The Official 2024 New England Patriots Thread

[HuskyHawk]

Would you play Maye now? I still have PTSD from Darnold and Wilson….I would let him watch and learn.

No, but soon. Need Lowe back at LT. Can't believe I typed it, but it's true. Might need Mike back at RG, Wallace at RT and Robinson at LG. Jacoby causes some of the issues with his processing speed (lack thereof). Might see Maye by week 5.

The skill position guys aren't the problem. The WR, RB and TE group is solid. The OL and QB play is the issue. Defensively, short week after OT against a Jets team at home with Rogers was a tough environment. They didn't adapt to Bentley being out, missed a lot of tackles (were the best tackling team in the NFL in weeks 1-2) and Rogers broke contain too often.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I don’t think the Pats have a bad team. I think they play well together and do what Mayo wants them to do. They just have a severe lack of overall talent all over the place and need to be smart reloading the next couple years. I don’t think you’ll have much better than this for this year and maybe a good part of next.

Better than this? This is the floor. They were much better than this the last two weeks and will be better than this next week. The talent gap is almost entirely in the OL and QB positions. Losing Barmore and now Bentley hurts the defensive talent.

 

[Deepster]

Better than this? This is the floor. They were much better than this the last two weeks and will be better than this next week. The talent gap is almost entirely in the OL and QB positions. Losing Barmore and now Bentley hurts the defensive talent.

Nah. You’re looking at 5-6 wins this year and next tops with what you have on offense. The RB and WR corps are not good right now.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Nah. You’re looking at 5-6 wins this year and next tops with what you have on offense. The RB and WR corps are not good right now.

So the guy who was the top RB in the league in weeks 1-2 isn’t good. Right. Polk leads all the rookie WRs in separation metrics. The problem is QB and OL. Yes, probably 5-6 wins against the toughest schedule in the league. Maybe 7. Next year though? Winning the division.

 

[Deepster]

So the guy who was the top RB in the league in weeks 1-2 isn’t good. Right. Polk leads all the rookie WRs in separation metrics. The problem is QB and OL. Yes, probably 5-6 wins against the toughest schedule in the league. Maybe 7. Next year though? Winning the division.

Oh. I didn’t realize the guy with 5 catches in 3 games led the league in separation metrics. LOL. Is this post for real?

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Next year though? Winning the division.

I guess if Tua and Rodgers retire…and Josh Allen has a season ending injury…maybe.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Oh. I didn’t realize the guy with 5 catches in 3 games led the league in separation metrics. LOL. Is this post for real?

Somebody has to throw the ball to him. He's not the problem.

 

[Deepster]

Somebody has to throw the ball to him. He's not the problem.

Hey, if you want to spin it, spin away. This is one of the worst offenses in football through 3 weeks and Brissett hasn't made a single mistake yet.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Hey, if you want to spin it, spin away. This is one of the worst offenses in football through 3 weeks and Brissett hasn't made a single mistake yet.

Brissett has made loads of mistakes. Just no turnovers. He's holding the ball too long, has tunnel vision and isn't getting through reads fast enough. He's a big part of the problem and Maye will be playing in a couple of weeks. In week one, Osbourne was the least open WR and got most of the targets.

The issues aren't the RBs and WRs, or TEs. It's almost all OL and QB, plus some play-calling/game plan issue.

 

[HuskyHawk]

There aren't many positives, but there's this

• Gonzalez is phenomenal
• Lowe was actually decent at LT (Center was a catastrophe)
• Running game was great. Didn't run enough.
• Rumors are that Maye could start soon
• Mapu filled in for the two injured starters at S, despite coming off injury, and played well

That's not much. Just a horrific game. Terrible coaching. Terrible QB play. Bad clock management (again). Penalties were awful, but I also think that crew was lousy for both teams, calling too many marginal penalties.

 

[Deepster]

Wow. They are gonna ruin this kid.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Wow. They are gonna ruin this kid.

yeah….us Jets fans know how a QB gets ruined. If they keep this up Maye will be a star somewhere else in 5 years (see Geno Smith and Sam Darnold)

 

[Husky25]

The 2 Ints were not ideal, but I don't think he played too bad.

Line play has to improve, but I see promise. Houston is a tough out right out of the gate.

Maye's stat line was decent for his first extended play.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Wow. They are gonna ruin this kid.

yeah….us Jets fans know how a QB gets ruined. If they keep this up Maye will be a star somewhere else in 5 years (see Geno Smith and Sam Darnold)

He’s going to be a star in New England by next season. He played well behind a makeshift line. Pressure rate was just above 30%, lowest for Houston all year (they lead the NFL). Kid made good, quick reads and got the ball out. One bad throw for Int. Some real gems too.

Schedule softens up considerably from here, so I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do against lesser competition. Obviously should have played Maye vs Miami.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Well that was very disappointing. The defense has collapsed without Bentley. The DL isn‘t holding up against the run and the LBs miss tackles. Maye played very well again, but Polk dropping balls is a problem. Douglas was good, tried to play through illness. Henry is solid. Team needs to focus on OL, DL and LB. Have to win at the line of scrimmage.

