3 Patriots on Thin Ice Entering Week 4

After a fun start to the season with (what seemed like) an upset win over the Cincinnati Bengals, the New England Patriots have now dropped two in a row and are in danger of a total mudslide the rest of the way this season.

Everyone knew going into this year that the Patriots were going to be a work in progress with a first-year head coach (Jerod Mayo) and a change at the quarterback position, but there are a number of other areas of this team that are coming under the microscope the more we get into the 2024 season.

With a road trip this week to the West Coast to face off against a ticked off San Francisco 49ers team, the Patriots could really be in for it. Which players are on thin ice as we enter Week 4 of the season?

Patriots offensive line leads players on thin ice entering Week 4

1. The entire offensive line

The Patriots' Week 3 matchup against the New York Jets was perhaps a bit of an unfair barometer for the play of the entire offensive line this season, but it also might tell us exactly why Drake Maye is not currently the starting quarterback of this team.

If Maye was thrown into the starting lineup right now, it would be like the Patriots strapping him to a bucket of chum in shark-infested waters. Jacoby Brissett was sacked five times against the Jets last week and when Maye came into the game, he was sacked twice as well. The Jets racked up a whopping 15 quarterback hits against the Patriots' offensive line, and while sacks can often be a QB-driven stat, the Patriots' offensive line is clearly not an NFL-caliber unit right now.

So there may need to eventually be some reshuffling up front for New England, but are the backup options going to be able to come in and do better than the mess that is currently out there on the field?