Patriots Mailbag: Assessing Brissett’s play, the case for Maye and more

Patriots Mailbag: Assessing Brissett’s play, the case for Maye and more originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Patriots have dropped three straight, and the people are getting restless. How can New England right the ship Sunday against the Dolphins? Should a quarterback change be made sooner rather than later?

We tackle those questions and more in a fresh Patriots Mailbag.

Went in-depth on this one. Here’s a look at some numbers that highlight a few levers offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt can pull to get more out of this Patriots offense.

I wouldn’t say Jacoby Brissett was “the main problem,” Kaos.

The line was bad, once again. Of the 19 pressures Brissett saw the other day, 11 of them occurred in less than 2.5 seconds. By my count, at least. Eight of them occurred in less than their season-long average of 2.42 seconds from snap to pressure. That’s not giving your quarterback a chance. Still, Brissett made some impressive throws under pressure, including a 21-yard back-shoulder pass to Ja’Lynn Polk while getting walloped.

However, I thought this was Brissett’s worst game of the year.

There were times I felt as though he was not seeing the field clearly. I charted Brissett for detrimental plays on seven of the 19 pressures he faced. One was his pick-6, where he missed an open DeMario Douglas while trying to hit Tyquan Thornton (who was also coming open and could’ve had a catch with a better throw). Another came when he left a clean pocket and invited pressure.

Later, he missed second-reaction throws that might’ve gone for big plays, including a potential touchdown for Douglas had Brissett been able to keep his eyes up as he slid from pressure. Brissett also had multiple fumbles and appeared to trust too often that his line had Nick Bosa handled when it did not.

Brissett isn’t the primary issue, and his toughness has to be lauded. But I’ve made the argument that the Patriots should be playing Drake Maye. I think his off-script playmaking would help the offense, and I believe there’s the potential that the Patriots would be able to get the ball out more quickly with the rookie behind center.

I also believe that the coaching staff owes it to the team to try something new when the team is struggling — at the bottom of the league in several major categories — the way it is.

The No. 3 overall pick is just… sitting there. Eventually, Jerod Mayo may have to contend with some frustrated players (if he’s not already) who see Maye practicing well and wonder why he isn’t out there with them.

The motion question is a fair one. The Patriots use motion on over half their snaps (51.7 percent), but their use of motion at the snap is lowest in the NFL. It just doesn’t seem to be part of what Van Pelt wants to do from a philosophical standpoint.

Under Kevin Stefanski last year, Van Pelt oversaw a Browns offense that used motion at the snap just 12.4 percent of the time (31st in the NFL). Stefanski’s Browns rank 29th in at-the-snap motion rate this year. Another one of Van Pelt’s former bosses, Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy, ranks near the bottom of the league in at-the-snap motion rate (30th).

The Patriots are currently slated to draft third overall, which could put them in position for their left tackle of the future if that holds. But they’re going up against a team this Sunday (Miami) that’s on track to pick second overall, and the team scheduled to pick first overall (Jacksonville) will see the Patriots in London in a few weeks.

As for your trade question, Trygve, I’m not sure how many veterans would generate much in the way of draft capital coming back to the Patriots. They just don’t have those types of players that would return picks on the first couple of days of the draft.

Maybe there’s a deal out there for them to make for a late-round pick, but I don’t view those as significant. They dealt their highest-value veteran (Matthew Judon) already for a third-rounder.

They can. But there are no sure things for this year’s Patriots.

The defense has disappointed through four weeks, in part due to the injuries they’ve suffered. Their tackling has been lacking the last two weeks without two of their best tacklers (Ja’Whaun Bentley out after Week 2; Kyle Dugger out early in Week 4). Same goes for their pass-rush without Christian Barmore and Matthew Judon; Keion White has shown flashes of high-end potential, but the team hasn’t been able to generate pressure one-on-one beyond him.

Their discipline has been uncharacteristically sporadic as well, especially on the edges — losing Anfernee Jennings to injury ahead of Week 4 was a significant blow in that regard.

I believe their secondary is still talented enough to make this a competent defense. But the Patriots will call blitzes, in order to help the lacking pass-rush, that at times puts defensive backs in difficult positions. Then when the team gets down on the scoreboard that leads to players trying to make game-changing plays that can lead to game-changing mistakes.

They have enough there, certainly, to beat the Dolphins. But injuries and waning discipline to tackle and set the edge have led to surprising letdowns from a group that was expected by some to be among the best defenses in the league this year.

I wouldn’t count on it, Artoris. High-end offensive tackles change teams much less frequently than high-end receivers. The Patriots should be thinking draft at that position.

Speaking of Davante Adams, the Patriots should not be in the mix for him, in my opinion. He’ll soon be 32 years old, and his best seasons are behind him, it seems. I know the quarterback situation in Las Vegas has been subpar, but taking on a big-time receiver for real draft capital in return — the Raiders reportedly want a second-round pick — would have to be about more than this year for New England.

Giving up what should be a young and talented drafted player (likely a high-end second-round pick) for a player who likely won’t be at his best when the Patriots hope to be turning the corner makes little sense to me. Going after Brandon Aiyuk (26 years old) or Calvin Ridley (29)? Got it. Not Adams. Not for this team.

I think you could see him soon. Tyquan Thornton has given the team nothing, including whiffing on a “crack” block Sunday (that call not exactly playing to his strengths there), and committing a block-in-the-back penalty that wiped out a nifty lateral play.

Javon Baker could, if he shows he has a good grasp on what he should be doing in practice, fill in in that role. The team still believes in his potential, and he continues to dress despite not contributing offensively.

Thought it was interesting that we saw more of Kayshon Boutte the other day. They’re open to playing these guys. They just need to practice well. If the others ahead of them on the depth chart provide next to nothing? Changes could be made in short order.

Tackle first. But explosiveness at receiver isn’t far behind.

I had to read this six times before answering. I settled on this: I don’t care what the other options are, I’m not giving up bacon.

I understand people who feel this way. But it just hasn’t been universally true. Joe Burrow got pummeled as a rookie. Troy Aikman and Peyton Manning were historically bad and took beatings in their first years. There are players who can get through it.

I think, based on the toughness and resilience Maye showed at North Carolina, he’d be OK. But there’s no way of knowing one way or the other.

I don’t think so. Again, consider the locker room. You can say that players shouldn’t have any say in roster decisions. And I get that. But there is an element of gaining and maintaining credibility with the players that the coaching staff and front office should care about.

They’re the ones going out to sacrifice themselves on a weekly basis to try to win games. My belief is you would lose credibility with them if you were to add another quarterback — Ryan Tannehill? Trevor Siemian? — and play him in case Brissett gets hurt.

Maye is getting first-team reps and playing well in practice. He was outplaying Brissett at the end of camp, so much so that the head coach acknowledged it and has doubled down on that opinion in the weeks since then.

If you were to go out and get someone now, who would be new to his teammates and this year’s version of the Van Pelt offense, why should anyone in the locker room take that seriously? You’d be creating more problems than you’d be solving. In my opinion.