Patriots Passing Game

The Patriots offense has continued to be inconsistent this season.

Quarterback Tom Brady has thrown three interceptions in the last three games, with all three of them being bad decisions.

This week, the Patriots go into the game without receiver Josh Gordon, running back Rex Burkhead and tight ends Ryan Izzo and Matt LaCosse, all of whom have been ruled out. 

The Jets defense gives up an average of 25 points per game and 358 total yards.

“They’ve got a lot of guys that are hard to block on the front. Coach [Gregg] Williams has an excellent pressure package and he does a good job of keeping the offense off-balance,” said Patriots head coach Bill Belichick during his press conference on Thursday.

In the Patriots week three game against the Jets, the offense made it look easy on the first three possessions, but it was all downhill from there.

New England’s drives after that were -10, 19, 16, 12, 23,  75, 35, 7, 8, and 5 yards.

A caveat to that is that Edelman left the game just before the half and did not return.

“When Julian went out, we had to kind of readjust everything that we were doing because he’s kind of the one that has a lot of roles and responsibilities. So, that’s just part of football. I think that’s the big challenge, is week-to-week guys being injured and they come in and out and so forth. And then when you lose guys during the game, you know, you just kind of scramble to make it happen and switch some things around there at the end,” said Brady during his press conference on Saturday.

Gordon being out will present another opportunity for rookies Jakobi Meyers and Gunner Olszewski to contribute.

Both Meyers and Olszewski had a pair of meaningful catches in last week’s game and could be creeping into Brady’s circle of trust.

“I think they’re – like I said, those guys are – when you’re young, you gain trust in practice, and a lot of it’s doing the right thing over and over and over again. Those guys are working at it. I mean, they’ve been here a short period of time, so try to get as many reps as you can and talk about things. You get coached up, and any young player, they’re trying to earn the trust of the coach and the players every day,” said Brady.

PHOTO: Peter Bond/Flickr Commons

Pats Defense

The Patriots defense will be in for one of their biggest tests of the season to this point as Sam Darnold is back under center for the Jets.

Darnold did not play in the week three matchup with the Patriots as he was out mono.

He returned in New York’s last game against the Cowboys and completed 23 of 31 passes for 338 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Jets to a 24-22 win.

“I think the comfort level he has, I think the guys around him, all those other guys on offense – he’s taken all those snaps since May when they were out there in spring practices. So, when you have that feeling, and then obviously, he’s a really good player, I think it just makes everything flow better. He looked great last week of just knowing what he wanted to do, getting the ball down the field,” said Patriots safety Devin McCourty during his press conference on Thursday.

Darnold spread the ball around last week against the Jets including a 92-yard touchdown pass to Robby Anderson from just in front of his own goal line.

He connected with Anderson five total times in the game, six times with Jamison Crowder and four times with Demaryius Thomas.

Le’Veon Bell had just one reception, but 14 rushes for 50 yards in the game.

“Anderson’s a great deep receiver, [Jamison] Crowder, [Braxton] Berrios are very good players in the slot. Bell, obviously is – I mean, how many backs better than him in the league, in terms of the run game and the passing game? They can split him out, they can get him the ball in the backfield. He’s a very versatile player. So, again, they have a very good scheme, good play-caller, good strategy and they have a lot of good weapons,” added Belichick during his press conference on Thursday.

The Patriots defense enters Monday’s game as the best defense in the NFL.

New England is giving up just eight points and 235 total yards per game.

To break it down further, the Patriots have been stout against the run, giving up just 74 rush yards per game, which is third-best in the NFL.

When it comes to the air attack, the Patriots are giving up just 161 passing yards per game and have only allowed one passing touchdown so far this season.

That touchdown came in New England’s last game against the Giants.

PHOTO: Keith Allison/Wikipedia 

Ben Watson

Earlier this week, the Patriots re-signed tight end Ben Watson, as GoLocalProv reported. 

Watson returned to the team exactly one week after the Patriots released him.

“We had a roster spot. He had availability. Jak [Johnson] went on IR, so we had an opportunity to put him on the roster that we didn’t have the week before,” said Patriots head coach Bill Belichick during his press conference on Thursday.

Tight ends Ryan Izzo and Matt LaCosse have already been ruled out for Monday night’s game so expect Watson to be a big factor in the blocking and passing game. 

New England also signed tight end Eric Tomlinson this week, though it is unclear how much he will play, if he plays at all. 

Watson in New England

Watson, 38, signed with the Patriots back in May after initially retiring from the NFL.

He was suspended for the first four games of the 2019 regular season for using a banned substance.

Upon his return from suspension, he was not activated to the 53-man roster for the Patriots road game against the Washington Redskins.

He was then not activated by 4 p.m. on Monday, October 7, making him a free agent. 

Watson was selected by the Patriots in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft, and played the first six seasons of his career in New England.

In his career, he has 530 catches for 5,885 yards and 44 touchdowns.

PHOTO: Patriots media website 

Demaryius Thomas

New York Jets wide receiver Demaryius Thomas did not have good things to say about his brief time in New England earlier this week.

As GoLocalProv reported, Thomas was initially cut from the Patriots roster on cut-down day, then resigned a day later.

He was inactive for New England’s season opener and then was traded to the Jets.

"It was insulting, for sure. Once I got cut (on Aug. 31), I could have just come here (to the Jets) and not stayed there and re-sign. When they re-signed me, I was thinking that I was good. Two weeks later, I was gone. So, it's like, 'Why did I waste my time?' Because at the end of the day, it was kind of a waste of time for me,” Thomas told the New York Daily News.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick responded to Thomas’ comments on Thursday.

“Demaryius is a great kid. I have a ton of respect for him. He’s very professional and did everything we asked him to do. Our circumstances changed a couple times in that period leading up to when he was traded, and so I felt like I was always truthful with him, but things changed, and therefore what I said was not the same as what it was – what I had said previously.”

Since Thomas was traded, the Patriots circumstances at wide receiver have changed again.

Antonio Brown was signed and then released after one game, Julian Edelman is battling a chest injury, Phillip Dorsett missed the last game with an injury and Josh Gordon has already been ruled out this week.

Meanwhile, this season with the Jets, Thomas has played in three games and caught nine passes for 108 yards and no touchdowns.

In one game with Jets quarterback Sam Darnold, Thomas had four catches for 62 yards.

Mike Nugent

Patriots kicker Mike Nugent has played in two games with New England to this point in the season and has missed a kick in each of them.

Last week against the Giants, he made all of his extra points, but missed a 40-yard field goal that would have given the Patriots a ten-point lead late in the third quarter.

On the missed kick, holder Jake Bailey failed to turn the ball so that the laces were out. The ball ended up hitting the post and bouncing out.

Nugent missed an extra point in his Patriots debut against the Washington Redskins.

As GoLocalProv pointed out last week, the Patriots are continuing to bring in different kickers for workouts an still have Younghoe Koo on the practice squad.