New England’s offensive performance was undoubtedly better than a week ago, and the ability to successfully beat man coverage is a massive step in the right direction. However, there’s still more meat on the bone from a creativity and personnel utilization standpoint.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick gave a detailed answer to a question about the team’s lack of play-action attempts through two weeks, explaining that play-action doesn’t have the same impact against teams that blitz at a high rate and use man coverage more frequently. As you’d expect, Belichick’s reasoning is sound. With the Pats putting on tape that they can beat man coverage, maybe that leads to more zone and an uptick of play-action.

But New England ranking dead-last in play-action attempts (seven) and motion at the snap rate (4.3%) is forcing their offense to win one-on-one battles across the board without as much aid from the scheme.

Luckily, the Patriots won enough of their one-on-ones to get a victory over the Steelers. But they’re asking a lot from their skill players by playing stagnant offensive football. Hopefully, we’ll see more fakes and misdirection as everyone gets more comfortable with the new system.

If the Patriots add more motion and play-action (RPOs, please) to Sunday’s plan, they’ll have something to work with that we can get behind this season.

After Further Review, here are five more film takeaways from the Patriots win over the Steelers:

1. Belichick Buying into the Two-High Takeover Across the NFL?

As long as Bill Belichick is the head coach in New England, the Patriots will play man coverage at a league-high rate. However, over the last two seasons, Belichick is acknowledging that his personnel at cornerback and the league as a whole is turning to bend-don’t-break defense.

We’ve seen the Pats use this philosophy before. Still, a glance at film from around the NFL shows that every team is playing a similar style of defense by forcing offenses into long drives by limiting big plays with two-high safety zones. The rules are skewed towards the offense, and there are quarterbacks and playmakers galore, so the adjustment on defense is to limit the bleeding by forcing death by a thousand paper cuts.

In the first two weeks, the Patriots have played 21.9 percent of their coverage snaps in either cover-two or quarters (two-high safeties), and their most used structure by far is cover-three (41.5%). In total, the Pats have played zone on 69.3 percent of their defensive snaps.

As the rest of the league gravitates towards Vic Fangio’s two-high safety spin system, the Pats are doing things their way to limit chunk gains.

Through two games, the Pats defense has shown they’ve evolved since a lackluster finish to 2021. Not only have they added speed at the second level, but they’re getting rejuvenated and even surprising performances from some of their long-time veterans. Steve Belichick and Jerod Mayo have done an excellent job rejiggering the attack and should continue to do so. With a number of new options to play with, we’re only scratching the surface of the defense’s potential.

What’s changed? Well, let’s start with Deatrich Wise. It might have surprised some when Wise signed a four-year deal last offseason, but now that deal looks like a smart one, as Wise’s play has elevated to a new level while he’s also earned the respect of his teammates with his first captaincy. The vet played 90 percent of the snaps against Pittsburgh, easily a team high as far as front seven defenders go, and was again a near-constant thorn in Pittsburgh’s side.

The defensive line has carried over their stout play from the summer, as they continue to consistently win the line of scrimmage with notable performances from Lawrence Guy, Davon Godchaux and Christian Barmore.

Mack Wilson is a new face whose play time dramatically increased this week, going from 35 percent of the defensive snaps to 64 percent, and he delivered with an athletic pass deflection that fell into the waiting arms of Jalen Mills for a key interception. Many were clamoring for improved speed at the second level and the Patriots have shown serious dedication to making it happen, often using Wilson with a member of their deep safety group as what were traditionally off-the-ball linebackers.

A corresponding move has been to experiment with both Ja’Whaun Bentley and Jahlani Tavai on the edges to maintain a physical presence there, though both remain inside options on run downs. Tavai recorded a sack in the game, tossing Najee Harris’ attempted block aside and taking Mitch Trubisky down.

On the back end, the Patriots have continued to lean into zone coverage on early downs but haven’t been afraid to spin the dial with man coverage, especially on third downs. Rookie Jack Jones (22 snaps) continues to get his feet wet behind starters Jonathan Jones and Jalen Mills, he’s shown good quickness and awareness in limited work. The pass defense allowed just one play beyond 20 yards in the contest, as their early attention to not allowing big plays has been stellar. Last week against the Dolphins they allowed just three such plays, while Miami went on to burn Baltimore for six 20-plus gains this past weekend, including touchdowns of 60 and 40 yards.

Add it all up and the Patriots defense is getting a wide array of contributions from a full range of players young and old. It wasn’t all perfect, as the team’s struggles to get off the field on third down allowed two lengthy possessions in the first half.

The start to the second half was also a bit shaky, with the defense allowing a field goal and a touchdown on the first two possessions to make it a three-point game heading into the fourth quarter.

Coming off a missed field goal that gave the Steelers their best starting field position of the day, the Patriots were able to get a stop after allowing two first downs which held Pittsburgh to a field goal. The second possession, coming right at the end of the third quarter, was the Steelers’ best of the day — a nine-play, 75-yard drive, with only one third down, the one on which they scored their only touchdown of the game.

