5 Patriots Who Deserve Most Blame for Week 5 Collapse

3. Jacoby Brissett

For better or for worse, the NFL is largely a quarterback-driven league. Right now, that is for worse with regard to the New England Patriots.

In five games this season, starter Jacoby Brissett has only thrown for 696 yards and two touchdowns. For comparison, Tom Brady had 233 games with two or more touchdowns in his career. Brissett's passing yards and passing touchdowns rank 27th and 32nd in the league, respectively.

On the Patriots final drive, New England possessed the ball at the Miami 36-yard line with 13 seconds and no timeouts remaining, trailing the Dolphins 15-10. Brissett was able to connect with tight end Hunter Henry over the middle for a 25-yard gain, but the Patriots were nowhere near getting to the line and getting a play off as time expired on a Miami win. For a veteran quarterback like Brissett, he should know that throw has to go to either the boundaries or all the way to the endzone in that situation. Perhaps offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt should shoulder some of the blame there too.

Brissett finished Sunday 18 for 34 for 160 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.

With plenty of blame to go around on offense, it has also become abundantly clear that there are throws that Brissett simply can't make. One such play on Sunday occurred at the beginning of the third quarter. The Patriots attempted to dial up a play-action deep shot to DeMario "Pop" Douglas.

Douglas created separation between himself and Miami safety Marcus Maye – an accurate throw continuing to lead Douglas to the left side of the field should have resulted in a touchdown, but Brissett's throw drifted more towards the center of the field and forced Douglas to turn more upfield and allowed Maye to make up the ground needed to break up the pass. Pats fans just have to wonder if that is the kind of throw that Drake Maye could make.

Brissett has been dealt a bad hand, but that shouldn't render him immune from criticism.