AWAKENING: Pats’ Offensive Line SILENCES Critics | D-Line TERRORIZES Tua
The Pats won in Miami because they followed through on one of Mike Vrabel’s core tenants, the big boys. They went to work. This is Lockdown Patriots. You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. What’s happening? I am your host, Nick Cattles. Born and raised in New England, been covering the Patriots for the past 16 years. Also the co-host of the Greg Badard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattels and a sports talk show host veteran. Coming up, some eyeopening numbers from Drake May’s performance down in Miami that you do not want to miss. Also, two highly anticipated offensive weapons have not been a big a part of plan as we thought they were going to be. But first, the Pats won because they did the dirty work. We appreciate you joining the show, making us your first listen for being an everydayer. The Lockdown Patriots podcast, a proud partner, the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. And today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Everybody talks about explosive plays nowadays in the NFL. It is 2025. explosive plays, scoring, scoring, scoring, explosive plays, fantasy football, run with the overs if you’re betting, all these different things. And and everybody loves the idea of explosive plays because they’re sexy. They’re fun to watch. And we talk about the skill position players on offense all the time. We are obsessed with wide receivers and tight ends. We’re obsessed with statistics and how many touchdowns can this guy get, how many yards did that guy get. But there’s an old old old football mentality that usually wins out. And it’s not just all about explosive plays. It’s it’s not about creating a show. It’s about winning in the trenches. And the Patriots won in Miami because they won in the trenches, especially as that game went on. Let’s start with the offensive line. The offensive line did their job. And I said during the live postgame right here on Lockdown Patriots, I said that the initial watch, watching it live, I felt like the pass protection was solid. It It was pretty good. And I’ll tell you, looking back, re-watching the game, looking at some of the analytics, the pass protection was better than solid. The pass protection was really good. Doug Kide from the Boston Herald posted, “The Patriots offensive line only allowed two pressures against the Dolphins.” That’s according to Pro Football Focus. Morgan Moses had one hurry against him. Mike Awenu had one hurry against him. That means according to Pro Football Focus, Will Campbell, Jared Wilson, Garrett Bradberry all had quote unquote clean sheets. Joseph Psteris posted the following week 2 offensive line stats and 30 pass blocking snaps. And this was per NextGen stats. Campbell one pressure. Wilson one pressure. Bradberry clean sheet. Awenu one pressure. Moses one quick pressure. The two sacks in the game were put on Hunter Henry and Trayvon Henderson. Here’s more from Psteris. Also important to note, Campbell was one-on-one twothirds of all pass blocking snaps, second only to Morgan Moses. So, Will Campbell was left on an island twothirds of the pass blocking snaps that he had. So, 20 of the 30 dropbacks and Campbell gave up only one single solitary pressure. Going into this game, I had talked about the Miami Dolphins defensive line and the fact that they can get after the quarterback. They’ve got some really talented pass rushers on that defensive line and the Patriots O line, they responded to that challenge. They were really good in pass protection. Brian Haynes, Hines, sorry, Brian. Brian Hines of CNNs posted Drake May was under pressure on just 19.4% of his dropbacks. That’s according to Pro Football Focus. And Hines mentioned that’s the first game of May’s career he’s faced a pressure rate under 20%. The eye test on the rewatch, they were good. They were good. Now, if you want to talk about the run game, some mixed results in the run game. the zone runs were not working as well as the Patriots would hope. That’s according to Taylor Kyles. When you look at the uh the film, the the outside zone stuff hasn’t really clicked. Patriots used it a lot during camp, but it’s just not there yet. But there were some good numbers in the run game for the O line. The Patriots were 10th. And of course, this doesn’t count the four teams that will play Monday Night Football, but heading into Monday night, the Patriots were 10th in EPA per rush expected points added. They were fifth in yards before contact per attempt with 1.94. So, they were giving the running back some room, but they were 19th in rush success rate at under 38% 37.9%. So, what that tells me is the Patriots run game was boomer bust. It worked in spots. It didn’t work in spots. When it worked, it worked really well and it worked really well in the first half. But I would look at all these analytics and I would look at that that game and I I would rewatch it and I would say if you rewatch it like I did, you’d walk away feeling like there’s some promise on this offensive