“We got some, they got some,” said Bill Belichick on Monday morning of the third down situations. “But the short yardage always skewed with the third down conversions, not always but usually, because those are close to 85 percent conversions league wide, or whatever it is, it’s a pretty high number. So a lot of third downs relate to second down and first down. So doing a better job there will help you on third down. But obviously we have to convert on third-and-10 and third-and-17. We just have to do a better job there all the way around.”

But those two drives were anomalies when it came to the end of the game, with the defense forcing two three-and-outs in the fourth quarter to help seal the win. Those two series are broken down below.

September 19, 2022

Q: So obviously you guys are a game plan offense, have been for a long time. Specific to yesterday what made running so much out of 11 personnel in your best interest against the Steelers?

BB: Well that was our main formation group all the way along. So running or passing, that was the primary group. We felt that was the best way for us to match up with them. There was a number of reasons, there’s a combination of things. Nearly all the game was in that grouping. There were multiple combinations, but 11 personnel was the main group for sure.

Q: Deatrich [Wise Jr.] plays over 80 percent of your defensive snaps for the second straight week. Obviously it’s just two games but how impressive is that for a defensive lineman, particularly with some of these longer drives to play that type of number?

BB: Yeah [Deatrich] Wise’s really done a good job for us. Got off to a great start in the game. Made couple of big stops early. Did a good job with a very mobile quarterback, back there with [Mitch] Trubisky. So I think he’s given us a lot of high quality snaps. Both run and pass and a higher number of snaps. Works really hard on his conditioning in practice. He does a lot of either extra running or a lot of running during every play, finishing plays, chasing the ball down field, things like that. So he’s in good condition and is playing well for us.

Q: Just on the Nelson Agholor catch from a technical stand point what did he do right there that allowed him to have success? Is that something that you can coach or is that just kind of a innate ability there to make that play technically?

BB: Well we talk from a coaching standpoint about going up and getting the ball at the high point. There are going to be some 50-50 balls like that. We had one last week that we lost to Tyreek Hill. Had one this week that we made, there on [Ahkello] Witherspoon. So Nelly [Nelson Agholor] did a great job of going up, and getting his hands on the ball, and then kind of ripping it down and pulling it away. So you give him all the credit in the world on that. That was a tough catch and, as you said, a 50-50 ball and it came down in our favor. But he timed it well and went up and fought for it strong, kept his balance and it went into the end zone. It was a huge play in the game and a great individual effort on his part.

Q: Just in terms of play making on the defensive side of the football, having watched the film, what stood out to you about that group collectively and their ability to make plays, particularly in creating turnovers?

BB: Are you talking about our defense?

BB: Well we had the interception on the play-action kind of pop pass there. Mack [Wilson Sr.] made an outstanding play of dropping to his left, to the outside and then planting and coming back and reacting very quickly to get his hands on the ball to [Jalen] Mills. We had our hands on a couple of other balls. There was a close play where Mills got the ball out on [Diontae] Johnson that [Josh] Uche returned. But he was ruled down. So we’ll just keep working to get the ball out as much as we can. We had a couple last week that got the ball out but it was out of bounds. Or we were out of bounds. Or whatever it was right there by the sideline. But we just have to keep emphasizing to get pressure on the ball, and hopefully we’ll get some that we’ll be able to take advantage of.

Q: So I know you talked yesterday after the game about the two big three-and-outs late. But they started 7-for-9 on third down and finished 1-of-6. Having watched the game back what changed in your mind for you guys defensively where the third downs kind of shifted there in the second half?

BB: Well I want to say three of the third downs were third-and-ones. So they converted those. A couple of them were close. One I think [Najee] Harris had for about 5 yards so that really wasn’t close. Then they converted a third-and-10 and a third-and-17 right at the sticks. Both throws were outside, good throws. Obviously the rush and the coverage wasn’t tight enough in those situations. And then we gave up the, I believe the touchdown was on third down, too, wasn’t it? So that was another third down conversion that we just didn’t execute well enough. Again, Pittsburgh, give them credit. They have very good receivers. They have a great back, a good tight end and they’ve got good skill players, [George] Pickens, [Diontae] Johnson, and [Chase] Claypool, [Pat] Freiermuth, Najee Harris. I mean as a group, that’s a pretty good group. We got some, they got some. But the short yardage always skewed with the third down conversions, not always but usually, because those are close to 85 percent conversions league wide, or whatever it is, it’s a pretty high number. So a lot of third downs relate to second down and first down. So doing a better job there will help you on third down. But obviously we have to convert on third-and-10 and third-and-17. We just have to do a better job there all the way around. Coaching, playing, awareness and so forth. So that was kind of the third down story.

Q: I wanted to ask about the fumble play you mentioned earlier, or the overturned fumble play, the Jalen Mills punch out. Are you happy with the way that was officiated with the officials letting it play out even though it ultimately got overturned? Have you gotten communication from officials in whether they’re letting those sorts of close plays run more just so they don’t wipe out a potential returns like that?

BB: Again, I think that’s probably a question that would be better directed to the officiating department. But again, my general understanding on that is that they prefer to let those plays play out, knowing that they’re going to be reviewed. We had one in preseason. I think it was in the first preseason game against the Giants where the ball was out and we scooped it up and they ruled it down. Then we had to challenge the play for the recovery and all that. So I think generally the philosophy is if the play is going to be reviewed, let it play out and then review it. Whether that’s right or wrong, that’s not really my call. That’s for the other people to decide. But I think that is generally the philosophy, but it doesn’t always play out that way. I think that in the end the officials have to call what he sees on the field. But if it’s a true 50-50 call I guess that’s the way that we go.

