A blowout. A complete rout. A total drubbing. Whatever you wanna call it, the New England Patriots just got absolutely clobbered by the Jacksonville Jaguars, 35-6. This wasn’t some fluke score, either; it was a brutal, honest reflection of how both teams played in Week 3, and honestly, the Patriots kept shooting themselves in the foot on offense, defense, and special teams. This is already their second loss of the year, and after watching the film, it’s clear things are not looking good at all.
Drake Maye’s Spiral Is Getting Scary
Look, putting aside those whispers about Drake Maye’s shoulder, the biggest issue with the guy right now is straight up mental. Once things start going sideways, he just can’t pull himself out of it. It’s like he gets stuck in this spiral, looking for plays that aren’t even there, and somehow making bad plays even worse. Sure, his supporting cast isn’t exactly lighting it up either, partly thanks to injuries, but Maye himself? He’s not even close to the MVP runner-up we saw last season. Against the Jaguars, he coughed up three more bad turnovers. Even with Josh McDaniels dialing up the most basic concepts to try and get the pass game going, Maye finished with a mind-numbing EPA of -0.44. That’s his seventh straight game with a negative expected points number. His good moments were totally overshadowed by the bad ones, dramatically so. Like, Michael Hurley posted on X: “This is a throw Drake Maye makes with his eyes closed last year. Not even close now.” That pretty much sums it up. As for Tommy DeVito, he did have a 20-yard completion to Romeo Doubs, but overall, he looked exactly like the backup he is. Maye’s performance earned a D grade, and honestly, that feels generous.
Run Game Stalls, Mack Hollins’ Penalty Stings
If you wanna know how bad the Patriots’ run game was against the Jaguars, here’s all you need to know: Corey Kiner’s 7-yard carry after Drake Maye was pulled? That was the longest of the day for any Patriots running back. Seriously. The whole thing was just plain bad. A huge chunk of the problem was the blocking; the three running backs combined for a measly 10 yards before contact all day. And schematically, it was so predictable; how many times can you run “duo?” The backs themselves weren’t exactly stellar either. TreVeyon Henderson showed a serious lack of vision, and Rhamondre Stevenson’s creativity was just all over the place. What’s wild is Jacksonville didn’t even sell out to stop the run, and the Patriots still couldn’t run into relatively light boxes. That’s a C grade for the running backs, but man, it feels lower.
At wide receiver, it was a mixed bag. Mack Hollins continues to build good rapport with Maye, including a perfectly timed 21-yard pickup on a curl route that converted a crucial 3rd and 5 on the opening drive. That’s clutch, right? But then, in the fourth quarter, he drops an absolutely unnecessary taunting penalty that turned a 4th and 1 into a 4th and 16. Just completely killed a drive. Talk about good and bad in one player. The Patriots are now sitting on their second loss of the year, and this kind of play across the board isn’t gonna cut it. They need to figure out how to stop shooting themselves in the foot if they want to turn this thing around.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Pats Pulpit.
Leave a Reply