Knee Jerk Reactions to Week 2: Patriots at Dolphins

Things to consider while remembering where I've seen this before:

--This was far from perfect. There's a enough here to clean up that it would take an entire crew of Chernobyl liquidators in hazmat suits to decontaminate the area. There are dozens of different ways this thing went pear-shaped and it's a small miracle I'm not sitting here trying to find yet more euphemisms for saying, "This team is not good." But now is not the time for negative thinking. Not at all. This is a time to celebrate. The Patriots not only won a game (one they were trying to win; thanks again, Jerod Mayo and Joe Milton), they beat a division rival on the road. In a stadium that's been such a house of horrors for them, they should come out of the tunnel to the music of little girls singing nursery rhymes at half speed. If you had a child the last time the Pats won at Hard Shark Land Rock Joe Pro Life Player Stadium, you're probably reading this while you're putting the kid on the bus to kindergarten; it's been that long. So now is a day to rejoice.

--Beginning with Drake Maye. This was his 14th career start. And if you've been waiting for the moment when a Patriots quarterback would carry this team to a W when not much else was going right and the defense and special teams were letting everybody down, well here it is. Just 4 incompletions on 23 passes. Not a single turnover-worthy play. 10.0 yards per attempt. A career high 137.3 passer rating. Two touchdown passes, both thrown into the endzone, which gets the emphasis because we went weeks at a time where Mac Jones or Bailey Zappe never once attempted to break the plane of the goal line with a ball in the air. And just for a little extra sauce on the side, he added 31 rushing yards and a score of his own. This is exactly the visions I had dancing in my head when Eliot Wolf put that draft pick in so fast it bent spacetime. For a game where Drake Maye carries the offense with his arm, his legs, and his brains. 

--And I'm not suggesting for a hot second Maye hasn't been good up until this point. This isn't some Flowers for Algernon scenario where he suddenly became a genius and figured out how to quarterback. It's been a progression. Last week I compared him being at the controls of Josh McDaniels' offense (his fourth new scheme in four years, going back to UNC) to a guy learning how to drive a stick. You can know all the theory, but you need to develop a feel for how much to redline the RPMs and when the clutch engages, and only then can you drive without thinking and get out of your own head. And I think that's what we witnessed yesterday. 

--Let's start with his best play of the day. Which is in the discussion at least for the best day of his still infant career. Morgan Moses, operating on a bum foot that limited him all week and had him in a walking boot after the game, didn't set a particularly wide edge on Jaelan Phillips and gave up the pressure. Rather than try to escape around Phillips, Maye stepped up into the space where the pocket was clean, never took his eyes off the secondary, and spotted Jordyn Brooks getting caught flat-footed, while Kayshon Boutte had cleared out the deep safety, on Rhamondre Stevenson's wheel route to flip the field:

--Then there were the aforementioned end zone throws. The first of which came at the end of a drive that saw Maye hit his most reliable possession receiver, Stefon Diggs (4 catches on 5 targets for 32 yards) on an over-center sit route on 4th down, then catch Austin Hooper (3 for 3, 38 yards) getting lost in the wash on a shallow cross and hitting him for 22 yards. Then putting in it the hands of Mack Hollins on the kind of designed rollout that has tortured the Patriots defense but didn't appear in their own playbook until five minutes ago:

This is what we have to look forward to. The clean, white sheets McDaniels gets to add to the Trapper Keeper that don't match all the old, yellowing ones he's had in there since before the iPhone, because he's never had a QB with the skillset to stress a defense this way. There was another play that stood out in the 2nd quarter, to keep the drive alive that ended with a field goal. He rolled out again and had Hunter Henry covered by Matthew Judon. First, Maye looked Judon off by scanning the deep middle, then convinced him he was going to tuck it and run, then once he stepped up, hit Henry for a 1st down on what turned out to be a 15-play, 71-yard scoring drive. That drive also included Mike Vrabel calling a time out at 2:03 on 3rd & goal from the 3, just to get his QB to "Take a breath." And had to remind him to talk to his OC, because that's allowed during a timeout. To quote my brother Jack (pray for the repose of his soul) for the 100th, though by no means the last, time, Maye is still a puppy with big paws. And he's taking to his training. 