Q: Hey Bill, speaking of that Giants preseason game, I remember asking about zero play action passes indicated the way the Giants were playing, which was a high blitz game and something you kind of had to adjust to. Play action rate has been low through two games, I know individually, each of them are their own entity, is there a risk, generally speaking, of running more play action against defenses that will blitz a lot more, given obviously that involves the quarterback turning his back to those blitzes?

BB: Well, I mean if a team’s blitzing, I don’t know how much the play action really affects the defense. The guys that are blitzing are going to blitz and, generally speaking, depending on the exact nature of the play, but generally speaking, backs are still involved in protection so if there’s any kind of blitz, there’s no fake anyway, the back would just have to go pick up his blitz protection assignment. Otherwise, that guy’s going to become free. There’s really no fake anyway in a situation like that, and the quarterback knows that. So once the quarterback sees that the back isn’t faking, he knows that just fundamentally, that the back has had to lead the fake and go to his blitz assignment. So, the quarterback knows that somebody forced him to do that and there’s pressure coming. I think if you’re going to get a lot of blitzing, I’m not sure what the effect of the play action really is unless you’re trying to bootleg and get outside, something like that. It’s a little bit the same in man coverage. How much real effect are you going to get in man coverage? They have their guys anyway, sometimes you can sneak a tight end or another player out against man coverage when they’re playing the run. I’m not saying they’re bad plays, I’m just saying that’s kind of what you’re weighing is how much extra pull are you going to get from the fake, versus what are you going to give up in your protection assignments and how aggressive do you want to be with your line, faking the run when you’ve have guys that are blitzing and penetrating up field that you have to pass block. That’s the decision you have to make.

Q: A couple of your players, I think Jakobi, mentioned the way that the Steelers were kind of diving down over the middle to cut some of those deeper crossing routes and you guys made adjustments. Minkah Fitzpatrick talked about playing a lot of two-high, I mean obviously they did a little bit of both, did you see more of one or the other as the game went on?

BB: Well, it started out as a quarters kind of game. More quarters and then they went to some man-to-man coverage and then they kind of went back to the quarters and then at the end, at the last drive, that was basically all man-to-man, when they were trying to get the ball back. Third down, they mixed it up as they usually do on the shorter distances between man and zone and the longer distances. They’re zone, longer yardage calls, where they drop the safeties inside. They do a good job mixing it up and they played a couple fronts against us. They had their nickel front, but then they had a different nickel front, a little different personnel group and then in their other nickel, they played [Cameron] Heyward some outside as defensive end, which we hadn’t seen that. I think that was after [T.J.] Watt. That was probably an adjustment form after Watt got hurt and then in passing situations. Then they went with the two outside linebackers and just played the two defensive lineman inside which was kind of their, I’d say, higher percentage call with Watt, but without Watt, they kind of went to two different packages on that. That’s the way the game played out. Coverage-wise, it was a little more split safety than what they had shown last week against Cincinnati for sure, yes.

Q: Good morning Bill. I’m just wondering how you thought Cole Strange faired in the game, against Cam Heyward and just in general, did you see some improvement in the offensive line?

BB: Well again, [Cam] Heyward played defensive end a decent part of the game. I don’t know what the exact numbers were on that, but certainly more than he did in the past and more than he did against Cincinnati, when they were in their three down lineman nickel. He played the defensive end on the tight end side and they flipped 56 [Alex Highsmith] back to the weak side. He did play inside some. There were some match ups in there, certainly a good test for Cole [Strange] to go against a player of that quality. I thought we were competitive. Heyward was disruptive, but certainly seen it worse, so we’ll probably take it. Less disruptive than he was against Cincinnati a week ago, that’s for sure, so that was a good thing. Generally speaking, our pass protection, again, was pretty good, width of the pocket was good, depth of the pocket was good. We had a couple of plays where we got edge, had a holding penalty, had a couple hits on the quarterback, but overall, I’d say the pocket was pretty clean.

Q: Morning Bill. With Ty [Montgomery II] being out, how do you feel Damien [Harris] and Rhamondre [Stevenson] were able to pickup the slack on third down and some other passing situations, especially in terms of blitz pick up?

BB: Right, well, I think Ty played most all the third downs last week against Miami, except for maybe one or two and the two minute. So, Damien and Rhamondre did a really nice job stepping in, in those situations yesterday. We got a good third down conversion from Rhamondre, I believe it was third-and-seven on sub run. Again, Pittsburgh, they have a couple different looks on that, that they mixed up there, I thought overall those guys handled it well. We miss Ty, but both of those players have some experience in the passing game, they’re both good, they can handle the ball. We’re able to use them and still maintain all of the protections that we would usually use in those situations. We didn’t have to modify anything yesterday. That was good. I thought that when they did come, both backs stepped up and blocked the linebackers competitively, so that was good, too.

