Film Room: Mac Jones’ Big Day and How the Patriots Slowed Down Josh Allen

The Patriots may only be 2-5 after yesterday’s win against the Bills, but it feels like momentum could be shifting in their favor.

The offense has generated an EPA per play above 0.0 and a positive EPA rate above 50% for the first time this season in each of the past two weeks. Much of this success has come down to personnel and scheme changes. Up front, Mike Onwenu was finally kicked out to right tackle, where his only pressure allowed came against Von Miller. JuJu Smith-Schuster being inactive also opened the door for Demario Douglas (career-high 35 offensive snaps) to seize a bigger role. New England is also using more motion and misdirection to confuse defenses, giving playmakers more chances in space and not asking Mac Jones to hold onto the football. Jones noted after the game that he appreciated Bill O’Brien integrating plays the quarterback liked in college and that appreciation carried over to the field.

The defense has struggled in recent weeks without star players Matthew Judon and Christian Gonzalez, punctuated by a loss to former Patriots backups Jimmy Garoppolo and Brian Hoyer last week. That performance made the task of defending Josh Allen, who was undefeated in his previous five games against New England, particularly daunting. While the defense broke more than it bent in the 2nd half against Allen, the quarterback was held under a 100 passer rating and threw an interception. Parter-in-crime Stefon Diggs scored a touchdown on a poorly executed play by the defense but was held under 60 receiving yards on 12 targets.

Let’s take a look at the film and see how Mac Jones found his groove, where he can improve, and how the defense kept a lid on Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs for most of yesterday’s matchup.

Mac Jones’ Big Day and What He Needs to Work On 

Mac Jones averaged a time to throw of 2.20 seconds for the second week in a row. His 4.3-yard average depth of target was a career-low, dropping by over a yard from last week’s performance (5.5 yards). The result? Jones’ first game this season without a turnover-worthy throw, his 2nd-lowest pressure rate faced (24.2; 19.4 last week vs. LV), and season-highs in completion percentage (83.3) and yards per attempt (9.1).

New England’s reliance on quick, short throws made life easier on both its quarterback and offensive line, but Jones also adjusted well when the defense took away his first read and got the offense into advantageous plays.

Jones was also effective under more difficult circumstances, including his first 100-yard performance against the blitz this season.

Jones’ poise and decision-making against the rush were much improved, with the quarterback making some of the game’s biggest throws with rushers bearing down on him.

Jones didn’t attempt a deep pass, but he was nearly perfect on intermediate throws.

This was Jones’ most impressive performance of the season, perhaps one of the best games of his career, but there were still things to clean up.

Jones acknowledged he dropped his eyes on a couple of dropbacks, including the Bills’ only sack of the game.

He also had a few wide misses, including a screen to Kendrick Bourne that landed in the dirt, a checkdown to Ezekiel Elliott off of play-action, as well as high throws to Mike Gesicki and Demario Douglas in the end-zone. The attempt to Gesicki drew a defensive penalty, but Jones’ throw felt rushed and looked nearly uncatchable.

I also thought Jones missed two opportunities to convert on 3rd down.

On both plays, the quarterback tried scrambling away from the primary route concept with Bourne open just short of the sticks.

Another area of concern was Jones being strip-sacked on a play that was called back for illegal contact.

The infraction did take away his first read, and he avoided throwing into traffic on his second, but Jones failing to protect the football with a rusher behind him could’ve resulted in a costly turnover.

Jones made his share of mistakes, but perfect quarterback performances are rare, and it was encouraging to see the offense succeed in spite of these errors. The Bills missing four key defenders has to be acknowledged, but New England did what they had to do against the opponent in front of them and continued to build on the solid foundation established in Vegas.

How the Defense (Mostly) Contained Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs

Josh Allen is one of the league’s most physically gifted passers, but he looked human for much of Sunday’s matchup. The Patriots’ rejuvenated pass rush was a big reason for this, with the group having one of its most productive performances of the season and its best since Matt Judon’s injury in Week 4.

The Patriots generated a 41.3% pressure rate against the Bills, with 17 of their 26 pressures coming on blitzes. New England used Cover 0 on nearly 20% of Allen’s dropbacks to create free rushers and force him into quick decisions, while Christian Barmore and Deatrich Wise were consistently disruptive up front.

Allen was only sacked once, and he broke a few tackle attempts to extend plays. But coverage prevented big plays when the quarterback shook loose, and strong rush lane discipline kept Allen from gashing the defense with his legs.

New England majored in single-high coverages on the backend but spun the dial with split-safety zones, the aforementioned reps of Cover 0, and a near-even split of man and zone. Safeties would often disguise pre-snap by making it look like they were committing extra help to Diggs or leaving him 1-on-1, then doing the opposite.

Allen earned a 141.2 passer rating against man coverage, including two touchdowns and four explosive plays (15+ yards). The first of those big gains was great execution from Allen, who exploited a soft edge with Mack Wilson spying, and James Cook, who spotted his quarterback scramble and took off downfield to beat Ja’Whaun Bentley.

Outside of that highlight, poor tackling, which plagued New England throughout the game, led to both of Allen’s touchdowns and two of his explosives. J.C. Jackson and Myles Bryant failed to bring Diggs down on his touchdown, Peppers couldn’t tackle James Cook short of the goal line on his score, and Latavius Murray slipped Kyle Dugger on a 3rd & 15 conversion. Jalen Mills and Jack Jones were also flagged for illegal contact.

 

Allen didn’t fare as well against zone coverage, posting a 60.6 passer rating and throwing an interception to Jabrill Peppers on his first pass. Peppers told media after the game that he baited Allen into the throw, which came on a concept that Buffalo beat New England on last season.

Unlike New England’s man defenses, where coverage was better than stats suggest outside of a few mistakes, I found multiple plays where Diggs beat zone coverage, but Allen couldn’t capitalize.

For the most part, the Patriots coverage and pass rush were able to complement each other and make life difficult on the Bills’ passing attack. Allen missed his share of opportunities, and defenders gave Buffalo some assists with self-inflicted errors, but it was an effective blueprint for New England to build on in Round 2.