The New England Patriots have found themselves in a bit of an interesting spot through six weeks of the season. While their record stands at 2-4, they have missed some golden opportunities to add on a couple extra tallies to their win total so far. It’s not a stretch to say that this team could probably be sitting pretty with a 4-2 or 5-1 record if they were able to make a couple of big plays when they needed to.
It’s been an extremely frustrating start to the season for both the team and their fans. Against the Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Dallas Cowboys, the Patriots had legitimate shots to win the game late in the fourth quarter. Yet when the team needed someone to step up and deliver a big play, they often have watched someone on the opposing team deliver the goods for their team.
In Week 1 against Miami, it was Xavien Howard forcing Damien Harris to fumble, and then recovering that fumble to allow the Dolphins to run out the clock. In Week 4, Lavonte David was able to deflect a pass at line that would have surely resulted in a first down, and forced Nick Folk into trying to hit a 56 yard field goal that would end up missing. And now in Week 6, CeeDee Lamb burned Jalen Mills in overtime for a 35 yard game-winning touchdown.
The Pats haven’t had anyone step up to help deliver them victories in these scenarios. The problem is, they have some really good players on this team that just aren’t performing at the highest level, and that’s going to need to chance if this team intends to start winning games. Here are three players who are going to need to step up and play better if the New England Patriots want to get back in the win column anytime soon.
3 New England Patriots players that need to step up
No. 3: Jalen Mills
We will give Jalen Mills a bit of a pass because up until this past week, he had been OK in his role as the number two cornerback on this team. He played a big part in slowing down the Bucs passing attack in Week 4 by locking up Chris Godwin, and the Patriots clearly missed him in Week 5 against the Houston Texans, as his replacement, Joejuan Williams, was picked on all game long before eventually getting benched.
But Mills was absolutely awful in Week 6 against the Cowboys, earning himself a spot on this list. Heading into this game, I billed J.C. Jackson as the X factor for New England, as it was clear the secondary was going to need to have a good game in order to come out on top against Dallas. Jackson did end up stepping up against Amari Cooper (5 REC, 55 YDS), but unfortunately, it looks like I picked the wrong guy.
Mills drew a matchup against CeeDee Lamb, and was outclassed all game long. Lamb finished with nine catches for 149 yards and two scores. Mills only made matters worse at the end of the game by laying a cheap shot on Lamb after he scored the game-winning touchdown, with Lamb proceeding to wave goodbye to him after cooking him on his way to the best game of his young career. Lamb destroyed him, and he knew it.
You have to figure the front office felt OK with moving on from Stephon Gilmore because of how Mills held up in the first four games of the season. In the four games Mills played in before this one, the most passing yards the team allowed were the 269 that went to Tom Brady and the Bucs, which was actually very good all things considered. It seemed telling that once Mills was forced to miss Week 5, the Patriots were carved up by third round rookie Davis Mills in Houston.
It seemed like things were trending up for New England once Mills was active for Week 6, but he promptly exposed by Lamb all game long. With Gilmore out of the picture, Mills is going to need to step up and hold things down with Jackson if this secondary is going to have any shot at slowing down teams aerial attacks. Jackson did his part this past Sunday, now it’s time for Mills to step up and help out his partner-in-crime.
No. 2: Isaiah Wynn
Due to the myriad of issues the Patriots have faced with their offensive line this season, not many people have given Isaiah Wynn’s struggles as much attention as they should have. After getting his fifth year option picked up last offseason, New England’s coaching staff was clearly hoping Wynn could take the next step forward by staying healthy and providing some solid blindside blocking for whoever was under center for the team. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened so far.
Wynn looked the part last season, as he graded out as one of the better left tackles in the game. Over 641 snaps, he only committed two penalties and allowed just three sacks. Yet through just 274 snaps this season, he’s already committed three penalties and allowed three sacks. Unless Wynn gets injured or benched, those totals are going to continue to increase as the season progresses.
Wynn was expected to be a stable piece of continuity on the Pats line, but he’s been arguably their worst piece. He returned from a one game absence due to COVID last week, but ended up getting benched after just nine snaps because of his struggles.
New England’s o-line has been in turmoil really since the start of the season due to Trent Brown’s calf injury, and things just haven’t gotten better since. When Brown returns, it may be worth throwing Wynn in at right tackle rather than left tackle due to how bad he’s been this season. He essentially got replaced by Justin Herron against Dallas, and Herron hasn’t exactly been good during his time filling in for Brown.
Given the lack of suitable options, the New England Patriots probably are going to have to hope Wynn can get things figured out sooner rather than later. Then again, the line did look a lot better when he wasn’t a part of it last weekend, so maybe head coach Bill Belichick goes back to the combination he had against Dallas. Either way, when Wynn finds himself on the field, he’s going to have to make the most of his opportunity in order for this team to be successful.
No. 1: Dont’a Hightower
It’s certainly not fair to expect Dont’a Hightower to be able to take a year off from football as he did in 2020 and come back and be the same caliber of player he was early on in his career. Yet we are six games through the season now, and all we have seen is a shell of what Hightower was. He’s contributed just 23 tackles and two quarterback hits so far on the season, all while playing one of the most involved positions on the field.
Hightower’s lack of impact has been hard to miss this season. While Ja’Whaun Bentley has been doing everything in his power to stop the opposition, Hightower has usually been missing in the action. It was expected early on, but he’s coming off another game where he was a nonfactor again, logging only four tackles and one quarterback hit against Dallas.
Hightower has never really been a tackling machine throughout his career, but he’s always had a knack for the ball, and was typically one of New England’s most involved players on defense. Whether it was sniffing out runs and picking up a tackle for a loss, getting pressure on the quarterback, or dropping off in coverage, Hightower was always one of the best in the business in the middle of the field.
That simply hasn’t been the case this season, and maybe it should be expected. Hightower is 31 years old now and coming off a full missed season of action. Maybe he’s past his prime now, and his expectations may need to be adjusted accordingly.
But it’s clear this team is going to need Hightower to step up down the stretch if they want to win more games. On Sunday, the Hightower of old would have been able to step up with a timely sack of Dak Prescott when needed, but he wasn’t able to muster anything of that sort this time around. Hightower needs to step up and prove he’s the leader that this defense has relied upon for the past 10 years now. Otherwise, he may not have a spot in the lineup for much longer.