FOXBOROUGH — What do the Patriots do well?
It’s a simple question that should elicit a layered response. That’s not the case in 2024. This season, the answer is also simple.
This Patriots team can’t hang its hat on a single thing that its consistently good at. That was on display for a national audience on Saturday afternoon, as Jerod Mayo’s group was punked by the Chargers. The Patriots were outclassed in every phase of the game en route to a 40-7 drubbing.
The defense couldn’t get off the field, allowing seven consecutive scoring drives. The offense’s lone points came on a free play with a just-chuck-it heave. Once again, the Patriots lost the yardage battle (428 to 181), time of possession battle (40:34 to 19:26) and the turnover battle (1 to 0).
Even Drake Maye, often the silver lining, had a touch of gray on a misty afternoon at Gillette Stadium. His no-look turnover was costly and the (often under siege) rookie finished just 12-of-22 for 117 yards.
Seriously, what does this team do well?
Earlier in the year it might’ve just been return punts, but now Marcus Jones is done for the season. The Patriots can’t stop the run, can’t stop the pass, can’t run the football in obvious running situations, and can’t move it consistently through the air. They’re routinely out-coached. Special teams is hit-or-miss. Rookie wideouts Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker were once again no-shows as their draft mate, Ladd McConkey, lit the Patriots up for eight receptions, 94 yards and a pair of touchdowns. So yes, the front office is absolutely culpable here too.
But the fact that we’ve reached Week 17 and can’t point to a single thing the Patriots do well is an indictment on the coaching staff. This team isn’t improving as the year goes on. It’s regressing. And this is strictly speaking about the on-field product. It’s not even getting into Mayo’s weekly media gaffes — it was the Rhamondre Stevenson benching that wasn’t on Saturday — nor anything external. The on-field product matters most — and it’s been abysmal.
“The last three years have been pretty much a horror show. Let’s just call it what it is,” Davon Godchaux said.
But even in Bill Belichick’s final seasons, it was easy to point to the defense — particularly the secondary — as a strength. They covered well. On Saturday, Justin Herbert went 26-of-38 for 281 yards and three touchdowns, and with 10:54 remaining and 37 points on the board, he was lifted from the game. Herbert diced the Patriots up.
People often cite Dan Campbell’s first season as Lions coach as evidence that one-and-done coaches are foolish. Detroit went 3-13-1 in 2021. The Patriots are 3-13 now.
Same thing, right?
Nope. What is often omitted from that narrative is the way Campbell’s season played out. The Lions started 0-10-1 and then won three of their final six games. They were showing signs of life down the stretch. The Patriots, on the other hand, just dropped their sixth game in a row. They’re free falling.
With his team already fading from the playoff picture in late October, Mayo outlined a basic goal moving forward.
“We want to be better as the season goes on, and be one of those teams that no one wants to play at the end of the year,” Mayo said. “That’s our goal.”
Does anybody believe they’ve satisfied that goal?
Following the beat-down, Keion White said he was hopeful that change would come from this season. And scapegoating offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, as is one rumored move from the Krafts, will do nothing to remedy the issues on the defensive side of the ball.
“If changes aren’t made then what are we doing?” White said. “The NFL is a production-based business so if we’re not doing anything to change our production, which is loss, what are we doing?”
