The Patriots’ trip to Jacksonville had all the makings of a football game right up until kickoff. A score differential of 30 points almost seems like a Madden game with the Player Two controller unplugged, or an elementary recreation team that should have been handed juice boxes and asked to turn in their jerseys.
Welcome to Week Three.
The New England Patriots travelled to Jacksonville Sunday but left their talent and drive in their luggage. They had intentions of playing a football game, but the natural grass and warmth of the sun may have dulled their frigid New England sparkle. Bring them back to Gillette and thaw them out.
New England fell to 1-2 after a game that featured three Drake Maye turnovers, nine Patriots penalties, and just about no running game. Sadly, we begin with Maye-hem. Drake Maye completed 14 of 25 passes for 199 yards, but those numbers are extremely charitable because he also threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. That brought him to seven giveaways through the first three games of the season. Remember last year when he didn’t throw his sixth interception until Week Twelve?
This year it only took Maye three games (12 quarters) to do the same.
The first turnover came when Drake Maye lost the ball while stepping up in what was described as a clean pocket. Later, with the Patriots threatening near halftime, he threw an interception in the end zone to Travis Hunter rather than throwing the ball away and preserving a chance at points. Then came another interception in the third quarter.
After the game, Maye said he needed to look at himself in the mirror and use the loss as a turning point.
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who keeps giving Jacksonville the ball?
The Patriots entered Jacksonville without A.J. Brown, Mike Onwenu, Dre’Mont Jones, Craig Woodson and Eli Raridon. Brown and Onwenu are on injured reserve, and guard Greg Van Roten was injured during Sunday’s game as well. Mike Vrabel had openly questioned the depth of his roster in preseason, and Sunday was the first test of how serious those concerns were.
Jacksonville isn’t necessarily a better team. New England just miffed the game like a 10-year old flag football scrimmage. Actually, a 10-year old flag football team would probably run more yards in their game than the Patriots’ appalling longest running back run of seven yards. For a visual, seven yards is the distance from the standard NBA three point line to the basket.
New England looked disorganized, undermanned and incapable of putting together enough sustained offense to make the Jaguars particularly uncomfortable. At one point, trailing by 25 points, Mack Hollins was flagged for taunting.
Taunting while down 25 is like celebrating one completed pass while the opposing team’s quarterback has already been subbed out so everybody gets playing time. It’s arguing who has the biggest trophy when everyone got a participation ribbon.
New England finished the afternoon with nine penalties. There were neutral-zone infractions. There was offensive pass interference. There was holding. There was the aforementioned “we are being destroyed but would still like to talk trash” penalty. When you’re missing several starters, turning the ball over repeatedly and struggling to move the football, penalties are considered suboptimal. It’s difficult enough beating another NFL team, the Patriots didn’t need to beat on themselves, too.
The penalties weren’t just annoying, they magnified every other problem New England already had. In a game where Maye was turning the ball over, the offensive line was banged up, and Jacksonville was converting 8 of 12 third downs, the Patriots had almost no margin for self-inflicted mistakes.
Jacksonville welcomed the extra help. Trevor Lawrence threw three touchdown passes and completed 19 of 29 attempts for 182 yards. Jacksonville’s running backs combined for 110 rushing yards and two touchdowns. All the Jaguars had to do was play the game easy and wait for New England to screw up.
It worked.
Mike Vrabel isn’t pretending this was fine. After the game, Vrabel didn’t reach for the positive reinforcements of “We’ll get better” or “We need to execute more efficiently.” Instead, he acknowledged that he’s concerned about his team. In fact, his exact words were that his “concern level for the team is very high.”
It should be.
This wasn’t a missed field goal deciding a close game. It wasn’t one unlucky bounce. It wasn’t a respectable road loss against a superior opponent. It was a 35-6 blow out. The Patriots scored fewer points that there are Fast & Furious movies. It’s September.
It’s only Week Three.
New England is 1-2 only, and they aren’t 1-12. But Sunday was anything but optimistic.
Drake Maye has plenty of time to stabilize. The injured players will eventually return. But this isn’t an easy Band-Aid fix on blood bath of a loss. Sure, young players can improve. But Vrabel now has a very clear list of approximately 400 things to address before next Sunday. There isn’t even a moral victory that could be found in the Sunday loss.
The Patriots vs Jaguars Week Three matchup was a disaster, and occasionally the healthiest response to a disaster is simply acknowledging that the building is, in fact, on fire. They’re not trying to put it out with hope and well wishes. Vrabel is very aware that the team needs to do something more. They need to fix themselves.
The Patriots can fix themselves.
At least the weather in Florida was nice. New England certainly didn’t give anyone anything else to enjoy.
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