FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:
1. Clock work: Do the Patriots have a time management problem?
As coach Jerod Mayo and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt considered solutions to hopefully snap a four-game losing streak in Sunday's home game ( 1 p.m. ET, CBS ) against the 4-1 Houston Texans , this is one question they have pondered.
Twice in their first five games, the Patriots have had the ball deep in their own territory late in the second quarter, with their opponent having all three timeouts each time. The Patriots' approach backfired in both situations.
"Our execution throughout the season at the end of the half just has to be better," Mayo acknowledged.
In a 23-20 overtime loss to the Seahawks in Week 2, the Patriots were at their own 8-yard line with 1:37 remaining until halftime. They ran for 2 yards on first down, and the Seahawks didn't take a timeout, so the clock ticked down to 58 seconds before quarterback Jacoby Brissett threw two incomplete passes.
That left the Seahawks all three timeouts when they took over at their own 49-yard line with 35 seconds remaining following a punt. They used them all to set themselves up for a 44-yard field goal on the final play of the half -- points that turned out to be the difference in the game.
In the aftermath of the defeat, Mayo said it would be a true loss if the team didn't learn from some of its mistakes, such as that one.
But when a "carbon copy" of the situation arose in last Sunday's 15-10 loss to the Dolphins, the Patriots didn't change their approach -- and execution also didn't improve.
On that one, they had the ball at their own 5-yard line with 1:50 remaining to halftime. Rhamondre Stevenson ran for 8 yards on first down and the Dolphins didn't call timeout. So the clock ticked down to 1:14 by the time the Patriots snapped the ball on second down, with Brissett throwing incomplete up the right sideline to rookie receiver Ja'Lynn Polk to stop the clock.
Then with 1:09 remaining, Brissett again threw incomplete, which ultimately gave the Dolphins the ball back at their 44-yard line with 55 seconds remaining. While Miami botched the snap on a field goal attempt, the trickle-down effect of the Patriots' offensive approach was that the defense played seven extra snaps -- which caught up to them by the fourth quarter when they were fatigued.
Van Pelt addressed his thinking on that sequence.
"Still kind of torn on that one personally," he said. "We had two chances to get 2 yards to get a first down. We took a shot there with one of our best wideouts, on a corner, gave him an opportunity. We didn't win on the route and didn't make the throw we needed to make. Came back on third down and had potentially a guy open there and didn't get it to him. And now we're punting. Second-and-2, I'm feeling confident we can get it whether we decide to run it or pass it.
"In hindsight, you run the ball there and chew off some more time on the clock. It's that fine line of being aggressive or saying, 'I'm just going to run the ball here and try to milk the clock and take us into halftime.' We haven't been productive on offense through the pass game, so I was probably a little more aggressive than I needed to be at that point."
Van Pelt's preference is to be aggressive, as was his own playing style as a record-setting quarterback at the University of Pittsburgh, but the Patriots aren't currently built to play that way. Personnel missteps by the prior regime put them in a compromising position, and that will take time to rectify.
So it's challenging to truly assess the work of Van Pelt, who has been open about his ups and downs in his first year as a full-time playcallers since 2009 with the Bills.
"I feel like I've put us in some good situations. I've had some bad calls. Obviously, the Jets game haunts me a little bit, some of the calls in that game," said Van Pelt, who acknowledged he needed to rely more on the run in that Week 3 loss.
"We all collectively to be better. I have to be better at situational football," he said.
2. 'Excited for 10' : One of the themes in the Patriots' locker room by the end of the week was summed up by a veteran player who said, "I'm excited for 10." The No. 10, of course, is rookie quarterback Drake Maye , who makes his first career start Sunday and whose mobility and strong arm to get the ball downfield created a different feel at practice this past week, according to players. Mayo felt a "renewed sense of energy" throughout the team -- even without injured running back Rhamondre Stevenson (out with a foot injury) -- and now the question is if it translates into the game.
