Well, that was great — until it wasn’t.
It was a story of two halves for the New England Patriots on Sunday in their loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. I left the game with mixed feelings.
The first half was encouraging. Despite the defense looking shaky on the opening drive — which ended with a Raiders touchdown — they settled in. The offense looked fresh, and Drake Maye spread the ball around to different targets. Compared with last year, when it often felt like defenders were in the backfield as soon as Maye took the snap, the offensive line played well for the first 30 to 40 minutes.
I’ll start with the positives. The defensive line looked much stronger than in recent seasons. The pressure from Harold Landry III (5 tackles, 2.5 sacks), Milton Williams (4 tackles) and Christian Barmore (5 tackles) was promising. The strength of this defense will be up front, and the Patriots need to lean on that, especially with Christian Gonzalez still sidelined by a hamstring injury.
Carlton Davis III also impressed as the No. 1 cornerback. Yes, he got beat late when the Patriots needed a stop, but the whole team faltered in the final 15 to 20 minutes.
My biggest issue with Week 1 was the second-half performance. Leading up to the game, coach Mike Vrabel kept preaching about the need to “win the second half.” Instead, the Patriots looked like a shell of themselves after halftime.
The defense resembled Swiss cheese. Even so, they still held the Raiders to 20 points. You should win most games when you keep an opponent to 20.
The offense was another story. Penalties hurt, but the playcalling didn’t fit Maye’s style. He’s at his best scrambling and using his big arm to push the ball downfield. He’s not Tom Brady — no one is — and he’s not at his best standing in the pocket and making precision throws over the middle. A perfect example was his interception, when he sailed a throw over the middle intended for Hunter Henry.
The Patriots finished with 18 rushes, but only 13 if you take away Maye’s four runs and one by DeMario Douglas. Thirteen isn’t enough. I’m not saying the Patriots need to return to pounding the ball on every first and second down, but the offense became predictable in the second half. It was checkdowns and play-action. The problem is, you need to establish the run before the play-action works.
When you have three solid running backs, you need to use them. Running the ball would also benefit the left side of the line, with Will Campbell and Jared Wilson able to use their athleticism in run blocking instead of always dropping into pass protection. In the preseason, those two looked strong on run plays. It’s unclear why the Patriots went away from that Sunday.
All in all, it’s only one week. But that second half brought back bad memories of last season. I trust this coaching staff to make adjustments as the Patriots head to Miami on Sunday.