 

[Dove]

They'll have some sweet draft picks coming.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Currently seeing some similarities between the Patriots and Villanova. Both moved on from a legendary coach. Both backfilled "in house" with a feel-good coach associated with the old coach. Both reluctant to admit the mistake. Jerod Mayo may well be our Kyle Neptune. It's not about scheme or X's and O's. It's about accountability, professionalism, shutting down the personalities that can disrupt the team (Jets having this challenge too now, Aaron Rogers). I think Mayo is trying so hard not to be like Bill that's being really successful in not being like Bill on the field too. Players are just out of control right now.

 

[Husky25]

Maye played well, but the Patriots are down a lot of pieces and are relying on spot players to be meaningful contributors. According to Spotrac, the Patriots are paying their active players the least amount ($142.8M) in the NFL and have $34M (8th in NFL) on the various inactive lists. To say nothing about their dead cap space ($46.5M), while still having nearly $35M in cap room. Bottom line is that they did a poor job at acquiring talent with the most or second most (depending on source) 2024 cap room.

Their coaching is lacking as well. Mayo might be over his head, which frankly is on Kraft. I don't know what kind of arrangement Mayo had prior to being hired, but Vrabel was there for the taking and Mayo could have gotten more seasoning as a D-coordinator who actually called the signals. Neither of his Coordinators had significant play calling responsibilities prior to this season.

I think all of that played itself out yesterday. They came out of the gate well, but couldn't adjust to Jacksonville's adjustments. The effort was reminiscent of the Pasqualoni/Diaco Huskies and that is not a good thing.

The Patriots are in Improvement mode, so they afford themselves some leeway, but there are only 38 players committed to the 2025 roster. So the Patriots need to use that cap space to add a lot of talent in the offseason in order to take a major step forward.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Maye played well, but the Patriots are down a lot of pieces and are relying on spot players to be meaningful contributors. According to Spotrac, the Patriots are paying their active players the least amount ($142.8M) in the NFL and have $34M (8th in NFL) on the various inactive lists. To say nothing about their dead cap space ($46.5M), while still having nearly $35M in cap room. Bottom line is that they did a poor job at acquiring talent with the most or second most (depending on source) 2024 cap room.

Their coaching is lacking as well. Mayo might be over his head, which frankly is on Kraft. I don't know what kind of arrangement Mayo had prior to being hired, but Vrabel was there for the taking and Mayo could have gotten more seasoning as a D-coordinator who actually called the signals. Neither of his Coordinators had significant play calling responsibilities prior to this season.

I think all of that played itself out yesterday. They came out of the gate well, but couldn't adjust to Jacksonville's adjustments. The effort was reminiscent of the Pasqualoni/Diaco Huskies and that is not a good thing.

The Patriots are in Improvement mode, so they afford themselves some leeway, but there are only 38 players committed to the 2025 roster. So the Patriots need to use that cap space to add a lot of talent in the offseason in order to take a major step forward.

Yeah, I'm really disappointed in the lack of discipline. The penalties. The missed blocks. The bad tackling. That's on Mayo and the staff. I know they are missing critical players on the OL and especially Barmore and Bentley. But the backups should be better. Players shouldn't be out on social media stirring crap up, and neither should the coaches. The whole OL except Onwenu came off other teams' practice squads. That means our backups weren't good enough. Shockingly, Brown might be pretty good at C.

Maye looks like a star. Love what I've seen. His two game start is equaled by one QB ever, Dan Marino. That's crazy given what he's dealing with. So I feel like that position is solved and we just need to rebuild the team to take advantage of it. OL, TE that can block, more RB depth, another WR and hope Boutte and Polk get better. Huge need at LB and DL. Has to be a major focus in the off season.

 

[HuskyHawk]

This is likely utter nonsense. The only way anything like this happens, even in the off-season, is if Mayo has so little control that the players are embarrassing the team. So far we have Bourne with a stupid IG post about police, Barmore with a stupid post about police (for which he apologized in a professional way) and Peppers getting arrested. If there's more we don't know then maybe. Otherwise it's clickbait.

 

[Waquoit]

Mayo is a disaster. But the Kraft's are the root cause and they aren't going anywhere.

 

[HuskyHawk]

WR drops were absurd. Hoping Maye is ok. I was glad to see a little fight from the team, both sides of the ball. Henry is having a good year, so reliable. Underrated player. Garrett Wilson is helped so much by Adams. Drawing the #2 CB and no doubles and that’s a recipe for success. Some of the calls in this game were absurd and almost all in the Jets favor.

Glad they won. Now keep winning. Tanking is pointless. There’s no player available that will cause a bidding war and you want to trade back anyway. Build a winning culture. Restore accountability and professionalism.

 

[Waquoit]

Problem is they don't play the Jets anymore.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Problem is they don't play the Jets anymore.

No, the play the Titans, who are even worse.

 

[Husky25]

Patriots should win next week. Indy and The Chargers are in play if just by being home and they have an outside shot at Arizona and vs. Rams. I don't think they win all of them, but, "any given Sunday," and all that jazz.

Considering compensatory selections, they are projected to have have 10 drafts picks next Spring, but 4 are projected to be in rounds 6 and 7. OTOH, They will also have 5 in the 1st four rounds and be among the leaders in cap room.

1/2 sample size so it very well could change, but the Pats could pick anywhere from 3-7 if the season ended today. I wouldn't be surprised if that held. If Maye continues to improve, the biggest piece is in place, and there are plenty for the taking for a year 2 turnaround.