The New England Patriots got back on track with a big win in Buffalo on Sunday. Still, there are some question marks heading into a tougher-than-expected matchup against the 3-1 Las Vegas Raiders.
Injuries are mounting for New England after only four weeks. After missing star cornerback Christian Gonzalez and defensive tackle vs. the Bills, the Patriots could be without wide receiver Mack Hollins and running back Rhamondre Stevenson this Sunday against Vegas. The team’s wide receiver depth is thin after trading Kayshon Boutte and losing A.J. Brown and perhaps Hollins to injury.
Will the Pats address that receiver depth issue with a significant move? Is it time for Efton Chism III to get more opportunities after his game-winning TD grab?
That and much more in a new Patriots mailbag…
Editor’s note: Answers have been lightly edited for clarity.
“Do you think the Pats will make any moves for a wide receiver?” – @mlbtheshow25
No, I do not anticipate the Patriots adding a receiver this week. Had that been in the cards for them, it would have been something that would’ve already happened by now.
The train, as they say, is moving. If you wanted to apply a band-aid to a receiver room that is currently banged up, in order to give that player any opportunity to contribute in short order, you would want to give him as much time as possible to get acclimated to the offense. That means get him in the building on Monday or Tuesday, get him out to practice on Wednesday, and see how much he can handle by the end of the week.
That’s a challenge for any player in any NFL offense, but it’s certainly easier said than done in New England where Josh McDaniels’ attack requires a great deal of pre- and post-snap reads from his receivers. We’ve seen in the past — outside of Antonio Brown’s contributions in 2019 for one game — even savvy veteran wideouts can have difficulty getting up to speed in short order in this scheme.
Additionally, let’s look at their banged-up vets at the position. They may not be far enough away from playing to warrant a trade — likely requiring that the Patriots part with a real asset — to land the team an immediately-playable option on the outside.
Per NFL rules for players on injured reserve, A.J. Brown is eligible to return to practice next week and could potentially be on the field against the Jets a week from Sunday. He was in the Patriots locker room on Wednesday and continues to improve as he recovers from a high-ankle sprain suffered in Week 1 against the Seahawks.
Mack Hollins, meanwhile, didn’t practice on Wednesday but did meet with reporters and moved through the locker room without a noticeable limp. He said he hopes to practice at some point this week.
If even one of those two big-bodied options for Drake Maye is able to come back relatively soon, that would blunt the need for the Patriots to make a move for an immediate contributor at the position.
Tom Curran, Phil Perry and Adam Jones join Trenni Casey to break down the ups and downs of the Patriots’ WRs group after Sunday’s win over the Bills.
“With the Pats D holding the top receiving tight end in the league presently in Dalton Kincaid to just two targets, how do you see their chances against the superb Brock Bowers going into this Raiders matchup?” – @clazzyclare
Great question, Clare. To me, Bowers is on a different tier at the position. His quarterback, however, isn’t on Josh Allen’s level. Perhaps, then, there’s a little bit of a balancing out there that makes this week’s challenge similar to last week’s.
Stylistically, Kincaid and Bowers are similar. They are not necessarily point-of-attack people-movers. When used in-line, their offenses are more likely to run away from them than they are to run toward them. In that sense, they are matchup problems as receivers more than they are true dual-threat tight ends. But Bowers is a problem, there’s no doubt. He’s as dynamic an after-the-catch threat as they’ll see at the position.
Can the Patriots prevent Bowers from racking up big “YAC” numbers by disrupting the timing of his routes? That’s one area to watch this coming weekend. One of the reasons Kincaid had only one catch for seven yards last week wasn’t because the Patriots used one defender to shut him down. Oftentimes, there was a front-seven defender with eyes on Kincaid while a defensive back shaded him over the top. And those front-seven defenders often had more than just eyes on Kincaid. They rerouted him off the line of scrimmage with linebacker Christian Elliss and edge defender Dre’Mont Jones, making him unprepared for Allen’s targets when Allen looked in his direction. Even defensive tackle Milton Williams, playing on the edge, got a shot in on Kincaid getting off the line of scrimmage.