line. Week two on the road, hot, humid. A lot of people wondered would the offensive line get through with the conditioning and with so much new. Four out of the five guys new to the Patriots. Two rookies on the left side. I feel really good where they’re at right now. Of course, this can change. Everything’s fluid. It’s early in the season. But right now, based off that performance, I feel like they have some promise on that offensive line. They’re they’re headed in the right direction. The defensive line, meanwhile, stepped up big time in the second half. Specifically, Milton Williams and Christian Barour in the fourth quarter. They made life miserable for the Dolphins offensive line. Andrew Callahan from the Herald posted, “Playing through 85 to 90 degree heat, the Patriots pass rush somehow went from a 14% pressure rate through three quarters, and we talked about that in the post game, the fact that there was no pressure on Tua in the first half, but the Patriots went from 14% pressure through the first three quarters to 66% pressure in the fourth quarter. They were constantly on to it and that changed the game. Pro Football Focus wrote this about Milton Williams. Williams tallied four pressures on a 22.6% pass rush win rate in week one and followed it up with an even better outing in week two. In Miami, Williams collected five pressures. He had an 85.8 PFF pass rushing grade and two sacks. Doug Kide from the Herald posted. Christian Barour and Williams ranked 10th and 12th respectively out of 111 qualified defensive tackles in Pro Football Focus’s overall defensive grade. So right now through the first two weeks, the Patriots have two guys near the top 10. One guy in the top 10, one guy 12th. Barour Williams ranked 10th and 12th overall for defensive tackles respectively by Pro Football Focus. How about more on the defensive line from PFF? Harold Landry 10 pressures through two games. Barour has three pressures and a pass rush win rate above 10.7% in both of the first two games. Kyrie Tonga has emerged with a 15.4% pass rush win rate or better through the first two contests. And Pro Football Focus, by the way, had Kaleon Chase on with five pressures against Miami per Greg Badar. And because of that defensive line doing work, the Patriots were able to get pressure in the fourth quarter without blitzing. Doug Kai posted, “The Patriots only blitzed to a tongue four times on Sunday.” That’s according to Pro Football Focus. That was down from 16 blitzes in week one versus the Raiders. They blitzed one quarter of the time against Miami as they blitzed against the Raiders. But in the fourth quarter, that defensive line won and won and won again. And thanks to that defensive line, because the linebackers, I’ll tell you, during the rewatch, they were even worse than I thought watching live, especially Robert Spalain. He was bad against the pass. He was bad against the run. And according to Doug Kes, Spalain and Ellis currently are first and second in most missed tackles. Spain has eight. Ellis has six. Spelain and Ellis are also two of eight linebackers who have allowed a 100 plus yards in coverage through two weeks according to Pro Football Focus. And you had Marte Mappu, his huge miss on Devon Achan towards the end of that game and luckily he stepped out of bounds. Patriots really need to figure out the second level. Batting coverage, bad tackling. They need to be much better. Bolt, Spelain, and Ellis. But thankfully the defensive line, Landry, Williams, Barour, Chson, they went to work in Miami, especially in that fourth quarter. And that’s how you get out of that game with a W for the first time since 2019 down there in Florida. So, trench warfare. Mike Vrabel said it from the very beginning. We want to win in the trenches. The Patriots were the better team in the trenches on Sunday and you get the dub. All right, we thought Drake May was mostly excellent in Miami when we talked about him in the live postgame. Well, up next, we’ve got some unbelievable numbers that say May was even better. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. [Music] Let’s talk about Mazda. Mazda crafts cars for those who do more than simply move. Mazda delivers confidence with every ride. With more IHS Top Safety Pick Plus awards than anyone else. From footwork to breath work, athletes sweat all the details. And Mazda brings this same intention to how we craft every single model. Stunning detail that will bring you back to the two dynastic runs in New England. Oh man, the good times. 