The New England Patriots are 1-1 to start the 2024 season and don’t have any turnovers through their first two games. But while the defense has been fine, the offense — particularly the passing game — has been exposed as a bit of a weakness.
During an appearance on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Monday morning, NFL analyst Boomer Esiason discussed how the Patriots offense doesn’t really match up with others around the league.
“Going into the season I think we talked about this, just exactly what they were going to be on offense, and it wasn’t going to be anything exciting. It was going to be plodding and it was going to be close to the vest. They don’t really have that many playmakers,” he said. “You want to talk about Hunter Henry having a career day, that’s one thing. But when you look on the other side and you see (D.K.) Metcalf and (Jaxon) Smith-Njigba, you see top-tier talent at wide receiver. And the Patriots really haven’t had that player since Randy Moss. That’s how far back that goes. And that’s part of the Patriots’ problem. But if I were Jerod Mayo and I had what I had, this would be the way that I would have to play.”
The Patriots had difficulty converting when they were in the red zone, and went three-and-out in overtime to give the ball to the Seattle Seahawks who kicked the game-winning field goal in overtime on Sunday at Gillette Stadium.
Jacoby Brissett has done fine under center, but he hasn’t been able to really connect with his receivers — they caught just three passes for 19 yards in Sunday’s Week 2 loss. DeMario Douglas has expressed his frustrations with being open and not getting the ball, and Esiason wondered if the Patriots would make the switch to rookie Drake Maye to try to help get the receivers more involved.
“The question is, when is Drake Maye going to hit the field?,” Esiason said. “He’s not going to hit it this week. Maybe after this week he hits it, I don’t know. But they just don’t really have any game-breaking playmakers right now on offense.”
Coach Jerod Mayo has said several times the Patriots have a development plan for Maye, and it might just be a matter of time before Brissett finds some receivers down the field. They have a short week this week as they travel to MetLife Stadium to take on the New York Jets on “Thursday Night Football.”
And while the Patriots have played two close games, they’d certainly benefit from getting the passing game on the right track.
