After Thursday night’s loss to the Bills, multiple New England players broke for the Stepford Patriot programming to express concerns about the team offense. Leading the way was quarterback Mac Jones, whose displeasure was clear during and after the game.
On Friday, coach Bill Belichick faced questions on the situation during his usual day-after press conference.
“Mac’s a very competitive guy,” Belichick said. “Love his attitude, love his passion for the game. He works as hard as anybody. As we move forward, try to work to find ways to be more efficient, be more productive in every area. So that’s coaching, playing, interaction with teammates, etc.”
Belichick addressed the team’s offense more generally, explaining that its performance is a direct factor of each and every opponent.
“We need to just keep working to improve it every week,” Belichick said. “This week will be different. Arizona’s a different defense than Buffalo. Buffalo’s a different defense than Minnesota. Minnesota’s a different defense than the Jets. So it’s not as simple as . . . improving your time in the mile run. I mean that’s not what this is. This is about competing against another team. So we’ll see what all that entails as we get into Arizona. But we need to continue to work to do things better on our end. Then as it relates to our specific opponent, then match them up and doing well against that opponent. So that’s really the process.”
And he’s right. The offense looked great against the Vikings, because the Vikings defense isn’t. Against the Jets, the Patriots mustered only three points. Last night, with the Bills committed to taking away “chunk” plays, the Patriots couldn’t get the ball down the field.
The New England offense isn’t good enough to get an automatic 20-30 points against every opponent. Whatever the reason — quality of players, quality of coaching, quality of scheming, quality of play calling — it’s not a juggernaut. Which points directly to what the Patriots are: 6-6 through 12 games.