How Tom Brady, Patriots Offense Can Get Back on Track

If the New England Patriots offense can perform for the rest of the season like it did for the first 30 minutes of the opening game, they will be tough to stop. Unfortunately, the first 30 minutes are a distant memory after the Miami Dolphins crashed their coming-out party in a 33-20 result.    

The Patriots offense was cooking early, with 248 yards of offense, four conversions on eight third downs and 20 points to show for it all. Things took a hard turn in the second half, as the Dolphins held the Patriots to just 67 yards of offense, one third-down conversion in nine tries and no points.

Their second-half failings resulted in some of the worst opening-day offensive football we've seen from the Patriots since the turn of the millennium:

• Tom Brady was sacked four times, the most he's ever been sacked in a season-opening game;
• Brady's 51.9 completion percentage was the third-lowest of his career in a season-opener;
• The Patriots' 20 points are the third-fewest in a season-opening game in the Brady era (2002-2014, not including a 17-point game against the Kansas City Chiefs in 2008, when Brady threw 11 passes before being injured for the season).

Unfortunately, football games last 60 minutes, not 30. Fortunately, football seasons last 16 games, not one.

Protection

The Patriots offensive line had its moments during the game, but overall, that group did not have its best day.  

Rather than one set group of five offensive linemen, the Patriots instead featured some platooning on the inside. Dan Connolly played both center and right guard. He started at the latter with Ryan Wendell at center, then shifted to center and sent Wendell to the bench with Jordan Devey coming in to play right guard. According to ESPN Boston's Mike Reiss, Wendell played 22 of the 86 snaps, and Devey played the other 64. 

The lack of continuity up front would seem to disrupt the cohesion and the rapport-building process on the offensive line, but chemistry may not be the issue here.

"I would say we didn't really have a lot of communication issues," said Patriots head coach Bill Belichick on a conference call the day after the game. "We just had some fundamental and technique—we had more fundamental and technique breakdowns than we did just an assortment of mental errors."

That would explain some of the protection breakdowns up front.

Good pass protection should hold up for at least three seconds. On Brady's four sacks, he had 2.2, 2.87, 2.78 and 2.75 seconds, respectively. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Brady's average time in the pocket was the third-lowest for any quarterback in Week 1.

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Sebastian Vollmer did not have his best game. Not only did he face off with Dolphins defensive end Cameron Wake—one of the best in the league—on a regular basis, but he also may have been fighting through an injury (he left the game in the third quarter with an injury before returning on the next drive). Vollmer gave up three total pressures and one sack on the day.

Wake's elite first step proved too much for Vollmer to overcome, but he wasn't the only one at fault.

Nate Solder gave up a sack to Olivier Vernon, without much trouble given to the Dolphins defensive end in the process. Vernon put a nice spin move on Solder to get past him before Solder could get those 35.5"-long arms into his chest pads. Marcus Cannon was occupied in a battle with Jared Odrick, allowing Vernon to get between the tackle and guard for the sack.

If the problems continue at tackle, the Patriots may have to give them some help with tight ends and running backs to help chip the defensive ends. Let't not throw in the towel on Solder, Vollmer and the other offensive linemen just yet. The Dolphins pass-rushers are a talented group. It wasn't pretty in Week 1, but if the Patriots can get back to fundamentals, the group could still improve.

The Gronkowski Effect

Rob Gronkowski played a vast majority of his snaps in the first half. The Patriots offense had a vast majority of its success in the first half. Coincidence? Probably not.

Not only was Gronkowski not on the field much, but he and Brady seemed to be still working out their timing when Gronkowski was in action. The two connected only four times in 11 tries. Gronkowski dropped the first pass thrown his way and nearly dropped his touchdown catch as well. The two also did not appear to be on the same page on a failed 3rd-and-10 in the fourth quarter, as Brady threw the ball to the outside while Gronkowski cut upfield.

Gronkowski wasn't the only thing that went away at halftime. In the first half, Julian Edelman picked up 95 receiving yards and 21 rushing yards. He had no stats in the second half.

It seemed like he was being used as a decoy at times. He lined up away from the play a lot and ran some clearing routes on the outside to give receivers room underneath to make catches. With Gronkowski not participating and Edelman limited by design, Brady had very few options left. 

Of course, there was one big play that Brady and Edelman left on the field. Brady had Edelman wide open on a post route on one of the rare dropbacks where he had time in the pocket (notice both Shane Vereen and Brandon Bolden chipping the ends), but he simply delivered the ball too high for Edelman to catch. 

There's no magic formula for fixing inaccurate throws. Brady just has to hit his open receivers when he has an opportunity. 

Third Downs

For years, the Patriots offense made its reputation as one of the best third-down offenses in the league. They were not a big-play offense, but instead went for death by a thousand paper cuts. Like everything else on Sunday, their success stories on third down came to an end when the game entered the second half.

Year	Third down %	Yds To Go	Red zone %	Plays per drive	Points per drive
2010	48.2 (2)	7.19 (18)	63% (4)	6.32 (4)	2.9 (1)
2011	45.9 (4)	6.18 (1)	68% (1)	6.4 (3)	2.79 (3)
2012	49.8 (1)	6.57 (6)	70% (2)	6.76 (1)	2.82 (1)
2013	37.4 (19)	4.36 (3)	55% (16)	6.09 (4)	2.21 (6)
2014	29.4 (?)	8.52 (?)	100%	6.3 (?)	1.54 (?)

The Patriots struggled to move the chains in this game, converting just five of their 17 third downs (29.4 percent). Third down wasn't the only down that gave the Patriots trouble, though. The Patriots struggled on first and second down, as well, with an average of 8.53 yards to go on third down.

Bill Belichick said in a conference call on Monday:

"

Certainly third down is related to first and second down. We were fortunate in the first half to convert that third-and-10 when we were backed up, which ended up being part of the [94]-yard scoring drive. ... Yeah, third-and-long isn't where you want to be. That being said, we weren't very good converting the third down in medium situations, either. Our third-down efficiency wasn't very good. I think four of our five conversions came on running plays, short-yardage plays or Shane's [Vereen] run there on the third-and-10 that I just referred to.

[We] need more consistency from the running game, need more consistency from our passing game on the early downs. That's absolutely right. When we had our scoring drives, we really didn't get into a lot of third down situations. We made our yards on first and second down, which is definitely what you want to try to do.

"

A quick summary of the Patriots' first and second downs in the second half: There were 25 total first- and second-down plays (not including two 10-yard penalties), and the Patriots gained 51 yards (also not including the penalties). 

More consistency and a higher level of commitment to the running game (the Patriots rushed only 20 times in the game, and 14 times for 53 yards on first and second down) should give the Patriots a more effective third-down offense. If the Patriots don't start gaining more yards on those running plays, they may have a hard time sticking with it. 

In the end, the problems come back to the offensive line. It's up to the offensive line to help give their running backs some room, but it's up to the runners to take advantage of holes when they appear.

Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com and quotes obtained first-hand or via team news release.

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