“It was actually a tough play because he played so far outside of me. I just had to run around and do the best I could to give my team a little spark,” Meyers explained. “You have to pick somebody. Nelly is a good player, so I could see why he’d try to take him. Mac just had to trust me.”

Although the results weren’t always there for the Patriots offense in a 20-7 loss in Week 1, New England’s most targeted receiver believes the Pats have enough in the building to solve their issues.

“I feel like we are pretty close. We made a lot of good plays, but we have to be able to do it all the way through. Sometimes we’ll make a string of good plays, and then it’ll fall off, so we have to be more consistent,” Meyers said.

As the Patriots continue to work through their opening week struggles, the team is determined to avoid losing a second-straight game when they visit the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

Meyers was also asked about the growing pains the Patriots are experiencing in a tweaked offensive system but assured reporters that confidence is not an issue with this group.

“You never want to lose two in a row. We don’t want to make it a habit of losing or a trend of losing,” the Pats receiver said. “I wouldn’t say our confidence has really [changed]. I feel like we’ve been a confident group since the day we found out who was going to be in our room. Sometimes you have questions like what is the plan or how are we going to attack this team? At the end of the day, confidence, I don’t think we lack that at all.”

Next up for the Patriots is a trip to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers for the first time since the 2019 season, marking the first time the Patriots and Steelers went two years without playing each other in the Bill Belichick era.

Pittsburgh, like the Patriots, is going through changes of its own with a new starting quarterback and defensive coordinator. Following two-time Super Bowl champion Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement, the Steelers are now turning to former Bears second overall pick Mitch Trubisky. Defensively, veteran coach Teryl Austin took over as defensive coordinator this season.

Historically, the Steelers have relied heavily on zone coverage and zone-blitz schemes on defense. Although they played mainly zone in their win over the Bengals last Sunday, it was more split-safety zone. Plus, former Pats assistant Brian Flores added more man coverage schemes to Pittsburgh’s arsenal.

Meyers gave his scouting report on the Steelers, saying, “a lot of zone. But they have the ability to play man, too. They don’t really hide it [the blitz]. They do what they do, and I respect that. Can you stop it when you know it’s coming?”

The Patriots will continue preparing for their Week 2 matchup against the Steelers at home over the next two days, then travel to Pittsburgh on Saturday.

September 14, 2022

Q: Is that your lacrosse stick?

MJ: No, that was Chris Mattes’. But it’s a good fiddler stick that we all use.

Q: How did you feel out there today?

Q: How’s your back feeling?

MJ: It feels good. Everything feels good. Just keeping it warm and throwing the football.

Q: Keeping it warm, describe the treatment you ‘ve had over the past 48 hours?

MJ: Just the normal treatment plan. I always like to work with my guy Brian [Dolan] and he does a good job. That’s what we always do. Whatever hurts during the game, just fix it and then play the next week.

Q: You expect to play on Sunday?

MJ: He’s one of the athletic trainers.

Q: You’re facing a defense that had four interceptions in week one. What have you seen from them?

MJ: I think it’s a super talented defense. Play a lot of different coverages, definitely fly to the ball. Obviously, Minkah [Fitzpatrick] does a great job. I had some experience, he was my former teammate at Alabama, and I have a lot of respect for him and all the guys on their defense. He makes a lot of plays out there. They’ve got play makers all over the field. It’s a really good defense to kind of go against. We don’t get to play against them a lot, but just got to be ready to go and correct the things we want to correct and focus on ourselves.

Q: When you look back at the game film from week one, do you think the mistakes you’ve made are fixable?

MJ: Yeah. I think we’ve moved on but, I think everything you can do in any game to fix the bad plays and keep the good ones is what you want to do.

Q: How optimistic are you?

MJ: Like I said, it’s week one and we did a lot of good things out there, and we’re moving in the right direction in practice. A lot of the communication is improving and that’s what happens as the season goes along. You fix the things you want to work on and keep the things that you’re doing well. We feel confident about it and we just have to go out there and do it, really, there’s no talking to be done.

Q: This is the view from the press box, obviously, we’re not in the huddle, we’re not in your head, but it seems like this summer, it’s been hard to get confidence going, sometimes you have to see results to feel good about it, do you feel that with the group?

MJ: I think we all feel pretty good about it honestly. I think early on we were trying to iron some things out but, at the end of the day, when we watch the tape, and when everyone does what they’re suppose to do, it’s a good play, and when we don’t, it’s just not a good play. That’s football, and once you get the good plays over here and the bad plays over there and there’s not very many bad plays, then we’ll score points and like you’re saying, the results will come. But, it’s more about, can everybody do their job to stack up good plays. Can I get it to the right guy who makes his yards after catch? Can we block up front the blitzes, the stunts, all that stuff? It’s what we’re just working through and once we can do that, we’ll be good.

Q: Mac, what’s it been like working with DeVante Parker? He seems pretty quiet and soft spoken, but what have you learned about him?

MJ: DeVante is a great player. Been around for a long time in the NFL and obviously we’re really happy to have him. He does a great job competing every day in practice. He’s a big physical receiver. We, like I said, have a lot of different guys who can make plays, and the goal is to get the ball to everyone I can that’s open, let them do their thing and get yards and make plays.

