Jaguars vs. Patriots: New England Grades, Notes and Quotes
Sometimes, it can be painfully obvious when two teams are in completely different classes. In moving to 3-0 with their 51-17 dismantling of the Jacksonville Jaguars, the New England Patriots will enter their bye week as the NFL's hottest team.
After a Jaguars three-and-out to start the game, Dion Lewis capped off a 64-yard touchdown drive with an eight-yard run following a huge 43-yard Rob Gronkowski gain down the seam. But while New England averaged nearly 10 yards per play over its first two drives, Jacksonville stayed in the game early by controlling the clock, higlighted by a 17-play drive that resulted in a 40-yard Jason Myers field goal to make the score 10-3 midway through the second quarter.
The Pats would control the final nine minutes of the quarter after that prolonged Jacksonville drive, though, with a Devin McCourty pick sandwiching two scoring drives that helped put New England up 20-3 at halftime. The latter score, a one-yard completion to Danny Amendola, was the long-awaited 400th touchdown pass of Tom Brady's career, making him the fourth member of that club.
New England scored on all nine of its offensive possessions (excluding the end-of-game kneel-downs), and truthfully, it never felt as though the Jags belonged on the same field. We knew these two teams were operating on different planes headed into the afternoon, of course, but the Pats' highly focused and professional effort was nevertheless impressive headed into the team's Week 4 bye.
Read on for complete analysis from New England's dominant win to remain undefeated.
Position Grades for Patriots
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| Position | Grade |
| QB | A |
| RB | A |
| WR | A |
| TE | A |
| OL | A- |
| DL | A- |
| LB | B+ |
| DB | B |
| Special Teams | A |
| Coaching | A |
Maybe this grader is a little too generous, but the Patriots' report card was certainly Ivy League-worthy on Sunday.
When an offense scores on every meaningful possession, it's hard to give anything but A's across the board. The offensive line gets slightly dinged for conceding a pair of sacks, but given that New England running backs also averaged 4.4 yards per carry against a defense that ranked second in rushing DVOA headed into the game, per Football Insiders, it's hard to complain too much.
Defensively, the Pats harassed Blake Bortles with a steady stream of blitzes, particularly from Jamie Collins and Dont'a Hightower. I suggested before the game that Collins and Hightower wouldn't have many coverage responsibilities against Jacksonville's porous tight ends, and the two linebackers appeared to play more downhill than normal on Sunday.
The corners did concede some big plays in second-half junk time, with Malcolm Butler's gaffe on Allen Hurns' 59-yard touchdown being the unit's worst mistake of the day. Duron Harmon also took some shaky angles on a couple of big plays. While the Pats were able to stifle most of Jacksonville''s downfield attempts when the game was still relatively close, we can be sure Bill Belichick will harp on some of the slippage that occurred in the second half.
But this was ultimately as complete a performance as one could expect. Even special teams came up with a big play, with captain Matthew Slater sniffing out a fake punt to stop the Jaguars short of the markers. Pessimistic types will fret about the Patriots peaking too early, but it would take a fool to quibble with how the Patriots have played through the season's first three weeks.
Brady in Control During Milestone Game
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Tom Brady moved into fourth all time in the career touchdown passes leaderboard, and given Drew Brees' health issues in New Orleans, Brady may be the only active quarterback with a realistic chance of joining Peyton Manning and Brett Favre in the 500-touchdown club. That potential milestone is likely two to three seasons away with good health, but at his current rate, Brady might breeze into that club sooner than we think.
Granted, Jacksonville's secondary isn't particularly intimidating to begin with, and the Jags were so banged-up during the game that converted college quarterback Nick Marshall was playing cornerback during the game. With its top three safeties also missing, Jacksonville's secondary never had a shot at a fair fight against a Patriots passing game humming on all cylinders.
Nevertheless, Brady's stat line through three games is absolutely astounding: nine touchdowns, zero interceptions and 8.4 yards per attempt on 74.4 percent passing. The Pats aren't necessarily the most diverse passing attack schematically, but their execution on the timing-based staples that make up their offense is absolutely impeccable at the moment.
As always, Brady is the conductor of that train, and his current level of efficiency is reminiscent of his MVP seasons in 2007 and 2010. The 38-year-old is likely the early front-runner to win his third MVP, and while that outlook may eventually change, it's hard to imagine the Patriots not remaining an elite top-five offense again in 2015.
Blount and Martin Break Through
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Rob Gronkowski (four catches, 101 yards) and Julian Edelman (eight catches, 85 yards) were their usual prolific selves, but the underrated story of the game was how productive New England's secondary contributors were. In particular, LeGarrette Blount and the newly signed Keshawn Martin rose up in the second half to help put the game away for good.
Blount played just seven snaps in his season debut at Buffalo last week, and as Dion Lewis received the lion's share of the snaps in the first half, it appeared as though he would spend another week glued to the bench. However, Blount became the offense's primary back after the intermission and was his usual bulldozing self en route to 92 total yards (78 rushing, 14 receiving) and three rushing touchdowns on the afternoon.
Likewise, Martin was a surprise inclusion on the active game-day roster and ended up rotating with Aaron Dobson as the split end in two-receiver packages. The fourth-year receiver quickly assimilated himself into the offense, catching all three of his targets for 33 yards and a third-quarter touchdown.
