The New England Patriots lost their season opener to the Las Vegas Raiders 20-13 at Gillette Stadium in Week 1. There were many problems contributing to this loss on both sides of the ball, but it was the limited offense that really impacted the flow of the game for the Patriots.
The Patriots had an imbalanced offense in Week 1, attempting 46 passes to only 18 runs total in the game. And if you account for the four rushing attempts by Drake Maye and the one by DeMario Douglas, the running backs only had 13 carries for 45 yards.
Imbalanced Offense Cost the Patriots in Week 1
Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson didn’t have any touches in the second half running out of the backfield. In fact, the Patriots only made three rushing attempts in the second half, one each by Maye, Douglas, and Antonio Gibson.
In his postgame press conference, head coach Mike Vrabel noted that the offense needs to be more balanced moving forward.
“We have to be more balanced, we have to use our run actions, and be able to run the football. It’s hard to turn into a drop-back passing game in this league.”
The Patriots put too much on Maye’s shoulders too soon as he learns to navigate a new offense in his first season as the full-time starter. The second half proved that by only attempting three running plays, and saw Maye drop back to pass another 26 times in the game.
The lack of a run game made the Patriots a one-dimensional and predictable offensive team, which limited Maye and the offense in Week 1 against the Raiders. It doesn’t help Maye when he’s at the line of scrimmage pre-snap and the defense knows it’s going to be a pass.
The offensive line needs to be looked at when it comes to the running game. Although there are two rookies starting on the left side and with four new starters in all, the offensive line held up well in their season debut.
Patriots Week 1 starting offensive line run-blocking grade, per Pro Football Focus:
- LT: Will Campbell (70.8)
- LG: Jared Wilson (55.0)
- C: Garrett Bradbury: (46.2)
- RG: Mike Onwenu: (45.1)
- RT: Morgan Moses: (49.4)
The run-blocking starts out well, but it progressively gets worse from center and through the right side of the line, which isn’t ideal considering the center and right side of the line should be the strong side, having three veterans.
Maybe offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels saw something in the first half that told him to abandon the running game and focus on the passing attack with Maye.
The pass-protection from the offensive line was a better look for New England, so it’s possible that McDaniels thought the passing game would be the better option for Maye and the team for the second half.
- LT: Campbell (71.5)
- LG: Wilson (54.2)
- C: Bradbury (85.8)
- RG: Onwenu (80.2)
- RT: Moses (53.1)
It’s obvious that the Patriots need to have a more balanced game plan on offense. The run game will always open up the passing game and vice versa; it’s the way the game works. I think we’ll see that in Week 2 when the Patriots travel down to Miami for a division battle against the Dolphins, who received a beatdown in Week 1 and will be looking to get on track against the Patriots, who have historically struggled in Miami.