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And before Monday Night Football, Drake May for week two of the NFL season had a top three quarterback performance. Let me go through some of these numbers for you. Again, this is heading into Monday Night Football. You still have four teams that have to play, but out of the what is it? 28 quarterbacks that played this week or at least started this week. Drake May third in completion percentage over expected plus 13.5%. And now what that tells us is that May had some tough completions that he had to make in the football game. And his completion percentage over what was expected was plus 13.5% third best in the NFL before Monday Night Football. Expected points added, Drake May second in the NFL. In expected points added per dropback, May second in the NFL. Old school stat for all of you. passer rating. May second in passer rating. May was also third in the NFL in yards per attempt. Cleaner pocket, more opportunity, better football from your quarterback. I mean, all of those analytics, all of those statistics that I just went through, the analytical darlings will tell you that is an elite type of performance from Drake May. There’s no other way to look at it. There’s just simply no other way. Now, to talk about the clean pocket is one thing. To talk about the overall performance and what May did against that Miami defense is one thing, but what about the blitz? Well, May versus the Blitz of Miami, he was even more impressive. He showed tremendous amounts of poise. He was accurate throughout the entire game. I said during the live postgame that I could only remember the Stfan Diggs miscommunication and misfire. Re-watching the game, there was one pass to Hunter Henry. I think Drake May intentionally threw it low and away from the defender, but it was a tough catch and Henry did not come down with it. You could put that on May. There was the Diggs play which was again the miscommunication I think against zone coverage where May thought Diggs was going to sit on his route and he kept going. There was also the big play to Austin Hooper early in the game in the first half where if May puts it on Hooper better, it’s probably a touchdown, but he made it a little bit more difficult and Hooper actually had to hit the ground to make the catch. Other than that, there was a deflection at the line of scrimmage on uh in the red zone on a third and goal play. Other than those plays, Drake May was accurate. He was hitting his target over and over and over again. And frankly, he was dominant. And so to get back to the idea of what May did against the Blitz, check this out. Before Monday Night Football, Drake May second best passer rating in the NFL against the Blitz. His passer rating for the game was 137.3. His passer rating against the Blitz was 152.6, which is outrageous. I talked about the completion percentage over expected. That was a great number at plus 16.3. Check that plus 13.5. Well, against the Blitz, May was second in the NFL in completion percentage over expected, 24.3% plus. Crazy numbers. He was fourth in EPA. He was fifth in EPA per dropback. And if you think it’s because, oh well, Miami blitz, but they just didn’t get enough pressure on May. May actually faced the ninth highest pressure rate versus the Blitz. When Miami blitzed, May faced a pressure rate of 54.5%. So Drake May was excellent with a clean pocket and no pressure. He was excellent against the blitz. He was excellent against the blitz, even though he got some pretty high pressure rate during those blitzes. Andrew Callahan gives you the uh basic numbers here. May was terrific against the blitz in week two. And when you compare it to week one, it’s a step in the right direction. Against the Raiders, May was eight of 14 for 70 yards and a touchdown against the Blitz. Not terrible. Not terrible. Okay. But he went from eight of 14 for 70 yards in a touchdown to six of seven for 83 yards in a touchdown. He had a 62.5% success rate. And this is the issue for any defense looking at this film. If you blitz May, he could eat you up. Miami blitzed him, he ate Miami up. If you play zone, well, now you’re going to have some issues because if you if you play zone, he’s going to find those soft spots in the zone. And then you also introduce his legs, which is a big- time problem. Daniel Rottman posted pending Monday Night Football, Drake May is the only quarterback to throw 68 plus times and maintain a 70 plus% completion rate. The only quarterback in football. Drake May is one of two quarterbacks to throw 68 plus passes and only account for one turnover worthy play. The other is Josh Allen. And if there’s one stat that we pounded before the season that you want to see Drake May improve on, it was the turnover worthy play stat. He got better as the season went on last year, but he did have four fumbles in the final four games or so. But this year through two games, even though he has thrown 68 plus passes, only one turnover worthy play. That is significant improvement. Oh, Nick, it was against Miami, though. It was against Miami. Of course, he’s going to rip apart Miami’s defense. That’s fair context. Miami is not very good defensively. That is fair context. However, let let me give you even more context because down and distance and situation, they all matter. Circumstances matter. So, when you’re going against Miami’s defense, you should have some level of success if you’re a decent quarterback. But when you go against Miami’s defense and you’re facing a a bunch of tough situations, that’s when you really prove how good you are and prove your medal. And in this game, first drive, you look