Week 3 was a rough one for the New England Patriots. Many fans expected their third game of the season to be a hard fought affair against the New Orleans Saints, but instead, the Saints dominated most of the action.
New England brought the game to within one score in the fourth quarter, but that was largely due to a pair of missed field goals by New Orleans. Once the Pats got within striking distance, the Saints got the ball back and embarked on a six minute, 45 second touchdown drive to put the game away for good in the fourth quarter. The final score of 28-13 makes the game look closer than it actually was.
The Patriots saw many of their key players, especially on offense, post duds in this one. Along with a putrid performance on the sidelines by New England’s coaching staff, it’s easy to pinpoint where things fell apart in this one. The fact that the Patriots even had a shot to win this game is a bit frustrating, as they failed to come away with a victory in a very winnable game.
Some of the poor performances the Patriots received hurt the team more than others. While the blame cannot be placed on players individually, there were certainly a few outlying ugly performances that stuck out in this one. Let’s take a look at three of those performances, starting with an ugly day for this key special teams player.
What happened to these 3 key New England Patriots players yesterday?
No. 3: Jake Bailey
Jake Bailey has quickly developed into one of the most consistent punters in the game. He earned Pro Bowl and All Pro honors in just his second season, and was one of the few bright spots during a lost season for New England in 2020. Bailey hasn’t looked as good to open the season though, and had one of the worst games of his career yesterday against the Saints.
Bailey’s overall numbers on the day aren’t initially awful. He was called into action five times, and netted an average length of 56.6 yards on his punts, with a long of 68. But a deeper dive shows some big issues with Bailey’s performance.
For starters, he only pinned the Saints in their own 20 on one of his five punts. Two of those punts ended up going through the back of the end zone, allowing the Saints to start at their own 20 yard line. Bailey has been one of the best in the business at pinning teams inside their own 20, but he couldn’t seem to get the job done against New Orleans.
Not counted in the five punts is the sixth one that Bailey had that got blocked. It was the first time that Bailey has had a punt of his blocked throughout his career, and while it didn’t end up hurting them due to New Orleans kicker Aldrick Rosas missing a chip shot field goal, blocked punts typically lead to points for the opposing team which is never a good thing.
The final cherry on top of Bailey’s poor performance was a kickoff that he booted out of bounds, gifting New Orleans great starting field position at their own 40 yard line. It was the second time this season that Bailey has done that, and it surely got head coach Bill Belichick’s blood boiling.
Bailey has been a pillar of consistency throughout his first couple of seasons in New England, so it was odd to see him labor through such a poor performance yesterday afternoon. Bailey has earned the benefit of the doubt at this point though, so here’s hoping he is able to bounce back whenever he is called upon next.
No. 2: Damien Harris
The New England Patriots running back depth chart took a hit yesterday afternoon when James White was forced out of action with what looked to be a serious hip injury. Many figured that meant we would see more of Damien Harris and J.J. Taylor with White out of action. Instead, the Patriots decided to move Brandon Bolden up a few notches on the depth chart, and he ended up with the most snaps by a running back in this one.
At this point of his career, Bolden is nothing more than a special teams player who can occasionally take a carry when needed. Why he is getting more snaps than Harris, and even the second year back Taylor, is beyond confusing. Bolden received 33 snaps compared to Harris’ 22 and Taylor’s 10.
Harris’ lack of involvement in this game was particularly frustrating. I think we can all agree we would rather see Harris lining up in the backfield rather than Bolden, even if he doesn’t end up getting the ball. Harris is clearly a more impactful player than Bolden, and when teams see Bolden in the backfield, they really don’t have to be concerned he’s going to tear them apart.
That threat exists when Harris is on the field, so why he wasn’t on the field more is beyond me. Sure, he didn’t necessarily do much (6 CAR, 14 YDS) but he was pretty much written out of the gameplan well before the Saints ran the score up to 21-3. Once White went down, it was the Bolden show for some reason, and he unfortunately just doesn’t offer the impact that Harris or Taylor can potentially bring.
Part of the reason the Patriots dealt away Sony Michel to the Los Angeles Rams during training camp was because of how good they felt about their running back room. Yet through three games, the running backs have all been underutilized. Harris’ lack of involvement in this one was particularly confusing, and if the coaching staff resorted to handing things over to Bolden, that probably isn’t a good thing.
Hopefully the Patriots are planning to include Harris in their gameplan for Week 4 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, because they are going to need anything they can get from him to take some pressure off rookie quarterback Mac Jones. Hopefully the Patriots can rectify whatever issues Harris endured against New Orleans, or else they will quickly find their record sitting at 1-3.
No. 1: Jonnu Smith
Jonnu Smith probably had one of the worst performances in the entire NFL yesterday against the Saints. Smith could only muster one catch for four yards, and finished the day with four drops. In case you already forgot, one of those drops ended up in the hands of Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins, who strolled into the endzone untouched for a pick six.
After earning a big deal in free agency, Smith has been a massive disappointment throughout his first three games in New England. He has failed to emerge as a reliable option for Jones, has struggled with his blocking assignments, and apparently he forgot how to catch a football over the offseason.
Sure, some of the passes Smith dropped were tough catches, but that’s what the Patriots are paying him to do. If the ball hits your hands and you don’t catch it, it’s on you. That happened to Smith four times, and it killed the offense.
If Smith catches those four passes, the outlook of the offense is probably much different. Two of Smith’s drops were on passes further than 10 yards down the field, and those completions would have helped open up the offense for sure. If Smith can hold onto the pass that turned into a pick six for Jenkins, how much different does this game look?
The most impactful player in this game was Smith; the problem was his impact benefitted the Saints rather than the New England Patriots. You can find anyone off of the street and pay them to drop passes. Smith simply has to get better if this offense is going to improve, and until that happens, expect some more ugly outings from New England’s passing game as the season progresses.