--Just to keep these in chronological order, the TD to Boutte was simply a dime. Showing off the arm talent to go with that athleticism and that growing ability to process what he's seeing from a defense. Boutte took an outside release on Jack Jones, then got underneath him to embarrass him like no one has since that TSA screener at Logan:

--Not to mention, this was not one of those Alex Van Pelt specials where he'd call plays like he got a Group Rate on screens and checkdowns. They used the whole field:

--And yet for all those throws and solid decisions Maye contributed to the effort, here's where opposing defensive coordinators are going to be popping Xanax for the foreseeable future. Particularly in red zone situations when the play breaks down, it's far from over. Judon came off the edge unaccounted for, but Maye isn't just some passive NPC in these situations:

Presumably as things progress, we'll see McDaniels add more zone reads and RPOs, turning Maye into more of a run threat (while taking every precaution to keep him in one piece) and turn the run game into more of an 11-on-11 attack the way your Buffalos and Baltimores do. Welcome to the modern NFL, Pats fans. 

--Now here comes some of the negativity. And I promise, this won't take long. The kicker is, Maye was doing this despite all the unforced errors happening around him. I lost count of the false starts, but there had to have been at least four. Garrett Bradbury picked a bad time to roll a snap like a first baseman throwing infield practice. And if you told me the Patriots offense ran half its plays with 10 or more yards to gain for a 1st down, you'd get no argument. It felt like at least that many, but Maye kept digging them out of those holes. He and the run game, which was a vast improvement over last week against the Raiders. With a nice cereal-to-milk ratio of gap runs:

… to inside/outside zones. Mainly with Stevenson working between the tackles and TreVeyon Henderson and Antonio Gibson providing a change of pace. 

--And make no mistake, this offensive line is legit. Despite the unforced errors, this unit represents a major upgrade from last year's, which was to blocking what Michael Richard's Laugh Factory appearance was to stand up comedy. The rookies on the left side, Will Campbell and Jared Wilson each took 33 passing snaps, and combined gave up zero sacks and just one pressure. According to the analytics Geek Squad, Maye was only rushed on 19.2% of his dropbacks, which is the first time his pass protection kept him under 20% in his career. Since last season both he and Jacoby Brissett had all the defenses of Belgium during the Schlieffen Plan, don't give any oxygen to anyone bellyaching about that one pre-snap penalty Campbell had. The bigger picture is that we've now had two full games and every snap has been taken by the same five guys. And they are becoming more of a cohesive unit by the down:

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--All this despite the fact Miami's defense is coached by the star of The Smashing Machine:

--Before we get to the defense, I have to drill down into the non-Patriots negativity of the day. I mean, I get how this works. When you're coming off back-to-back 4-13 seasons and you're facing an opponent that's entered the "Hiring Planes" phase of their death spiral:

… you're not going to get the best coverage. The network is not sending their best to what is a very, very regional 1pm game. With all due respect to Jason McCourty, this one had less production value than a video by The Costco Guys. We're 56 years past the day when the world got a real time feed from Tranquility Base using TV cameras with vacuum tubes, but CBS couldn't keep theirs going from Miami. I think they broadcast about a quarter of this one with a Ring camera outside one of the luxury suites. They might as well have used the body cam off one of the cops doing a paid detail on the sideline. The audio kept cutting out. By the time Jaylen Waddle scored, the play-by-play was a full two seconds ahead of the video feed. There was one angle and no replay. And I guess my point is, why couldn't this have all happened during that part of the Prime Time Emmys where they did a 15 minute tribute to PBS and another half hour on Ted Danson and Mary Steenbergen's charity work? 

