Jacoby Brissett and the New England Patriots offense put together another disappointing performance in their 15-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
While the Patriots only scored 10 points, their offense totaled just 299 total yards, once again falling short of the 300-yard mark. The ground offense actually had an efficient day, totaling 151 yards on 7.9 yards per carry – a franchise record.
However, New England’s passing attack was anemic. Brissett completed 18 of 34 passes for just 160 yards, an average of 4.7 yards per attempt. The numbers are even worse with context. If we exclude the two passes made by Brissett during the last practice, when the Dolphins were playing on prevention, and take into account the two sacks made by the quarterback, he averaged only 3, 1 yard per dropback Saturday.
To make matters worse, the Patriots committed 12 penalties on Sunday. Three of them took two trips to the red zone, with New England coming away with both of those possessions empty-handed.
Brissett was asked Sunday whether these penalties were killers behind the wheel. He recognized that they arebut he also focused on just wanting to play better.
“It was frustrating. Honestly, nothing was good. Penalties set us back – honestly, we just need to play better,” Brissett told reporters. “We’re getting to a point where we just have to play better. Penalties in bad situations, in bad situations. We’re not good enough to do that and go back and try to score points. We must continue to move forward. We need to change this, fix this.
As Brissett mentioned, the Patriots offense doesn’t have much room for error. After Sunday’s loss, they are second to last in yards and goals, saying they might have the worst offense in football for a second year in a row. Additionally, Brissett was sacked 11 times in the previous two games, while running back Rhamondre Stevenson committed a fumble in each of the first four games.
There was a glimmer of hope Sunday in the ground game, which makes Brissett optimistic that the offense can turn things around. But they can only achieve this if they minimize or completely get rid of the mistakes they themselves made.
“We make plays. We’re just shooting ourselves in the foot,” Brissett said. “We take one step forward to take 20 steps back. It’s like we can’t do this. Until we get to that point, we will continue to be frustrated by the little things. You can’t leave the game in the hands of the referees. That’s not football. You have to go there, play with good fundamentals, technique, do the little things well. This league is already so difficult.
“The margin for error is so thin, and to not be able to do it because of a lack of focus and a lack of things that we all have control over, we’re not good enough at it yet.”
What Jerod Mayo said about Jacoby Brissett’s status as the Patriots’ starting QB
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Of course, some might believe that the Patriots won’t be better until their quarterback improves or is benched altogether. It’s pretty clear that the Patriots aren’t getting enough from their quarterback to win games at this point, with Brissett having thrown for just 696 yards and two touchdowns through the first five games.
With Brissett’s lack of production, the calls for Drake Maye to start have grown week to week. Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo seemed supportive of Brissett when asked how big the talent gap was between the veteran and Maye.
“I don’t want to get into discussions about separation,” Mayo told reporters. “I will say, look, Jacoby is trying to do what we’ve asked him to do all along. He takes big hits and his toughness continues to show. The execution of the entire offense needs to be better moving forward.
So it doesn’t look like a quarterback change is coming. Of course, it’s not certain that this will last for the rest of the season, especially if Brissett doesn’t turn things around quickly.