Neither Blount nor Martin are likely to become focal points in the weekly offensive game plans, but it's reassuring to see both play well when given extended opportunities. Given the depth questions that plagued New England's offensive skill positions throughout the preseason, this provides more reassurance than one might imagine at first glance.
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Young DBs Work into Rotation
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Following a week where they hemorrhaged big downfield plays to Buffalo, the Patriots mixed up their secondary personnel. Bradley Fletcher was a healthy scratch, and with Tarell Brown ostensibly injured, the recently signed Justin Coleman ended up playing significant snaps in New England's nickel personnel. Additionally, rookie Jordan Richards saw a season high in snaps, often covering the slot in dime packages or playing the box in base personnel.
The night before the season opener, the Pats signed Coleman, an undrafted rookie out of Tennessee, off the Seattle Seahawks' practice squad. The 5'11" corner, who was initially with the Minnesota Vikings before being waived, briefly spent time with the Pats earlier this offseason prior to signing with the Seahawks. The Patriots played Malcolm Butler and Logan Ryan in their base personnel and kicked Ryan inside to the slot with Coleman playing outside in sub-packages.
Richards, meanwhile, might have been part of an opponent-specific game plan. The Pats played more two-high safety coverages than usual, with Devin McCourty shading over toward top Jaguars receiver Allen Robinson, while Richards played over the top of the weak side. Richards' most notable play actually came on Robinson, when he forced the second-year receiver out of bounds to prevent a big downfield play in the second quarter.
Richards will most likely retain a niche role, but it'll be interesting to see if the Pats stick with Coleman over Fletcher and, when healthy, Brown. It's presumptuous to assume Coleman will turn out as well as last season's undrafted rookie cornerback find, but he certainly held his own in his first career game.
Blount: Happy to Be Back
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We touched on LeGarrette Blount's three-score breakthrough, and after the game, the veteran running back noted how pleased he was to return to the lineup, per CSNNE.com's Michael Giardi:
"LeGarrette Blount on his day "you always want to play, be with your guys, and go out there and perform."
— Michael Giardi (@MikeGiardi) September 27, 2015"
The real question now is how will the Pats divvy up their snaps moving forward. New England's run-to-pass ratio ended up fairly even due to the lopsided score, but when the game was in doubt during the first half, the Patriots gave Dion Lewis the lion's share of the snaps while passing 24 times compared to just 11 runs (two of which were quarterback sneaks from Brady).
According to snap counts from ESPNBoston.com's Mike Reiss after the game, Blount and James White ended up combining for more snaps (44) than Lewis (35), though the latter sat out nearly all of the final 30 minutes. White did take many passing back snaps even before the game got completely out of hand, so it's hard to tell whether the Pats were resting White or employing a genuine rotation.
Obviously there will be certain opponents where the Pats look to establish their ground game. But imbalance is not necessarily undesirable if the opponent can't stop the passing game, and Lewis has clearly been New England's best option in that facet. However, when the Pats do turn to a more power-oriented ground game, Blount has made a strong case to remain the alpha dog in that particular role.
Amendola: Red-Zone Efficiency Lacking
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Headed into the game, New England ranked sixth in red-zone touchdown percentage, reaching the end zone at a 77.9 percent clip. Though the Pats moved the ball with ease against the Jags, they did have a couple of hiccups near the end of the first half, stalling in or near the red zone for three Stephen Gostkowski field goals.
Having the league's most accurate kicker gives an offense more margin for error, but when a team wins by five touchdowns, there will be nitpicking after the game. Per WEEI's Christopher Price, Danny Amendola predictably pointed to New England's occasional red-zone execution issues as an area where the offense didn't necessarily thrive:
"Amendola on offense: "Don’t get it twisted — three points is a great drive. But touchdowns would be better. That’s what we’re after."
— Christopher Price (@cpriceNFL) September 27, 2015"
After ranking fifth in red-zone touchdown percentage last season (62.3 percent), the Patriots are roughly par for the course in terms of overall ranking, though the raw percentage will likely come down a bit. Gronkowski did fail to corral a one-on-one fade opportunity in the corner of the end zone in the second quarter, but again, it's hard to find truly concerning long-term issues with this facet of New England's offense.
Belichick: Patriots Practiced Against Fake Punt
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Big underdogs will often adopt "David" strategies to knock off huge favorites, and the Jaguars attempted a fake punt in the third quarter in a last-ditch attempt to stay in the game. Down 37-10 with roughly 17 minutes left in the game, undrafted rookie Corey Grant took a direct snap on 4th-and-8, but he made it just two yards downfield before special teams ace Matthew Slater stopped him short of the markers to set up the Pats on the Jaguars' 24-yard line.
The Patriots, known for their advanced scouting of opponents (in both a positive and negative light), apparently were prepared for the Jags' chicanery. According to Reiss, Bill Belichick said after the game that James White had beaten the punt-coverage unit on a similar play in practice during the week:
"On fake punt that Patriots stopped in 2nd half, Bill Belichick notes that team was beaten in practice by James White on something similar.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) September 27, 2015"
The play likely wouldn't have made a difference in this particular contest, but Slater's tackle could have represented a massive turning point in a closer game. Just as New England's personnel is humming at the moment, it looks as though the coaching staff is also in midseason form through three games.
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