
- But as soon as Pats defensive play-caller Steve Belichick started bringing stress to rookie quarterback Tommy DeVito, the Pats gained a grip on the sport.
- The Giants additionally gifted them some boneheaded errors: most notably a fumble on the opening drive and key drops all through the sport.
- DeVito held onto the ball too lengthy, a typical rookie mistake. He took a sack on half of his 12 dropbacks beneath stress, and accomplished simply two passes, however by no means dedicated a cardinal sin of quarterbacking like Jones or Zappe.
- DeVito additionally picked on J.C. Jackson, who allowed 75 yards in single protection on 4 targets. Jackson gave up three catches, together with a 41-yarder to speedy rookie Jalin Hyatt, and had a go breakup.
- The Patriots performed a curious quantity of zone, given the state of the Giants’ receiving corps. However, as Jackson rotated with fellow corners Jonathan Jones and Shaun Wade exterior, the employees might have by no means felt snug with common 1-on-1 protection.
- Jones misplaced a sort out on the Giants’ solely landing: a 12-yard go to Isaiah Hodgins that beat the blitz.
- Despite permitting 10 factors in consecutive video games, expectations for this protection shifting ahead must be tempered. The Giants area the worst offensive line within the NFL, and as long as the Pats proceed to lean on gamers like Wade, Jennings and Myles Bryant, opponents will discover weak factors to choose at.
- Another strong total outing from Jahlani Tavai, although Barkley earned his two longest runs going at him, White and defensive lineman Deatrich Wise.
Studs
DL Christian Barmore
The Patriots’ greatest defensive participant for six weeks operating. Barmore tallied three pressures and a go breakup.
OLB Anfernee Jennings
His greatest efficiency as an NFL go rusher. Jennings has quietly stepped up, whereas Josh Uche continues to fade into the background of this protection.
Duds
QB Mac Jones
He’s turn out to be a turnover machine with out an off change.
QB Bailey Zappe
The teaching employees confirmed little religion in him with its play-calling, and Zappe failed to indicate that he deserves extra.
RB/WR Ty Montgomery
Two offensive snaps, one drop. He’s turn out to be a core particular teamer for a purpose.
CB J.C. Jackson
He turned a favourite goal of DeVito’s, and allowed three catches for first downs.
Statistics for passing depth, go safety, pressures, damaged tackles and missed tackles courtesy of Pro Football Focus.
*Explosive performs are outlined as runs of 12-plus yards and passes of 20-plus yards. Explosive play price is without doubt one of the most strongly correlated metrics with wins and losses.
**Success price is an effectivity metric measuring how typically an offense stays on schedule. A play is profitable when it positive factors no less than 40% of yards-to-go on first down, 60% of yards-to-go on second down and 100% of yards-to-go on third or fourth down.
***11 personnel = one operating again, one tight finish; 12 personnel = one operating again, two tight ends; 13 personnel = one operating again, three tight ends.
****Nickel protection = 5 defensive backs; dime protection = six defensive backs.
Source: www.bostonherald.com