at third and fourth down. First drive of the game, fourth and three, completion of digs, move the chains. Then on the second drive, you had a third and four. Hits Trayvon Henderson. The wheel route. Perfect throw. Perfect throw from May. Continuing on that second drive, there was a third and six. May scrambles for 13 yards. First down. And then the icing on the cake, May throws that great touchdown, great throw, great catch, Kahan Booty. That was on a third and five. So third and five, third and six, third and four. Move the chains. Move the chains. Touchdown. First drive. Fourth and three. Move the chains to Diggs. You end up with a touchdown. And then the third quarter touchdown drive. You had a second and 12 after Jared Wilson holds. Drake May does a great job taking the profit to Raandre Stevenson for nine yards. gets it to manageable third and three which led to that incredible play down the sidelines to Raandre Stevenson for 50 plus yards on the wheel route and then he caps it off first and goal outruns Matthew Judon for the touchdown. So yes, Miami’s defense not as good. You would think that Drake May would be good against that defense, but he was really, really good when it mattered most. third down, fourth down, red zone. Time and time and time again, he came through. Two Pats who were expected to have big impacts on the offense have taken a backseat. That and more next as we continue with today’s episode of Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. The NFL season is here and FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love using FanDuel because it fits however I like to bet. Player props, building a same game parlay, which I love, or even jumping in live as the action unfolds, hanging around with your friends on a Sunday, keeping your eye on FanDuel. It doesn’t get better. It makes every single game more exciting, whether you’re watching your team or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup. And here’s what’s cool. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s the best way to add a little more energy to your Sundays. Again, right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So, the question is, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanduel.com to get started. That’s fanduel.com to place your first $5 bet. Two of the most impressive offensive players in camp were Pop Douglas and Tvon Henderson. And we went into the season, I went into the season with some significant expectations, especially for Henderson. And neither guy neither guy has been a huge factor for this offense through two weeks. Let’s look at Pop Douglas first. against Miami. Pop Douglas had 15 snaps according to Mike Reese. That is the lowest snap total for Pop Douglas since 2023. It’s been a while. And before the season began, I I had one caveat to all of the Pop Douglas talk with the Patriots wanting to establish the run. I asked the question, would that affect Pop Douglas’s snap totals? Because he’s not a big guy. He is not a run blocker. He’s smaller, smaller framed. And if you want to run the football, you’re not going to have Pop Douglas on the field for the most part. And so I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Patriots go out against Miami and they absolutely establish the run with Mandre Stevenson and they’re trying to run the football and they have more balance to their offense against Miami than than they did against the Raiders and Pop Douglas is out there for only 15 snaps. When the Patriots run the ball, they like having Stfan Diggs, M. Collins, and Kahan Booty out there. That’s what they like. They obviously feel like those are their best p the best run blocking wide receivers on this roster. So that’s going to impact Pop’s snap percentage. It’s just going to if the Patriots want to continue to run, which I I believe they’re going to want to continue to run the football, that means less time for Pop on the field. It is what it is. Now, I do wonder, will this become too predictable? Because when you see Pop Douglas out there, you’ve got to be thinking pass if you’re the defense right now. Of course, occasionally, every once in a while, McDaniels will likely call a run when Pop’s out there to try to make sure that it it’s it’s not so predictable for the defense, but the vast majority of the time when Pop Douglas is on the field, you can expect a drop back. And that is going to bring a a level of predictability to the offense. So, that also, I think, will hurt Pop Douglas’s chances of getting on the field more consistently. Then you look at Trayvon Henderson. Henderson only played four more snaps than Pop Douglas did. He had 19 snaps on the day. And re-watching the game, this is one of those things where you you might not absorb it when you’re watching it live. Re-watching the game, Trayvon Henderson had one single solitary touch in the second half. Now, I believe he had two backto back, but one of them got wiped away by a penalty. So Trayvon Henderson, your second round pick, top 40 pick, he had five touches in this football game. Four of them were in the first