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--On top of that, the officials had to be some crew of trainees. Every flag thrown - and they were legion - resulted in one of those meetings that should've been an email. And whoever the crew chief was, he came across like the kid in the school play who can't remember his lines. The Patriots need to start winning again for a lot of reasons. Not the least of which is I need them to stop being treated like they're in the NFL's D-League. End of rant.

--Speaking of amateur talent, I you'd think that the easiest position in all of sports to scout is placekicker. I mean, I respect the art form and I'm sure there's a lot of subtle nuance to kicking that's lost on us laypeople. But ultimately, the ball goes between the goalposts or it doesn't. How it makes the journey is matters less than the points it puts on the scoreboard along the way. Yet the Pats college scouting department looked at every available kicker and used a 6th rounder on Andy Borregales. Wolf and Vrabel then brought Parker Romo into camp for competition. Who went 5-for-5 with a 54-yarder and an extra point in Minnesota last night, while Aurora Borregales was firing with all the accuracy of a blunderbuss. But then he nails a clutch 53-yarder. Then he serves Miami's final possession to them on a Sterling silver tray with a kickoff that misses the landing zone. I have no idea what to make of any of it. All I do know is an early missed extra point (or two) never means nothing. It's never just taking a point or two off the board. It's always a harbinger of doom. Like animals running for high ground, it's a danger sign that must be heeded. I've seen enough of them to know, so I was bracing myself for the worst. I swear to you I posted this seconds before Miami ran back that 71-yard punt:

Which is why I'm extra special excited to come out of that haunted insane asylum on South Beach with a win, no matter how it happened.

--And how it happened was due, in come measure, to the defense stepping up at the end of a tough day. Beginning with the D-line, especially Milton Williams and Harold Landry. Williams had 3 solo tackles, 2 sacks, 2 TFL and a QB hit. Landry added another 3 total tackles, one for a loss, and 2 QB hits. No play bigger than the stunt they ran on the last Miami play from scrimmage. They confirmed afterward that they picked up on the Dolphins' tendency to chip the rush off the right side, so they ran a stunt. To perfection. Landry spun inside while Williams pulled a rip on Kion Smith for the WWE finishing move that ended it:

Yes, He is, Milton Williams. He is, indeed.

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--Granted, there had to be an element of divine intervention here. Or blind luck. Or just the Dolphins own level of dysfunction. Between De'Von Achane stepping out at the 26 to pull the dagger out of our hearts and this inexplicably terrible pass by Tua Tagovailoa:

… for once, an opponent made the fatal errors at the critical time, instead of the Pats doing it, as we've grown accustomed to. Whatever the source of this blessing, I'll take it.

--Overall, there was once again too many receivers running free. Alex Austin had an especially hard time, particularly on that throw where Tagovailoa blindly heaved it up for Tyreek Hill, badly underthrew it, but Austin wasn't able to track the ball. Robert Spillane got exposed in coverage on Achane's catch and run as he wasn't able to keep up with him any more than Vrabel could outrun Gibson. And overall, they struggled for the second straight game in zone, as Christian Gonzalez continued absence prevents them from playing the "Cat" coverage - man by both corners - that Vrabel has been talking about all offseason. Until they do, this is a team that will rely on its front to generate pressure and force turnovers. 

--This Week's Applicable Movie Quote: "That's why you gotta make your moves. Starting here, in Miami." - Tony Montana, Scarface

--Men are all built different. But I know if I had to coach on a sunny 88-degree day in Miami wearing long sleeves and a vest the way Vrabel and McDaniels were, my life insurance premiums would triple.

--Though if it helps, I'm perfectly willing to donate a hamstring to be transplanted into Gonzalez. His is apparently a lot more pulled than we were told back about six weeks ago or whenever. All I can promise is that I'm a lazy, sedentary slob who's more sofa than man. So mine has hardly ever been used. I'll gratefully donate it to the cause so we can stop giving up 300-plus yards to every QB we face. 

--The Patriots are in second place in the AFC East. Let that sink in.

--Finally, until next week against Pittsburgh, I'm going to be enjoying this win and looking at the league like this: