Everybody knows that with A.J. Brown expected to be out for the next six weeks, the Patriots are going to need some pass-catchers to step up.
That need holds true on both sides of the ball.
As Tom E. Curran laid out in the latest Patriots Talk Podcast, the Patriots have made just three interceptions in the regular season dating back to last October. Those picks came against Joe Flacco, Quinn Ewers, and Brady Cook. Including C.J. Stroud’s four-pick performance in the divisional playoffs and Jarrett Stidham’s INT in the conference championship last year, the Patriots still have just eight interceptions in their last 14 games.
Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel was asked this week what he believes the team can do to generate some more interceptions.
“Well, we always talk about working together to create ball disruption,” he said. “You could tip some balls at the line of scrimmage – that’s one place to start. Those usually get intercepted. We talk about those all the time. You can force the quarterback to get rid of it maybe a little quicker than he would want, or then have the ability to, in zone coverage, break on the ball. And again, where the rush and the coverage marry — we’ve talked about this quite a bit. But working together, the whole idea of working together to create ball disruption.”
Curran noted that the Patriots don’t necessarily have the pass rush to achieve that goal, despite having numerous defensive backs with the athletic capabilities to make interceptions. (Christian Gonzalez’s dropped pick in Seattle notwithstanding.)
Phil Perry noted that nobody has more interceptions than Kevin Byard (36) since he entered the league in 2016, so the veteran addition at safety was likely brought in to help in that department.
Overall though, both Curran and Perry indicated that there will be an extra burden on the defense to be better while the offense operates without its top receiver.
“The pressure is on now, because you’re just not going to have that margin for error that you probably thought you were going to have coming into the year,” Perry said. “I know I thought that this Patriots offense with A.J. Brown, with Romeo Doubs … with an improved offensive line, with Drake Maye in another year of Josh McDaniels’ offense, that this would end up being one of the best offenses in football.
“Without A.J. Brown, I think you’re looking at more of a top-15 offense than a top-five, potentially.”
While the defense likely can’t afford to drop many interceptions the way Gonzalez did vs. the Seahawks, they’re obviously going to need some sure-handedness from their receivers, too. That was a trait that was noticeably absent from Doubs in the opener, but Curran expressed a positive outlook for Doubs and the offense moving forward.
“A.J. Brown was a garnish — a high-priced garnish. He was an amplifier to their offense,” Curran said. “I didn’t expect A.J. Brown to end up on the Patriots at the beginning of the offseason. It grew and grew and then became inevitable. But when the Patriots signed Romeo Doubs, I said, ‘OK, there’s your [Stefon] Diggs replacement.’ … So I’m not trying to say that they are where they were going to be, but they are where they were going to be had they not gotten A.J. Brown. They’re equipped.”
Perry noted that by Curran’s logic, the Patriots’ offense is very similarly built to last year’s offense, when they ranked third in yards and second in scoring.
“It will be really interesting for me to see who they decide to use in that X receiver role,” Perry said regarding a Brown replacement. “Almost all of his snaps were on the outside. He was not being moved around a whole lot, they weren’t sending him in a lot of motion. He was backside, on the line of scrimmage, running those X receiver types of routes. So, who’s that guy now?”
Mack Hollins, Kyle Williams and Doubs are all options, while Kayshon Boutte — who was traded away late in camp for safety/special teamer Jaylen Reed — is of course not.
“I think they’re missing Kayshon Boutte,” Perry said. “I think if Kayshon Boutte was here, he may have been inactive Week 1. But you know what? Week 2, he’d be in uniform. And he might be in the starting lineup for all we know.”
Perry said that without the threat of Brown on the field, the Patriots are likely to see some more defenses operating with a single-high safety instead of split safeties.
“For a quarterback, that is probably pretty enticing … if you have confidence in your receivers,” he said. “I don’t know, right? We’re not in Drake Maye’s mind. How does he feel about Kyle Williams 1-on-1 on the outside?”
The first answer to that and other questions about the passing game will begin to show on Sunday against the Steelers, but there’s no doubt that every individual on the Patriots will have to be a little bit better — on offense and defense — to help make up for the significant absence of Brown.