Q: You mentioned overlapping with Minkah Fitzpatrick, what kind of memories to you have with him during your time together at Alabama?

MJ: I think Minkah, he was like the epitome of just a great football player and person. I looked up to him a lot at Alabama and he was a great team captain and leader on our team. Obviously, he’s done great things with the Steelers. You’ve just got to know where he’s at. He’s a great player. He makes really good plays and obviously, off the field, he’s an even better person. That was something that I learned from him. Super easy going, just really easy to talk to, friendly with everybody. So, I have a lot of respect for him.

Q: How big of a loss is Ty Montgomery to your offense? But then also, how much more important is it for everyone else to step up in his absence?

MJ: I think Ty did a great job coming in here and learning the system. He’s also played a lot of football in the NFL, so, tough to lose a guy like that. Smart player, does everything right and has seen a lot of football. We have great players that will step in and fill his role, and he’s very versatile, but we just hope for a speedy recovery. I’m not sure what the exact extent of the injury is and stuff, but hope he’s doing good. I’ve talked to him a little bit, so I know he’s just trying to get it all fixed up.

Q: When you watch tape of the Steelers, what are your biggest thoughts about the defense that had a monster week one performance?

MJ: Steelers defense has just always had that hard-nose, turnover-type football team. They’ve kept that MO I guess you could call it. They’ve done that throughout their whole history, and this year they have a good turnover-making defense as we saw in week one. That’s what good defenses do. They takeaway the ball from the offense and then score points from it. We just have to do what we do and see where they’re at on the field, and just play our game and try to focus on ourselves. We know that they’re a good defense, that’s obvious, it’s on tape.

Q: Now that the regular season has started, how much of the blitz is your focus?

MJ: I think every defense has some form of the blitz in their package and whether that’s one, two, three, four guys. It depends on the defense, I guess. Luckily, we have really good coaches and rules and things that I can stick to that I know based on what I’m suppose to do. It should take care of the things that are coming our way. Every offense has protection rules, and you stick with them and hope it picks up the pressures to come.

Q: Is it something that you guys worked a lot on through training camp even though you might not see it in those preseason games?

MJ: I think, like I always say, our defense brings a lot of different cool, different pressures I guess you would call it. We get a lot of different reps that, not knowing what’s coming for a training camp day, and that definitely helps to have those booked reps of, alright here comes a safety this time, linebacker, or more than that. They bring everything, so we’ve seen a lot. A defense can do whatever blitz they want. Part of a good defense is coming up with good blitzes, and you have to be able to protect whatever they bring.

Q: You said at the end of the preseason that you wanted to do better stepping up in the pocket, making throws under pressure, that sort of thing. Now that you have a real game under you belt, how do you feel you’re progressing in that area?

MJ: It was better. Just continue to do it. Just complete more balls and get it to the receivers and let them run. That’s my job, and I’ll try and do better at it, but it’s all practice. Work on getting the ball out on time, just running the offense.

Matt Bowen, ESPN: Patriots

Mike Clay, ESPN: Patriots

Dominique Foxworth, ESPN: Patriots

Dan Graziano, ESPN: Steelers

Jason Reid, ESPN: Steelers

Laura Rutledge, ESPN: Steelers

Seth Wickersham, ESPN: Steelers

Damien Woody, ESPN: Steelers

K Nick Folk extended his streak to 56 straight field goals made under 50 yards with a 28-yard field goal in the first quarter to tie the NFL record with Ryan Succop (2014-17 with Tennessee). Folk’s last miss from inside the 50-yard line was a 45-yard field goal attempt in the 2020 season-opener vs. Miami on Sept. 13.

JONES HAS SECOND LONGEST TD THROW OF HIS CAREER

QB Mac Jones connected with WR Nelson Agholor on a 44-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter for the second longest touchdown pass of his career. His longest touchdown pass came on a completion to WR Kendrick Bourne for a 75-yard touchdown vs. Dallas on Oct. 17, 2021. The 44-yard reception is tied for the longest connection between Jones and Agholor. The two connected on a 44-yard pass at the L.A. Chargers on Oct. 31, 2021. It was Jones’ longest completion of the season and his second 40-yard pass completion. He had a 41-yard completion to Bourne at Miami in the season-opener.

AGHOLOR HAS FIRST 100-YARD DAY AS A MEMBER OF THE PATRIOTS

WR Nelson Agholor had his first 100-yard receiving day as a member of the Patriots and the seventh of his career, finishing with 6 receptions for 110 yards. His previous best as a member of the Patriots was 5 receptions for 72 yards in the 2021 season-opener vs. Miami on Sept. 12, 2021. Agholor is the first 100-yard receiver for New England since Jakobi Meyers had 111 yards receiving at Miami on Dec. 20, 2020. It is Agholor’s first 100-yard game since he had a career-high 155 yards vs. Miami on Dec. 26, 2020 while with Las Vegas.

CB JALEN MILLS HAS FIRST PICK AS A MEMBER OF THE PATRIOTS

CB Jalen Mills intercepted a QB Mitch Trubisky pass after it was tipped by LB Mack Wilson Sr. in the first quarter. It is Mills’ sixth career interception and first as a member of the Patriots after signing with the team in 2021. It was his first interception since October22, 2020 vs. the New York Giants when he played for Philadelphia.

JAKOBI MEYERS LED TEAM WITH 9 RECEPTIONS

WR Jakobi Meyers finished the game with a team-leading 9 receptions for 95 yards. It is the third time in his career that he has finished with 9 or more receptions in a game. He had a career-high 12 receptions at the New York Jets on Nov. 9, 2020 and 9 receptions vs. New Orleans on Sept. 26, 2021.

LB JAHLANI TAVAI HAS FIRST SACK AS A MEMBER OF THE PATRIOTS

LB Jahlani Tavai sacked Pittsburgh QB Mitch Trubisky for a 5-yard loss on a third-down play in the second quarter to hold the Steelers to a field goal. It was his first sack as a member of the Patriots and first sack since he sacked Trubisky for an 8-yard loss at Chicago on Nov. 10, 2019 when Tavai played for Detroit.

KYLE DUGGER RETURNS FIRST KICKS SINCE HIS ROOKIE SEASON IN 2020

Kyle Dugger returned a second quarter kickoff for 37 yards. It was his first kickoff return since he returned a 30-yard kick at Seattle on Sept. 20, 2020 followed by a 17-yard return the following week vs. Las Vegas on Sept. 27, 2020.

ROOKIE DB BRENDEN SCHOOLER RECOVERS A FUMBLE ON A PUNT TO SET UP FIRST AND GOAL

Rookie DB Brenden Schooler recovered a fumble by WR Gunner Olszewski on a punt in the third quarter to set up a first-and-goal situation for the Patriots on a series that ended with a touchdown. It was the first fumble recovery on a punt since the game at Cincinnati on Dec. 15, 2019.

MATTHEW JUDON HAS SACK IN SECOND STRAIGHT GAME

LB Matthew Judon sacked QB Mitch Trubisky for a 4-yard loss with three seconds to play in the first half. He also had a 9-yard sack in the season-opener at Miami. He led the team with 12 ½ sacks in 2021. Today’s sack was his 49th career sack.

HARRIS SCORES ON A 2-YARD RUN FOR HIS 18TH CAREER TOUCHDOWN RUN

RB Damien Harris scored on a 2-yard touchdown run in the third quarter for his 18th career touchdown run. He needs two rushing touchdowns to become the 14th Patriots player to reach 20 career rushing touchdowns and five to move into the Top-10 in team history.

Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, September 18, 2022

What needs to happen with more down the field passing and over the middle passing with this offense?

Call concepts to get receivers there. When the coverage dictates that, get them the ball within that. I saw a lot of post high, backers sitting in the middle, safety in the middle of the field. We like our outside matchups. We’ve got really good receivers. We’ve got really good talent across the board. We’d like to attack all areas of the field and get the ball to our playmakers. So, we could do a little bit better at everything for sure.

Did you see a lot of single high today?

Follow-up: What are your options when you see that?

If it’s man, best matchups. If it’s zone, find the holes. That comes down to timing and being in the right place at the right time. They did a good job mixing it up. They don’t only play one high. They play a bunch of coverages. We can be better at everything. I can be better at decision-making. We had some missed opportunities. I had some missed throws. We had a couple where we weren’t on the same page. Bottom line, we’ve got to score more points. So, our emphasis was to be better on third down this week. I think we were a little better at that, in the first half at least. In the fourth quarter, we’ve got to convert those to be able to stay on the field and give ourselves a chance. It just felt like missed opportunities by me and the offense. There’s a lot we can get better at. So, we’ve got to look at that and flush it really quick because we’ve got another game on Thursday. It’s going to come around fast. We’ve got to move on to the next one and make sure we’re getting better.

Do you think the offense got more in sync in that last drive in the third quarter when you guys were going tempo? Is that something that would help, to go to that earlier? Is there a possibility to go to that earlier?

There are mixed philosophies in that. I think we were just having a lot of positive plays on that drive, and we mixed in some tempo, and it seemed to be working. If that’s something we want to continue to mix in, I think we can look at that. But as we go, we just continue to find this identity. We’re still young. We’re still meshing as a unit, and that was a good drive. We had some positive plays. So, if that’s something we want to look at to continue to do more, maybe we’ll do that. But we’ve just got to continue to find our identity. Everybody needs to lean in, come together and really, I just need to play better to give us a better chance at the end.

Since you alluded to this, you said at least in the first half, the third downs were better than last week. In the second half on third downs, was it more about what you guys just weren’t executing, or had they made some adjustments at halftime that threw you off?

I would have to go back to watch the film to give you a better answer for that. It felt like they, in the second half, outexecuted us on third down. Except for that one drive where we scored in the fourth quarter, it wasn’t good enough.

Two sacks in the first half, what can you attribute those to?

Those were on me. I think one of them was on naked. I was trying to make a scramble play out of it. Down in the red zone, we had time. I should have got it out. I thought the O-line protected really well today, great communication. Those two sacks were on me.

On the tipped pick, did you just attribute that to the guy diving?

It was a good play. I got Cover 2 in there. I tried to force one in there. I probably should have just moved on progression or check it down. Good play by that guy. I thought I could get in behind him and forced a throw. I should not have done that.

Last third down to Najee [Harris] ended up on the left side short of the sticks, is that what that play was designed to do?

Take us through. I tried to give him a chance. It was slightly underthrown, and he did a good job going up and trying to make a play on it. I’d like to lead him downfield a little bit more and hit him on the run. I tried to buy some time. I was probably fading a little too much in the pocket to my right to buy him some time. I could have just got it out a little sooner and threw it downfield so he could make a play on it. So that one was on me.

Another one, you threw it to the left side to [Najee Harris] short of the sticks. Is there just nothing downfield for you on that play? What do you remember about that?

Yeah, we’re going to have to look at that one. If I’m thinking of the same play, they had Cover 0 on. That was my hot throw. The corner did a good job having eyes. He came off on it and made the tackle. We’ve just got to have better answers when they show us that type of look.

Is it tough sometimes to be patient when you see they just throw one down the field and get a play? Is it hard to stick to the plan based on the defense with a lot of Cover 3s?

You have to stick to the plan. Everybody’s got an idea of what the offense should or could be, but we’ve got to come together as a collective unit. Everyone’s got to keep buying in. There’s going to be good plays, there’s going to be bad plays, but we’re a young offense, and we’re still growing in this thing together.

The best thing you can do at this time is continue to buy into the plan. Whatever it is, do your job to the best of your ability. When you go back and look at the film, you see what works, you see what doesn’t. You do more of the stuff that works, and then maybe you drop some of the other stuff.

I think that’s how you grow as an offense, but when everybody is saying “Call this play, call that play,” it makes it tough just for everybody to do their jobs. I think everybody just needs to worry about their job, and we’ll just keep growing and going in the right direction together. That’s my take on it.

Follow-up: Has there been suggestions like that?

Everyone’s got suggestions. You guys have got suggestions. Everyone.

From inside the huddle, do people say hey —

Oh, yeah. Everybody wants the ball in their hands. I want the ball in my hands. We’ve got a bunch of talent, and we’ve just got to figure out what works best for us going forward. I think today you look more at the missed opportunities than what we didn’t do, I guess. So, we had enough opportunities out there. We just didn’t make the plays on a few, especially in the second half. They out executed us. So, we’ve got to look at the film and see where we can get better at. Me specifically, I look at myself, and what can I get better at? I feel like if I played better, we would have been in a better situation at the end there.

I apologize if somebody asked you, but was Pat [Freiermuth] the first read on the touchdown?

I have a bunch of reads I could look at. I wanted that play down there, and they gave us a good coverage for it. It worked out. We’ve got to get down there more often and got to get our playmakers the ball.

Is involving [George] Pickens one of those situations you’re talking about that might be best to get more involved?

We’ve got a lot of talent. But definitely get George more involved. We’ve just got to get on the same page. I think there was one where I threw out of bounds. He was going one way and I thought he was going another way. We’ve got to get George involved. He’s super talented. When everybody gets their touches and we’re moving the ball down the field, that’s when it feels good. When you miss opportunities, that’s when you have a feeling like this, and you just don’t want to feel that again. We’ve got to get corrections. Everybody’s got to pull together and get better this week and be ready for a quick turnaround.

For the most part, was the ball going where it was designed to go or where you thought it should go based on the coverage and the way the play was unfolding?

I mean, there’s a bunch of plays in the game. I felt like I was doing my job out there getting the playmakers the ball when they needed to get to it. Sometimes it’s where I want the ball to go based on matchup, if it’s man or zone. And then based on the call, just doing your job and getting the guy the ball at the right time. I think it’s too broad of a question to really give you a better answer.

Do you feel like you’ve got the freedom to put it where you want it?

Yeah, there’s definitely freedom based on what the defense does and where I want to go with the football. It’s not based on what the call is or the concept or what our guy is running. I’m not just going wherever I want with the ball. Based on what they give us, there’s the best option within each play to tell you where to go with your eyes and where to go with the ball.

If guys are making suggestions or getting frustrated, how do you handle that with your role?

I’ve got to tell the guys to buy in, be patient and just focus on your job. That’s what you’ve got to do as a leader, just got to keep guys on track. If everybody just does their job, we’ll be a lot better as an offense.

At one point it sounded like there was a noticeable chant for Kenny [Pickett]. Is that difficult to block it out?

It is what it is. You just block it out and continue to play football.

Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, September 18, 2022

Q: Mac, in a lot of ways, physically, mentally, how much different was today?

MJ: Yeah, it feels good. I think, obviously, we wanted to improve a lot of things. And we had a chance to do that throughout the week, really. That’s where it all started. And just a great team win. It just wasn’t one phase of the game. Offensive line played amazing. Didn’t even really get hit. So, hats off to them. Run game, pass game, they made it work. So that was something I was really proud of. And we just got to keep doing that.

Q: Mac, can you touch on Nelson Agholor? Do you know you had him when you had him?

MJ: Yeah, I think it was kind of one of those plays moving the ball and running our two-minute offense and I have good comfortability with that. And, you know, when it’s — we’ve worked on that play through the offseason and 50/50 balls.

And he’s one of those guys that I put in the throw it up to him category. And he’s going to have make the play. So if it’s one-on-one, I’ll give him a shot. Obviously, had time with the offensive line and I think all our receivers can do that, if they’re one-on-one, I’m going to give them a chance. Different philosophy, but that’s what we need to do.

MJ: Yeah, I think the coaching staff did a great job with preparing us throughout the week. And, obviously, like you said, they put really good stuff on film. It’s a really good defense and we just went out there and executed as best we can.

We, obviously, wish we had plays we wish we had back. But they’re just good players all around. But I think we competed really hard and like I said, hat’s off to the offensive line and the backs running hard and the receivers making plays.

Q: How significate can that last drive be? You guys get it with 6:33, end up running the clock.

MJ: Yeah, I completed a few passes and then run the ball. That’s every team’s goal. The teams that win in the NFL do that. You try to watch the weekly NFL and see what teams did that well. If you can close out a game and if you do that and you don’t have to score, you just got to move in and get first downs and the time just runs out. That’s usually how it goes.

So NFL games come down to the wire almost every week. And I learned that, obviously, last year and this year. So, great job Damien [Harris] and Rhamondre [Stevenson] running the ball and the offensive line for opening the holes.

Q: And how significant can that be for you guys? Obviously, you’re not where you want to be.

MJ: Yeah, of course. I think we did some good stuff in the run game. And we have to build on it and do that all the time and throw the ball whenever we want, pass the ball — you know, run the ball. It doesn’t really matter, just to be able to do it whenever however we want to do it. So definitely stuff to build on. But it’s just one game and got to continue to do it every week.

Q: (Question concerning indiscernible offensive lineman’s name.)

MJ: Yeah, he’s very — like, very stoic. But very competitive in his own way. And he’s always hustling to that ball. And he’s doing a great job learning the offense. He’s really done a great job. It’s hard coming in as a rookie and starting. And he’s done a great job. And he’s just got to continue to grow and improve what he wants to improve on. That’s what I’ll tell him.

If it’s a few things on your footwork, Hey, I’m a little slow on this, let’s fix it. So, he’s done a good job, and we just got to continue to grow and let those guys mold with the five guys.

Q: Mac, how do you feel in the shotgun? It looks like that was a big plan.

MJ: I like the shotgun. I like under center, too. I think they’re both interchangeable. You can run the same plays out of either one. But, yeah, I think it was a good idea and we can do either one. It’s just the difference of a word.

You’re either under center or in the gun. So we can do whatever we want. And every time has both. So that’s important as an offense, to be able to do both.

Q: Do you feel like you guys are finding what you’re good at? I know it’s still early in the season here. But have you streamlined things to the point you’re forming an identity?

MJ: Yeah, I think the coaching staff has done a good job laying out our rules for us and what we want to follow. And, hey, on this play do this, that play, do that. So really done a good job there cleaning everything up. And we just got to execute better and we’ll get — have even more points and it won’t be as close of a game. So that’s the big thing, just put more points on the board and continue to grow.

Q: When you get that turnover, how important was it to answer the second, not settle for a three there, maybe give them a little bit of life? How important was it to punch it into the end zone then?

MJ: Yeah, I think any time we get a turnover, points are good. Moving the ball is good. But you, obviously, want points, three or seven. And great job by the defense and we just got to, you know, do that. It’s complementary football.

And when they do something good, we got to respond and do something good, too, and vice versa. So they played really well and they just got to — you know, like us, work on the things they want to work on to get better. But they looked pretty good out there and we got to grow together.

Q: Mac, last week you didn’t run the ball that much. Do you feel more comfortable in an offense where there’s people to run the ball?

MJ: I don’t really care. I just want to score points and I think we need to be able to do both. And that’s important; run, pass, RPO, play action, whatever you want to do. We have a really good offensive line and we need to have the ability to do that whenever we want. Like I said, every offense does that. Really good offenses do that, they run when they want, play action, pass, et cetera. So it all plays into each other.

Q: Minkah Fitzpatrick said today that they played a lot of two-high safeties. Were you surprised by that? I remember a coach last year for you guys saying, “We don’t really see two-high safeties that much.” I think it was a reference to the fact that you guys run the ball well, generally. So was {that a} surprise to you that they showed that sort of defense?

MJ: There’s a spin and dial on defense. So they run a bunch of different coverages. And, yeah, they definitely played a lot of that. But they have good, good players. So they know how to run, you know, different things, different ways. So that was good.

And I think we responded well. The one interception wasn’t good by me. But I’ll get that cleaned up and make sure we see it all the way through. What we wanted to do that with that play. It’s all good. That was one of those split safety ones, but, you know, every play is different. It could be post-high when you go to the middle or split safety. It doesn’t really matter for us.

Q: (Question concerning man coverage.)

MJ: Yeah, I think, like you said a lot of different coverages today. Spin the dial. And we just got a good offense that everyone can get the ball whenever. So it’s not like we’re scheming for one specific thing. We can go out there and just get the completions.

And like today, offensive line gave me plenty of time to go through my reads. So that’s the important part and got to keep doing it. Every defense is different and every defense runs different coverages. So, we have to be ready for everything.