The Patriots knew going into their matchup with the Cleveland Browns that the game would be won, or lost, in the trenches, and New England won on the line of scrimmage in their 45-7 blowout victory.
Offensively, rookie quarterback Mac Jones was only under pressure on 20 percent of his drop-backs, and the Pats’ had a season-best 81.8 pass-blocking win rate. Plus, New England gained 92 rushing yards before contact in an elite run-blocking effort as well.
On the other side of the ball, the Patriots’ defense pressured Browns QBs Baker Mayfield and Case Keenum on 42.1% of their drop-backs and allowed just a 35% rushing success rate.
In a battle with one of the best trenches teams in the NFL, the Patriots won handily on the line of scrimmage.
Here are various advanced stats from New England rout of the Browns in Week 10:
MAC JONES’S PASSING METRICS
With mostly clean pockets to work with, Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones had his best performance in his young NFL career on Sunday.
Mac Jones completed +16.2% of his passes over expectation, the highest CPOE for a rookie QB in a game this season.
Jones was especially accurate throwing downfield, completing 6 of his 7 passes over 10 air yards for 103 yards and a TD (+40.4% CPOE).#CLEvsNE | #ForeverNE pic.twitter.com/l2mk25ep1s
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 14, 2021
Mac’s completion percentage over expected (+16.2) was not only his highest this season, it was also the best mark for any rookie QB in a game in 2021. Mac wasn’t just completing short passes either, with an average depth of target of 10.9 when you remove screen passes.
According to Pro Football Focus, Jones completed three big-time throws in the win and had an elite 93.6 passing grade on non-screen passes.
The first big-time throw came on a deep pass to wide receiver Jakobi Meyers. Meyers uses a quick stretch release at the line to beat Browns rookie corner Greg Newsome, and Mac drops it in the bucket for a 26-yard gain on third-and-nine.
Then, Jones darts arguably the best throw of his career on a seam rocket to Kendrick Bourne that he fits between two defenders as Bourne makes a great play on the ball at the catch point.
Lastly, Mac threw a perfectly-placed ball to tight end Hunter Henry on a corner route out of a 3×1 formation with the two outside receivers clearing out the sideline with vertical routes.
The sample size for Jones is growing, and he’s trending towards a top-ten passer in the NFL. Out of 33 qualified QBs, Mac is 15th in EPA per drop-back and eighth in CPOE this season.
Since setting in after Week 4, the efficiency metrics are even more eye-opening, as Jones ranks fifth in EPA per play and fourth in completion percentage over expected (CPOE) in his last seven games.
Although we’ve said it here for a while, the Patriots have themselves a franchise quarterback.
PASS PROTECTION STATS
New England’s offensive line did a tremendous job against arguably the best defensive front in football, but it was a team effort to slow down Myles Garrett and company.
Along with an average time to throw of 2.26 seconds, Mac Jones and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels helped out the O-Line by scheming quick-release plays, and seven screen passes.
Furthermore, the Pats utilized chip blocks by their backs, tight ends, and wide receivers; none of those things should be viewed as bad or a slight on the offensive line. That’s smart football.
Even still, a 20% pressure rate and an 81.8 pass-blocking win rate are a tremendous achievement by the Pats’ offensive line, and they were excellent as run blockers in the win as well.
In all, Pats left tackle Isaiah Wynn allowed two total pressures and was flagged for a penalty against Garrett, an impressive showing to keep Garrett from taking over the game. Plus, the rest of the offensive line kept Jones clean most of the afternoon in pass protection.
Lastly, the return to the lineup for right tackle Trent Brown was a tremendous success. Brown allowed one hurry in pass protection and was mauling dudes in the running game, finishing with an elite 91.3 run-blocking grade, per PFF.
New England’s best offensive line combination involved second-year lineman Mike Onwenu in the starting lineup, so the Pats’ coaches need to settle on a combination with Onwenu.
But that was a fantastic performance by the Patriots up front against an elite defensive line.
QB PRESSURES & RUN STOPS
Moving over to the defense, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick alluded to an in-game adjustment that declared the game in a direction that suited New England more than the Browns.
After Cleveland ran for over 11 yards per rush on their opening drive, the Pats adjusted by playing more base defense and moving Dont’a Hightower back to the middle of the defense.
At that point, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski turned the game over to quarterback Baker Mayfield in a spread/empty style of play, and the Pats’ pass defense went to work.
New England’s pass rush pressured Mayfield on 39.1% of his drop-backs, eventually knocking him out of the game with a knee contusion from a quarterback hit by Matthew Judon.
Although Judon, as always, was in the middle of things, an unsung hero on the Pats’ defensive line stepped up big-time this week.
Pats defensive end Deatrich Wise tallied eight total pressures with two sacks to lead New England’s pass rush. Along with Wise, rookie Christian Barmore was once again outstanding.
Wise registered his first sack right before halftime by stripping Baker Mayfield as he began his throwing motion. Wise beat Browns left tackle Jedrick Wills with a long arm-rip move, first using his length (long arm) to create separation between himself and Wills, then finishing with the rip move to turn the corner.
As for Barmore, he hurried Cleveland’s QBs on five occasions by pushing the pocket on the interior, forcing Mayfield to throw off his back foot above where he was nearly intercepted.
Over the last two games, the Patriots’ defense has a 46.8 pressure rate, and they handily won the matchup against a terrific Browns offensive line.
RUN STOPS
After a hot start, Belichick made a few personnel adjustments after Cleveland’s opening drive to force the Browns away from and neutralize the Browns’ rushing attack.
Leading the way for the Patriots in run defense was linebacker Kyle Van Noy (three stops), who is starting to make an impact due to improving health after an early-season groin injury.
Barmore (73.6) and nose tackle Davon Godchaux (70.3) also graded out well against the run.
With the game-script leading the Browns away from the run, the Patriots still haven’t played another close fourth-quarter game where they need to stop a potent rushing attack.
Until then, it’s hard to say that the Patriots’ run defense is all the way back, but they’re certainly playing good defense against the run.
COVERAGE STATS
The Patriots called zone coverages predominantly against the Browns, with nearly 70 percent of Cleveland’s passing attempts coming against zone coverage.
Although defensive play-caller Steve Belichick won’t admit it, Belichick disagreed with the notion that the Pats have been zone-heavy in recent weeks, it’s the truth.
Not only are the Patriots calling more zone coverage, especially on early-downs and third-and-short, but they’re also getting better at it every week.
The Patriots fooled Mayfield into throwing a slot out with a post-snap rotation on Kyle Dugger’s interception. The Pats showed cover-one robber before the snap, making Mayfield believe he had the tight end out-leveraging Dugger with the outside corner matching the vertical up the sideline. Instead, the Pats rotate into cover-two, and both Dugger and Mills were better positioned to play the ball than Browns tight end David Njoku.
Cleveland found the only vulnerabilities in the Pats’ zone coverage were throwing on the linebackers over the middle. But as long as New England limits YAC, they’ll be fine there.
Mayfield wasn’t willing to dink-and-dunk down the field against the Patriots’ zone coverages on Sunday like so many quarterbacks.
Eventually, an opposing offense might stay patient against the Pats’ pass defense, but New England will take the short throws over getting beat on explosive plays.
