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Film Room: Patriots Offensive Scheme Shows Glimpses of Promise in Ugly Loss

Things got ugly for the Patriots' offense on Thursday night, but some schematic wrinkles could bode well for their long-term outlook.
Taylor KylesBy 12 Mins Read

Expectations were low for the Patriots’ offense entering their primetime matchup against the Jets, but few could’ve anticipated Thursday’s 24-3 domination.

New England possessed the ball for under 20 minutes, allowing seven sacks, going 2-11 on third downs, and kicking a field goal on their only Red Zone drive. They also committed its first turnover of the season on Rhamondre Stevenson’s third fumble in as many games.

Few involved in the offense were free from blame, but most of their struggles fell on the line. Scott Peters’ group entered the game without top left tackle Vederian Lowe and former starter Chukwuma Okorafor. The left side then lost Caedan Wallace, a backup right tackle, and former practice squadder-turned-starter Michael Jordan in the fourth quarter. This thrust cutdown-day waiver claims Zach Thomas and Demontrey Jacobs into the lineup.

Head coach Jerod Mayo told reporters the problems can be fixed internally, but they’ll need a lot of health luck before any reasonable improvement can begin. The way to mask this glaring deficiency is to stay ahead schematically and make minimal mistakes, which will fall on offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt.

The first-time primary play-caller took his licks against an experienced Jets defense, and the team’s decision to debut Drake Maye late in the blowout warrants discussion. We’ll discuss the loss’s bad and controversial aspects, but upon further review, there were a surprising number of positives.

Here’s my deep dive into Alex Van Pelt’s game plan, what went wrong, what fans should be excited about, and my thoughts on a potential quarterback change.

All advanced statistics courtesy of PFF unless stated otherwise.

Dialing back the dropback passing game on early downs

The Patriots’ passing game needed a new identity vs the Jets’ attacking front.

Entering Week 3, only the Titans (45.2%) had allowed pressure at a higher rate than New England (44.3%). Jacoby Brissett has drawn praise from coaches and teammates for his toughness while getting pummeled several times a game, with DeMario Douglas calling him “a soldier.”

The veteran’s done a great job covering for his patchwork line, avoiding negative plays, and extending dropbacks to move the chains, but that simply isn’t sustainable.

Relentless pressure has led to a razor-thin margin for error at times, but Brissett isn’t blameless. His conservative approach (one turnover-worthy play, no big-time throws) and other inconsistencies have led to missed opportunities. And while scrambling has led to extended dropbacks, Brissett had the league’s third-slowest average time to throw (3.23 seconds).

Against New York, Van Pelt tried protecting his quarterback and line schematically. He largely scrapped the three and five-step passing game on early downs, leaning instead on quick concepts, play-action and screens.

Brissett averaged a 2.58-second release, his first game below 3 seconds, and continued looking comfortable in the quick game. He’s now 10-12 for 89 yards on such dropbacks after completing all five such attempts last week.

The quarterback also capitalized on a clean pocket to convert an early 3rd and 3, and he showed great poise on a play-action completion to Douglas.

The line allowed just four pressures before things unraveled in the second half. Two of those were 3rd and longs, where schemed pressure instantly got home, a predictable outcome in obvious pass situations.

The other two, however, had more to do with regrettable play-calling.

(Not) Establishing the run

After two weeks of riding its run game, the Patriots shocked audiences by flipping the script and airing it out against the Jets. Brissett’s average target depth (8.6 yards) was 1.5 yards further than his previous high set in the opener.

Those familiar with Van Pelt’s philosophy may have seen this coming. The coordinator has shown he can be malleable, but he also wants to generate big plays by marrying the run and pass. Van Pelt confirmed as much while speaking to reporters on Friday.

“I just thought it was a situation where we had run the ball well the last two weeks, and we’re trying to take advantage of some of those run plays with the run actions and the play-action and the bootleg off of that,” Van Pelt explained.

Per TeamRankings, New England ranked 5th in run rate (57.7%) through two games. Their backs were 9th in yards per carry (4.9) and 8th in EPA per Play (explosiveness). The ground game was thriving, but the Patriots were tied for the 7th-fewest play-action dropbacks (12).

Their passing game felt congested on straight dropbacks, but fakes created space for receivers to exploit, even if meat was left on the bone. The Jets, like the Seahawks, are also too talented to risk being one-dimensional, and Van Pelt mixed in screens to keep them honest.

But New York wasn’t taking bait they hadn’t seen themselves, and in perfect contrast with the Patriots’ strategy, tried stopping the run on the way to the quarterback. Edge rusher Will McDonald went straight for the quarterback on the offense’s two bootleg attempts, and a safety blitz blew up another run fake before it could develop.

Van Pelt admitted he should’ve “run it more early to set up [play-action] later,” but was forced to throw due to the multiple-score deficit. Mayo noted the offense’s lack of snaps due to the glaring time of possession difference.

Upon further review, mental and physical errors, also likely played a factor.

Van Pet also said he regretted calling a second bootleg or “slide” after McDonald showed zero respect for it earlier.

“You’re anticipating that that end is free. Obviously, you don’t want him to come directly up the field like he did on the first play,” he explained. “Bad job by me of putting [Jacoby] in that situation. … More disappointing for me that I called another slide later in the game that resulted in a sack. That was definitely on me. That was a bad play call by myself. And I’m guilty of that one for sure. But we’ll do it a lot of different ways. And that’s just one of the ways you can.”

Outside of those instant pressures, which shouldn’t be overlooked, the play-action scheme had some real positives. For the third week in a row, chunk plays were available downfield. Austin Hooper nearly put the offense in scoring position after getting wide open on a split outside zone fake. He also found space on a scramble throw nullified by a penalty and made a great play to reverse field on a screen.

Things won’t get any easier for the Patriots against a down but far from out 49ers squad. They must make San Francisco’s front respect their ground game, wear them down physically, and then pepper in fakes. Using more max protection schemes or leaning on shotgun fakes could also help. While I’m not a fan of Brissett on bootlegs, they’re a fundamental part of Van Pelt’s West Coast offense, and abandoning them would cost valuable reps to gain chemistry.

Scheming around a battered offensive line is much easier said than done. But, if Van Pelt learns from his mistake last week, his blossoming scheme could begin catching people’s attention.

Building on past tendencies

Judging anything in the NFL after two weeks is virtually impossible. But once teams get three or more games of tape, patterns begin to emerge.

Aforementioned mistakes aside, there was a lot to like from New England’s offense from an X’s and O’s perspective.

To set up potential explosives, Van Pelt used past tendencies like groupings, formations, and motions. The most prominent was a 12-personnel grouping (one running back, two tight ends) that turned into a 21-personnel look (two running backs, one tight end) with Hunter Henry shifting into the backfield.

New England had a 100% run rate from the look entering the game, with Henry attacking different gaps from play to play. They flipped the script against the Jets, almost exclusively dropping back off play-action.

From a pure scheme perspective, it’s encouraging to see a coordinator spend weeks setting something up to catch defenses off guard.

One of New England’s top base packages is a three-receiver set with the quarterback under center and Douglas in motion. New England had called three outside zone runs to one bootleg, making alignment tweaks on each carry.

Quick penetration and poor timing thwarted attempts to build on those plays, but the intention behind them was sound. Hopefully, Douglas gets some jet sweeps in this package to add another dimension, and Thursday’s plan provided reason for optimism.

Getting DeMario Douglas involved

Douglas was primarily a decoy through two games, seeing just two targets in the opener and none the next week. After voicing his frustration with his lack of involvement, which coaches acknowledged was an issue, he was finally featured in New England’s offense.

Douglas led the receiver group in offensive snaps (39), led the team with seven touches and 78 total yards, and was responsible for three of the passing game’s six conversions. He also had the offense’s first big run and caught their first RPO pass of the season.

“He’s a dynamic player,” Van Pelt said of Douglas. “He’s a really good route-runner. He’s quick. He’s twitchy. He’s good with the ball in his hands. So we’re finding more ways, just to get it out to him quickly, push him down the field, get him in the backfield. Just one of our more dynamic players. So finding ways to get him more involved. And that’s something that we tried to do last night.”

Van Pelt began setting up the pitch to Douglas against Seattle. He simulated a gap concept with Layden Robinson pulling and Douglas in orbit motion going the same direction. This was window dressing to distract from delayed releases to Henry, both of which should’ve gone for explosive gains.

When Douglas first went in orbit motion against the Jets, Stevenson took a long trap handoff from the same look. The next time, typical outside receivers Osborn and Ja’Lynn Polk aligned on the same side to block for Douglas, who stayed in the backfield to form an offset pistol.

The slot receiver was also targeted off duo action after beating slot corner Michael Carter. The play was run from a package Van Pelt introduced in Cincinnati.

Douglas can’t carry the passing offense alone, and some of his YAC ability was mitigated by a smart effort to protect himself. Still, he compliments big-bodied chain movers Henry and Hooper well. More looks for Ja’Lynn Polk and greater involvement from Antonio Gibson and the X receivers should also help the passing game grow into more than the sum of its parts.

More big plays from the pass-catching unit, ideally paired with health along the line, might be critical soon given what was unleashed late against the Jets.

Letting Drake Maye close out the game

Brissett had been sacked a season-high five times and been hit four before being pulled on the final drive. He sometimes had to peel himself off the turf, so pulling the veteran was a merciful choice.

Still, putting the franchise’s potential future behind a depleted line was highly questionable. It also officially stated the timer for Maye Watch, and fans will only cheer louder for a changing of the guard.

After saying postgame that the team would weigh its options at signal-caller, Mayo said on Friday that Brissett would retain the top quarterback job.

“Jacoby [Brissett] is our quarterback until I say he’s not the quarterback,” the head coach told reporters. “I thought last night he showed a lot of toughness, a lot of grit. On protection breakdowns, he tried to do what we asked him to do. I would say as a team, as a coaching staff, we’ve just got to be better.”

Brissett had an ugly miss to Hooper and may have passed up a gimme to Henry on an uncatchable go ball to Tyquan Thornton. But the increase in quick game simplified reads, and he faced some immediate pressure on third downs and obvious pass situations. Brissett’s ball security also can’t be overstated, even if his lack of downfield success is frustrating. Improvements are necessary everywhere, but Brissett is losing New England games.

I want to be clear: Maye should and will play this season. This season is about development, which includes letting the third-overall pick show what he can do. At 6’4″, 220 lbs, there’s also little doubt Maye can take the hits that come with shaky protection, and his mental toughness has drawn unanimous praise since college. Maye’s dynamic ability was on display a few times during his adventurous, 16-play drive, highlighted by a scramble and anticipatory, off-platform completion to Douglas on separate fourth downs.

Mayo told reporters that he made the call to pull Brissett, but Van Pelt certainly contributed to the decision.

“I thought it was a great experience for him to get in, especially in a night game in New York,” Van Pelt said. “I thought it was a great start for him. Definitely some things to clean up in his game, but he made some throws, made some plays with his legs. Encouraged about his future, as well [as Jacoby’s].”

Still, it was far from a perfect drive for Maye, with Van Pelt noting his footwork was “up and down.” This was evident displayed on some quick throws, which the quarterback struggled with this summer, and in a slight drift on his final attempt.

Pairing Maye with a line of Lowe/Wallace, Sidy Sow/Robinson, David Andrews, Mike Onwenu, and Okorafor/Wallace felt like a decent bet this summer, especially after a month or so of prep. However, things have changed dramatically since then. Injuries have taken their toll on the left side, Okorafor is no longer with the team, and Onwenu is playing out of position. Putting a rookie behind that front feels like begging for bad habits and potential injury.

In addition to acclimating in the classroom, Maye watching Brissett avoid bad plays and minimize hits is invaluable. And at the end of the day, putting the rookie out there before Van Pelt deems him ready is not a wise move. That won’t sit well with fans seeking short-term satisfaction, but Maye’s time will come. Letting the offensive line find some stability before handing him the keys first should be a top priority.

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Taylor Kyles is the lead NFL Analyst for CLNS Media covering players, schemes, and tendencies through a New England Patriots-centric lens.

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