One Stud, Six Duds From Patriots’ Putrid Performance Vs. Jaguars
The Patriots wanted to change things up this week, so they traveled all the way to Wembley Stadium to receive their latest butt-kicking — this time at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
New England continued to find ways to disappoint, as they started fast and executed their plan early in the game before coming crashing down to earth across the final three quarters. Jacksonville took over in the second quarter — dominating the game in all three phases — and (literally) ran away with it in the end.
Did we see anything worth celebrating?
No, not really. It’s going to be a rough one:
STUDS
Hunter Henry
Henry has never been a game-changing weapon in terms of his athletic ability — at least not in New England — but his reliability has been invaluable to rookie quarterback Drake Maye. The Patriots can count on their veteran to be a security blanket, and he showed that with a eight-catch, 92-yard performance across the pond.
DUDS
Alex Van Pelt
Van Pelt put together a fairly inoffensive script, which helped the offense get off to a fast start with its first opening-drive touchdown of the season. It’s dumb to let the results cloud your judgement of the process, however, and the process was pretty damn gross.
The Patriots’ first play of the game came on a play-action design, which was a nice idea, but the only routes being run involved wide receivers Kayshon Boutte and Kendrick Bourne meeting each other in the middle of the field while Henry and running back Rhamondre Stevenson stood within yards of each other as check down options. New England also ran one of the worst screens you’ll ever see to Henry during the second quarter, before throwing the ball on second-and-14 with time expiring before the end of the half — giving Jacksonville another shot with the ball. New England was stuck in a hole it couldn’t climb out of from that point.
Jahlani Tavai, Christian Elliss, Raekwon McMillan
The Patriots miss Ja’Whaun Bentley.
Tavai got bullied throughout the game, as the Jaguars essentially attacked him on the ground and through the air knowing how big of a liability he’s been playing off the ball. He also had a neutral-zone penalty that convinced Jacksonville to convert a two-point conversion instead of kicking the point after. Elliss was elevated into a starting role due to how ugly things have gotten with McMillan, but wasn’t able to hold onto that spot as troubles against the run persisted on early downs.
New England allowed 171 rushing yards on 39 carries, and clearly doesn’t have the necessary talent to survive against the run.
More Patriots
Ja’Lynn Polk
Polk hasn’t just hit the rookie wall, he might be permanently indented into the thing after the last couple of weeks.
Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo told reporters earlier this week his rookie wideout needed to clear a “mental hump” that hindered his ability to be consistent after a strong start. Polk responded with a rather strong statement about his abilities, before doing the opposite of backing up his own words with zero catches on four targets, including a couple balls that hit his hands and one would-be two-point conversion that he slipped on.
Effort
The Jaguars ran the ball on 18 consecutive plays between the third and fourth quarter, killing 15:37 of clock.
The Patriots don’t have a great run defense, but allowing yourself to continuously get punished in the run game has more to do with effort than an inability to make the stops. New England quit.