half. He was non-existent for the most part in the second half. I don’t know if that’s because Stevenson was having such a good game and Josh McDaniel said, “We’re going to ride the hot hand.” Could be. I don’t know if it’s because Trayvon Henderson had a a bunch of mistakes in pass pro especially, which is supposed to be one of the best things about his game is his pass protection. He wasn’t good against Miami in pass protection. He got called for two or three holds. He gave up a sack. So maybe McDaniel said, “You know what? Too many mistakes. We can’t live with him on the field as much. We got to take him off the field. Let’s give Raandre more of an opportunity and let’s give Antonio Gibson a shot. Gibson had 10 snaps in the game. So, pretty interesting stuff. Pop Douglas and Trayvon Henderson, two players who we felt really good about after camp. Had two really good camps and they have not done a whole heck of a lot in the first two games. I know that Pop Douglas had the touchdown against the Raiders, but he did nothing other than that. The most memorable thing he did in that game other than the touchdown was drop a pass. So, we’ll keep an eye on it. Will Pop Douglas and Trayvon Henderson become uh more of of an impactful, you know, significance to this offense, or is this just what we’re going to see? I have a little bit more confidence in the idea that Trayvon Henderson will become a bigger part of the offense than Pop Douglas because of the run game. Let’s also talk about Josh McDaniels because obviously it’s his call. How much Pop Douglas is out there, how much Trayvon Henderson’s touching the football. And Josh McDaniels made two big adjustments in this game against Miami. The first one was just balance. In the game against the Raiders, the Patriots had 53 dropbacks. Way too many. Way too many. And against Miami, they had 30 dropbacks. And it was pretty much 50/50, run, pass. And that’s what’s going to make this team better offensively. I said it after that loss against the Raiders. The Patriots are not going to be able to survive offensively if they’re onedimensional. You can’t have Drake May go out there throw the ball 40 45 times. That’s a recipe for disaster. You have to find that balance. You have to find the run game. And the Patriots found more of that run game in Miami than they did at Gillette against the Raiders. So, 30 dropbacks against the Dolphins versus 53 drop backs against the Raiders. Another thing that we discussed after the Miami after the Raiders loss, sorry about that. After the Raiders loss, another thing that we discussed was motion and the fact that the Patriots were 30th in the NFL in motion. That changed changed against Miami. Rich Reebar, known as Lord Reeves on Twitter. Check him out. He posted, “After a 28.3% motion rate in week one, which again was 30th in the NFL, the Patriots used motion on 56.7% of Drake May’s drop backs in week two, which was 14th, pretty much middle of the pack. So, they’re still not outrageous with the motion, but that is a significant jump. They more than doubled the amount of motion for Drake May’s drop backs in week two than what they showed week one. And with pre- snap motion movement, Drake May is 22 of 27. He’s completed 81.5% of his passes for 10.4 yards per attempt and two touchdowns. So when they’ve gone in motion, Drake May has been much better. McDaniels used more motion week two than week one. More than double. just just more than double. So, two good adjustments from your offensive coordinator. One more guy I want to shout out, Anthony Jennings. Shout out to Anthony Jennings. Complete professional. Re-watching the game. I thought he made the most of his snaps. I think he only played like 11 or 12 defensive snaps, but he made a big difference at the beginning of the second half against that Miami run game. He had two or three run stops. And he also uh he also had a tackle on special teams. He was also part of the blocking that that sprung Antonio Gibson free for the kick return touchdown. So, shout out to Anthony Jennings. Not many people going to talk about him this week, but I thought given the opportunities, he played well. He did as much as he could with those opportunities. So, great job by him being professional and giving the Patriots good football. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Thank you for making us your first listen and for being an everydayer. Reach out to me on Twitter at nickcradio. Don’t forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. That helps us of course with the algorithm. What also helps is hitting that like button. Give us a thumbs up and subscribe. We’re now over 6,000 subscribers. Let’s keep pushing. Next goal is 7,000. We’re going to get there. We’re going to get there sooner rather than later. So, don’t forget to uh comment, hit that like button, and subscribe. And for your second listen, get a double dose of the Lockdown NFL podcast with Tyler the Mad Man, Roland and Tony Wiggins. Find Lockdown NFL on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Have a great day and we will see you tomorrow.
Patriots stun Dolphins with Drake Maye’s clutch performance.
Nick Cattles breaks down New England’s impressive victory, highlighting Maye’s game-changing plays and the team’s evolving strategy. The discussion covers the offensive line’s solid pass protection, Maye’s exceptional stats against the blitz, and how Josh McDaniels’ tactics are reshaping the Patriots’ offensive landscape. Key topics include New England’s defensive improvements, the reduced roles of Pop Douglas and TreVeyon Henderson, and the impact of increased pre-snap motion.
Don’t miss this in-depth analysis of the Patriots’ path to success. Will Maye’s spectacular performance translate to sustained excellence for New England?
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39 comments
Thank you for mixing the positive in with the criticisms
I know Bentley was injury prone but I think they should have kept him. He wasn't great in pass coverage but was great in run defense.
Gonzalez is missed and it showed , our defense will get better when he's back
What role did pass protection play in the Patriots' victory in Miami?
They really need to get chism and williams more playing time , they are good with the ball after catch, something we need
Thanks for giving credit where it is due for the unsung players in the trenches. Were it not for improved run blocking and improved pass blocking, Rhamondre Stevenson and Drake Maye wouldn't have had improved productivity in their games. It's not just an opinion that the offensive line is the foundation of every offensive play – it's a basic football fact. The guys who handle the ball get too much credit when the game goes well and they get too much criticism when the game goes badly – quite often, they go as the offensive line goes. And despite all this, the offensive linemen are not counted among "skill players" by the usual NFL accounting. Ask the offensive linemen, or the defensive linemen who go against them, if the O-line has any skills! 🙄
Defense is killing it statistically ❤
Finally a watchable product….its been too long. Good take on the big boys in the trenches won..
Penalties kill ….
I said yesterday that I think this was the best game by the Patriots' offensive line since at least 2023.
🏈🏈🏈
context king is back!!!!! #GOPats
Thanks Nick
Good win
🏈🏈🏈🏈👍👍👍
Thanks too, for recognizing Drake Maye's performance, and backing it up with copious statistics. Maye gets a lot of praise, but he also gets a ton of criticism, especially from local voices. I feel like this constant rain of negativity is corrosive. The next time someone wants to question if Maye is legitimate as a franchise quarterback, people can remember these stats, and say "Wait a minute, maybe he's not perfect, but he's been doing some good things here… maybe he deserves some more patience".
Let's go Patriots 💪
We missed a lotta Tackle's
I think Drake Maye is coming outta being a gun shy meaning a pouris line
Great show, Nick. Thanks!
That game reminded me of the 2002 Patriots Brady 1st year. Antowain smith running the ball. Efficient offense
I do believe Keeping May out for the most part he didn't get the mental live reps I think now may seem to be catching up
Every game is different in terms of who gets the rock
Drake had a career day. Let’s hope the future has arrived.
Once Gonzo returns we’ll be ok in the secondary and we’ll just have to address the linebacker situation either at the deadline or the offseason
Encouraging. Caveat being a bad Miami D. Let’s repeat the performance this Sunday. Go Pats!
So exciting 2C key rookies + sophomore players developing into impact players so soon! Vrabel & Stretch must be thrilled (especially Wilson & Campbell). Wow! If OL ranks 15 across NFL that would be such an enormous improvement over last 5 yrs. Was Vrabel showing prescience in putting Morgan Moses on snap-count during Training Camp? How is Bradbury holding up? He was supposed to be washed in pass protection? If these 5 guys stay healthy, Drake Maye might blossom before our eyes. Rhamondre was a beast. Other key stat: NO INTs. NO Fumbles.
Glad to see your channel getting traction.
The WRs are apparently running clearing routes for the backs and TEs. We need one WR who can separate. It does look like separation is the prmary skill for Williams and Chism but it will take this year for them to refine their skill sets enough to be trusted in the McDaneils system. Pats can also point to 2 red zone TDs caught by WRs on great routes and catch point wins. The O line did pretty well, and Maye seemed calm. Dare I say it: reminded me of the 2001 Brady who was a very good game manager who made a few splash plays and didn’t give the ball away. 2001 Brady also got the O into the right play most of the time and Maye is developing in that area. The best thing about Brady was that he competed hard but generally stayed super cool/calm. There was some of that with Maye against Miami. The Miami defense is not strong, though, so this game is just a nice indicator.
Miami O Ine had RG RT starters out, and they weren’t that great anyway. The Pats D line feasted. Good news for the Pats, there are many weak O lines on this year’s schedule.
Totally agree that LBs are weak. Spillane can’t cover fast backs (really fast) like Achane. I expect the Pats 2026 draft to find a fast violent LB who can cover. Ellis got run over a couple of times. Mapu was subdued in the post game locker room, even though he got a game ball for his big play pic. Mapu knew that the miss on the sideline versus Achane was a game losing play. Hope that he learns from it. He took a bad angle last year on a Miami WR that cost a score in a close game. He was playing safety in that game. He’s a guy that the Pats really hope can develop. He still might.
Maye was elite. In the context of this being still less than a full season of starts (was this his 11th or 12th start?), he’s on schedule to be who he was drafted to be.
Steelers are gettable. Seahawks showed the league that Steelers are average. Seahawks throttled the Rogers. The Steelers D was ok against the Seahawks O but the Hawks ran the ball pretty well (IIRC). Game was really decided on a Rogers red zone pick and Steelers special teams blunder. If Maye can play efficiently, Pats have a shot to win but they will be the underdog. Metcalf will do Metcalf things and the other WR is good, too. Rogers will dice the Pats back end, so the D line has to get pressure (which is possible).
I really thought that Douglas would be a good third down ‘hard to cover’ WR. 2025 action says he’s not that guy. Hope that Pop can do better, but I don’t think he’s around next year if Chism comes on. Chism is 198 pounds and can block at least a bit and has a lot of desire.
Henderson is a rookie who made mistakes in a close game. McDaniels is not going to give Henderson reps ‘just because’. Henderson will be fine, and ‘not being good’ is part of learning to play in the league. Gibson is a credible player, so Pats are happy for him to be on the field. Pats RB room is an overall strength.
McDaniels called a good game. Wheel routes are a thing in McDaneils offense. Mac Jones threw a few to James White in McDaniels last year. Henderson is a potential big mismatch if he can get isolated on a slow LB. Maye throws the wheel route pretty well, IMHO. I know that some fans don’t think he can throw it, but Miami show-cased two really nice wheel routes that both hit, one of them for 55 yards and was the biggest second half play.
I noted Jennings make a very nice play holding the edge, and he showed Vrabel that he can play.
Was surprised how slow Robert Spillane looked on Sunday…linebackers gotta do better.
Funny, i saw the pocket collapsing around Maye for much of tbe game, nothing like the space the offensive line used to give Brady.