Lastly, the Patriots allowed explosive runs of 59, 54, and 20 yards. The play that hurt the Pats the most on the ground was a wham scheme, where the blocking allows for the defensive line to get upfield unblocked initially and then blocks them at an angle to crease the defense.

Following the game, head coach Jerod Mayo echoed Godchaux’s frustrations with the self-inflicted wounds by his defense, especially with their run fits and missed tackles.

“Defensively, I would say just the fundamentals of just tackling and our run fits have to improve,” Mayo said. “You take away those two long runs, we had two runs over 50 yards. That’s just not winning football.”

The Patriots offense took a step forward this week. However, the Pats defense needs to find its form to get things headed in the right direction.

4. Offensive Line Continues to Cycle Through Bodies at Center and Tackle

During the practice week, starting C Nick Leverett was a limited participant due to an ankle injury, and reporters saw backup Ben Brown taking reps with the starters on Friday.

After speaking with Brown and Leverett following Sunday’s game, it seemed like Leverett was a game-time decision due to his ankle injury, which ultimately held him out of the lineup. Brown told Patriots.com he didn’t find out for certain that he was starting until Sunday morning. Despite just two practices, Brown made all the line calls, which is extremely impressive given how little experience he has in New England’s offensive system after signing to the roster on Wednesday.

To make matters more difficult, starting left tackle Vederian Lowe left the game after playing just ten snaps and did not return due to an ankle injury. Lowe, the Pats best pass-blocking tackle, was replaced by backup T/G Zach Thomas. At one point, the O-Line looked like this: LT Thomas (waiver claim), LG Jordan (started season on practice squad), C Brown (signed Wednesday), RG Onwenu (only entrenched starter), and RT Jacobs (waiver claim).

According to NextGen Stats, Maye was pressured on a relatively high 47.6% of his drop-backs with a 31% bitz rate. In terms of quick pressures, here were NGS’s numbers: RT Trey Jacobs (three, two sacks), LG Michael Jordan (two), LT Thomas (two, two sacks), Brown (two), and starting right guard Mike Onwenu allowed one quick pressure.

With backups galore on the offensive line, the Patriots running backs only managed 44 rushing yards on 21 attempts with a long of seven yards. Without lead-back Rhamondre Stevenson, the run-game managed only four successful runs with six stuffs by the backs.

At this point, the attrition this group has endured is pretty crazy. The Patriots can’t keep the same starting five healthy, leading to many of their blocking issues.

5. Highlighting OC Alex Van Pelt’s Play-Calling for Rookie QB Drake Maye

Another element of Maye taking over as the starter is how Van Pelt will build the offense around the third-overall pick’s skill set. Like with any first-round quarterback, it’s on the coordinator to adjust to Maye’s strengths, just like you’re seeing in Washington, Chicago, and Denver.

On Sunday, we saw some of that. The Pats were only under center on 19% of their offensive plays. In the first five weeks, they ranked eighth with an under-center rate of 38%. Along with playing more out of the gun, we also saw a higher RPO/play-action rate (18.9%), and the Pats really seemed to spam crossers and vertical routes for Maye to attack man coverage.

It was an interesting start with back-to-back run plays to set up a third-and-9 as Maye’s first pass attempt. Van Pelt came back to a boot-action layup to get Maye going on the second drive, which we expected. Lastly, RT Trey Jacobs was on an island on 90.5% of his pass-blocking snaps, while Thomas was blocking 1-on-1 on 80% of his pass plays.

If the Patriots continue to work with third-string tackles, Van Pelt might scheme more help for Jacobs and Thomas. Texans edge rushers Will Anderson (three sacks, five pressures) and Danielle Hunter (strip-sack, three hurries) were only doubled a combined four times.

6. WRs DeMario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte Register First-Career Touchdowns

Another positive for the Patriots offense was WR DeMario Douglas finishing with six catches for a career-high 92 yards and his first career touchdown. Douglas has been the Pats best receiver vs. man coverage, and Pop did it again with three catches for 59 yards against man. Boutte also showed excellent long speed to separate late from Texans CB Derek Stingley on the 40-yard touchdown, as both second-year wideouts found pay-dirt for the first time in the NFL.

7. Pass Defense Can Build on Holding Texans in Check on Third Down (4-11)

There were some positives as the game wore on. Mainly, the Pats ran a few good simulated pressures on third down that got home, with LB/S Marte Mapu coming through the line unblocked for a second-quarter sack where there was good man coverage in the secondary. The Pats leaned into more man coverage with their third-down pressure package, a Belichick staple, and the results have been better than the zone pressures they ran earlier in the season.