Play-calling was far from Patriots’ biggest issue in loss to Colts originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Part of the fun of combing through these Patriots games, win or lose, is that everyone has their own takes on why things transpired the way they did.
But after the Patriots’ 25-24 loss to the Colts on Sunday, consuming the takes of others had me feeling like someone had stuffed the wrong kind of mushrooms in my Thanksgiving leftover casserole.
Not because of what transpired on the field. We’ve seen that before. Self-inflicted errors. Coaching second-guesses. Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.
All very normal for these Patriots.
What was weird was that instead of focusing on the primary issues that lost the Patriots this game, my good friend Tom E. Curran told me on Patriots Talk that play-calling was Item No. 1 on his list of postgame complaints.
Pass the snozzberries. Strange trip incoming.
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Two drives were the focus. One at the end of the half. (Run. Run. Pass.) One after a Christian Gonzalez interception in the fourth. (Run. Run. Pass.) It was the kind of football conservatism that induces eye-rolls in real time, particularly on Sunday with quarterback Drake Maye dealing like a seasoned veteran.
I also found those stretches to be not-at-all inspiring. Even if the Patriots did rush for over 6.0 yards per carry in this one. Put it on the board of what-ifs. No doubt.
But for a lack of aggressiveness to be the primary problem for some — no it wasn’t just Curran here locally! — qualifies as mind-bending mosquito circumcision.
The Patriots could’ve easily scored 42 points in this game without a single play-calling alteration.
They lost seven points on a Hunter Henry dropped touchdown that was picked. They lost four points after being called for back-to-back holding penalties, which turned a first-and-goal at the 2-yard line into a first-and-goal at the 22. They lost three on a chip-shot field goal miss by Joey Slye. They lost four more when Kendrick Bourne acknowledged he ran a bad route down by the goal line and blocked Maye’s view of Henry.
If you want to put it on the list somewhere that this game was lost because Jerod Mayo didn’t trust his quarterback enough and tip-toed his way through two key moments, go for it. But it needs to be further down the list.
This game was lost because the Patriots, once again, couldn’t run the right routes or execute the right blocks. They lost because, once again, they couldn’t play penalty-free. They lost because, once again, they got run over defensively in key spots. They lost because, once again, they couldn’t master the mundane.
Do those things and they win. Going away.
Maybe it’s become monotonous for folks to see the same issues week after week and highlight them as the reasons why the Patriots don’t have a better record.
But it’s the boring stuff that’s killing them.