3. WRs challenged: Patriots wide receivers have the fewest catches (39) and receiving yards (342) in the NFL. Will the team's switch to Maye -- with Polk, second-year player Kayshon Boutte and top slot DeMario Douglas in leading roles -- help increase those numbers?
They have been challenged to show it, with one team source saying this week, "The ball's coming out [on time], so let's see what you got."
One knock on risk-averse quarterback Brissett over the first five games was that he sometimes held the ball too long.
4. Kraft on Peppers: Patriots owner Robert Kraft was a guest on "The Breakfast Club" , a national morning radio show, promoting his just-launched "#TimeOut Against Hate" campaign, and also addressed safety Jabrill Peppers being placed on the commissioner exempt list.
"When you read the [police report] initially, it turns your stomach. Once he goes on the commissioner exempt list, they do their independent checking. We're doing ours. If what was reported is true, he's gone. There have been some suggestions that this was a set-up and a lot of what was reported isn't accurate ... We want to get the facts."
5. Mapu as Phifer : Safety Marte Mapu , the 2023 third-round pick from Sacramento State, earned widespread respect from coaches and teammates after coming off the injured reserve last week and playing all 78 defensive snaps while also wearing the green dot on his helmet as the primary communicator to the sideline. Mapu had missed all but the first practice of training camp with what the team later announced as a calf injury.
His fast-but-physical style of play and unique role -- part safety/part linebacker -- had defensive backs coach Brian Belichick reflecting on one of the underrated players of the team's initial championship years.
"Like a Roman Phifer-type back in the day," Belichick said. "[Phifer] was less of a [traditional] linebacker, more of an athletic linebacker who could cover tight ends. That was obviously a different era -- a lot more '21 personnel' [2 backs, 1 tight end] and you played with three 'linebackers' every snap.
"I love what Marte does for us. Obviously he plays in the box some, but plays as a safety and can move around the defense. That's the special part of a player like that who can be so versatile for us."
6. Maye 7th: Since 2000, Maye will become the seventh Patriots quarterback to make his first career start, joining Tom Brady (2001), Matt Cassel (2008), Jimmy Garoppolo (2016), Brissett (2016), Mac Jones (2021) and Bailey Zappe (2022). It likely wasn't a coincidence that the Patriots were playing Brissett's first career start -- a 27-0 win over the Texans in Brissett's rookie season -- in the athletic room last week.
"Hopefully he has the same result," Brissett said.
7. Andrews/Strange link : Longtime Patriots center David Andrews is scheduled to travel to Colorado to undergo shoulder surgery by Dr. Matthew Provencher, which will give him the best chance to play in 2025. Andrews explained on his "Quick Snap" podcast that he tore his previously repaired rotator cuff, so the plan is to put a sheath over it in hopes that the muscles regrow. When he returns to the Patriots after the surgery, he plans to rehab and work closely with 2022 first-round pick Cole Strange in his transition to learning the center position.
Strange, who has solely played guard at this point, is being looked at as a potential center for the future as Andrews enters his 11th (and possibly final) season in 2025. If Strange ultimately becomes his successor, it would be a notable part of Andrews' already-impressive team legacy.
8. London plans: This week will be a different one for the Patriots from a travel standpoint, as they face the Jaguars at London's Wembley Stadium next week. They plan to travel to London after Thursday's practice in Foxborough, and then are scheduled for a Friday practice in the UK, with Mayo and Maye addressing international reporters that day as well.
Along those lines, special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer said he was already preparing for the Jaguars late last week, which is standard operating procedure for him.
9. Did you know? Part I: Maye will be 22 years, 44 days old on Sunday, making him the youngest quarterback to start a regular-season game for the Patriots since Drew Bledsoe in the team's 1993 Week 18 season finale against the Dolphins. Bledsoe was 21 years, 322 days old.
10. Did you know? Part II : According to Elias Sports Bureau, when Mayo's Patriots team hosts DeMeco Ryans' Texans squad on Sunday, it will be the first NFL game featuring head coaches who made multiple Pro Bowls as players since Sept. 30, 1990 -- when Art Shell and the Raiders defeated a Mike Ditka-led Bears team 24-10.
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