Film Room: Who Is Responsible for the Patriots’ Offensive Struggles?

Jacoby Brissett needed his best performance of the season on Sunday to keep up with the high-powered 49ers.

The veteran had done a great job protecting the football and avoiding negative plays, and his toughness has endeared him to his teammates. Still, another sub-150 passing-yard day wouldn’t cut it against the league’s best downfield attack.

No one expected things to be easy with the offense starting its fourth left tackle of the season. This became even more true once David Andrews left early with a shoulder injury, which could keep him out for quite some time.

As difficult as things were behind a porous offensive line, what Brissett put on tape against the 49ers isn’t acceptable.

The journeyman earned a 34.3 PFF grade, the second-lowest of his career. He also tied a career-high with five turnover-worthy plays, including a pick-six and a game-sealing strip-sack

Despite these struggles, head coach Jerod Mayo confirmed this morning that Brissett is “100%” the team’s starting quarterback moving forward.

“He’s done a good job doing what we’ve asked,” the head coach explained Monday morning. “Are there a lot of plays that we could do a better job with? Absolutely, but I would never question his toughness, his dependability, his leadership style for this team, and that’s what we need right now.”

Teammates have also continued supporting the team captain, with Hunter Henry being the latest to call him “a warrior” and told reporters postgame, “I love playing for Jacoby.”

This praise seems sincere, as Brissett has shown incredible grit in an impossible situation. However, it’s also hard to blame him for the team’s losses when the line is in disarray, the defense is underachieving, and Rhamondre Stevenson is fumbling every week.

That said, the offense’s ceiling has felt suffocating with Brissett under center, and many fans are clamoring for a change.

Here are my thoughts on Brissett’s performance, how much blame pie should go to his supporting cast, and whether Drake Maye would fix the passing game’s woes.

Is Jacoby Brissett the Problem?

Any discussion about Brissett’s Week 4 performance must begin with his turnover-worthy plays, most of which came on throws of 10+ air yards.

He completed just one of six downfield attempts, starting with a disastrous pick-six on the offense’s third drive.

All-Pro Fred Warner made an impressive leaping grab to steal the pass, then followed it with great awareness to get up and find the end zone. Still, both Brissett and Mayo admitted the mistake was avoidable.

“We had an in-cut coming open behind the backers,” Brissett explained postgame. “Hats off to Fred–made a great play–but I think I put a bad ball out there and just a better throw would have picked up the first.”

“There were a couple guys that were open,” Mayo said during his weekly appearence on The Greg Hill Show. “I just think it was a bad throw … it was just a poor decision. It was a poor throw.”

Brissett’s went to rookie Ja’Lynn Polk on his other downfield attempts, with their sole connection coming on a backshoulder strike where Brissett got buried. It was also the offense’s first deep completion and Brissett’s only big-time throw this season.

Polk’s strong hands gave his quarterback confidence to keep targeting him one-on-one. However, poor accuracy, which also popped up on short attempts, and a late throw made these plays harder than necessary, if not impossible, to make.

Brissett was also strip sacked twice against quick pressure, though he exacerbated things by forcing plays from murky pockets and, in one instance, running into pressure.

These plays were a microcosm of what plagued Brissett all afternoon: poor vision, anticipation, decision-making, and accuracy. Another egregious example of the first three came early in the second quarter. The quarterback not only missed an open receiver on a primary read, but he also tried to force a play outside the pocket and nearly got stripped.

There were flashes of Week 1 Brissett on Sunday, but the bad has outweighed the good in consecutive weeks. Brissett must see the field better on true dropbacks, tighten up his decision-making, and take easy wins when they present themselves. That may be asking a lot of a veteran with established habits, but given the current state of New England’s front, it’s hard to envision a change happening anytime soon.

Is the Offensive Line Doing Enough?

The Patriots’ patchwork line ranked dead last in pressure rate allowed (44.8%) entering Week 4, and things only got worse against Nick Bosa and company.

New England’s 52.5% pressure rate allowed against San Francisco was the third-highest for any team in a game this season. As mentioned above, some blame falls on Brissett, but no quarterback can consistently survive pressure at the top of drops.

Andrews’ replacement, Nick Leverett, and Mike Onwenu each had a couple of rough losses, but they at least kept the quarterback clean. The same couldn’t be said for the rest of the group.

Rookie Layden Robinson and depth tackle Demontrey Jacobs were each credited with a sack, two hits, and four hurries allowed.

Jacobs gave up key pressures on Brissett’s turnovers and his first fourth-quarter fumble. Early on, he lost to inside moves from Leonard Floyd and Sam Okuayinonu. He saw more of Bosa in the second half, which predictably led to mixed and sometimes ugly results. It’s fair to question the coaching staff for putting Jacobs in those positions in critical moments.

Robinson began struggling just before halftime while New England was down 20-0. He was pushed into the pocket multiple times. He was overpowered by Maliek Collins and allowed penetration on inside slants from Floyd.

Sidy Sow gave up three pressures in his season debut. Most were due to the second-year guard losing to his edges, which was an issue last season. Sow’s sack allowed was partially on Brissett for running into pressure, but he wasn’t in control during the rep. He also gave up a hit after not accounting for Bosa on a twist.

Pressure from your backup tackle is one thing, but no offense can survive with leaky guard play. In an ideal world, Robinson would be learning behind the scenes with Sow building on his solid summer. Unfortunately, the team’s options are limited. Chukwuma Okorafor’s tenure was over before it could get going, and Wallace suffered back-to-back lower leg injuries. This leaves Onwenu as the only viable option at right tackle.

Until or unless this unit can get healthy, the only path to success is leaning on the run game and minimizing long yardage. If New England can average around 30 carries to open up the rest of the playbook (and avoid early deficits), it would take enormous pressure off a front holding on for dear life.

Is Maye Day Approaching?

Mayo has made it clear that Brissett will be the team’s starter in Week 5 against the Dolphins, but how long will that be the case?

During halftime of Sunday’s game, former Patriot Rob Gronkowski expressed a sentiment I find difficult to disagree with.

“Patriots fans, I know what you’re saying: ‘Put Drake Maye in, this offense needs a spark,’” Gronkowski said. “But I’m telling you, it will be the same old story with Drake Maye in if he replaces Jacoby Brissett. He’ll be getting sacked. The offensive line will be letting guys go through, putting pressure on him. You don’t want to ruin his confidence. Wait ’til at least Week 12.”

Some have disputed this, arguing that Maye has the size and toughness to survive such an onslaught. The rookie has also received praise from coaches and players for his behind-the-scenes growth.

All of these things can be true, and I understand fans wanting to play the kid after weeks of ineffective offense. But willingly putting Maye behind a line allowing the highest pressure rate in the league is tough to justify. The quarterback also showed his inexperience during his first career drive, so the more time he gets to hone his fundamentals in practice and meetings, the better.

The bottom line is that Maye will play this season; it’s just a matter of when. The first step will be checking boxes in Alex Van Pelt’s development plan. This may or may not have a set timeline, but playing Maye before then could be a recipe for disaster.

Once that’s complete, playing behind a line of Vederian Lowe, Sow, Andrews, Robinson, and Onwenu would likely be the best-case scenario. At the very least, Maye shouldn’t be protected by a front with multiple backups on top of a rookie. No matter how tough or talented you are, everyone succumbs to relentless pressure eventually.

Week 12 may be a bit rich, but the Patriots must prioritize putting Maye in the best possible position to succeed. Until then, or when Brissett becomes the reason New England is losing games, fans may have to grit their teeth while hoping for minimal turnovers, better defensive play, and continued success from special teams.