If the Raiders are going to use Bowers in condensed alignments, I’d anticipate the Patriots trying to push him around at or near the line of scrimmage to force quarterback Kirk Cousins to look elsewhere.
How can Josh McDaniels get TreVeyon Henderson going? Saw the one toss, but him running up the middle is a loss of one and a cloud of dust. Do they keep going to that in hopes of him cracking one out of 10? It’s frustrating to give up that many plays. – @RobertStart3
There are only so many “scheme” touches the Patriots can get TreVeyon Henderson. A toss here. A reverse there. (He also seemed to be the designed target for the double-pass attempt two weeks ago, but Efton Chism couldn’t get him the football.) Those things can get one of the team’s most dynamic athletes out in space and cause defensive coordinators headaches.
But there’s a meat-and-potatoes element to Henderson’s job that the Patriots would clearly like for him to take on in order to make him a more regular contributor who can give top option Rhamondre Stevenson a rest every so often.
In my opinion, what will get him going will be trusting his eyes. There are times when it looks like he desperately wants to run the play as designed. And that’s admirable. But when the ball is snapped, things happen, and if he were to trust his vision a little bit more, the results on a snap-to-snap basis might be more productive.
On his first carry of the game in Buffalo, for example, there’s a run that looks designed to hit the “C” gap, between the tackle and the tight end, with receiver Mack Hollins leading up through that gap to seal off a second-level defender. But when Hunter Henry and Will Campbell don’t get much push at the snap, that left little room for Hollins to get through to the second level.
Henderson still tried to slam it up in the designed lane and was stopped for one yard. Had he bounced outside, though, perhaps he would’ve taken advantage of Buffalo’s aggressive downhill position and had a one-on-one broken-tackle opportunity with a corner:
Phil Perry/NBC Sports Boston
Phil Perry/NBC Sports Boston Had TreVeyon Henderson bounced outside on his first carry vs. Buffalo, he may have had a one-on-one broken-tackle opportunity with a corner.
There are unquestionably some missed blocks that lead to short gains for Henderson. Jared Wilson and Eli Raridon, for example, were driven back on a first-down attempt early in the third quarter that went for no gain. On a regular basis, the Patriots aren’t getting enough movement at the line of scrimmage to allow their backs creases. They rank last in the NFL this season in yards before contact per attempt (0.20).
“It literally takes all 11,” Mike Vrabel said this week when asked about Henderson’s production to this point in the season.
Henderson’s best trait is his speed. Until his blockers straighten things out on early downs more consistently, if he can turn nothing into something by trusting his vision and where he sees daylight, that might lead to more production than when he tries to run the play as it’s designed. Again, that has merit when everyone has executed their jobs to a satisfactory level. But right now, things have been bottled up more regularly than they’d like.
“True or False: Efton Chism is a better wide receiver than Kyle Williams.” – @ChainsawTiger
Not to cop out here, especially when the person posing the question goes by “Tiger Chainsaw,” but… it depends!
Do you want someone who can stretch the field? That’s Kyle Williams’ skill set. Go routes, posts, deep overs, etc. There’s value in that if safeties respect him
Do you want someone with a little more stop-start quickness and an ability to potentially create separation at the tops of his routes? That’s Efton Chism.
They are very different. I will say this, though: Chism deserves more time after making the plays he made last weekend.
Even though Williams is more of an “X” than Chism — and even though A.J. Brown and (possibly) Mack Hollins will be out of the lineup as “X” options this week against the Raiders — there is a multi-faceted skill set that Chism brings to the table that could help the offense. Of the undersized wideouts the Patriots have to play alongside Romeo Doubs, Chism might be their best option as a blocker, and he seems to be trusted to run a number of “rub” routes. His bump near the line of scrimmage on Hunter Henry’s defender at the very end of Sunday’s win in Buffalo allowed Henry the time and space he needed to get the game-clinching first down.
“Do you think it’s possible that defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr will receive some head coaching opportunities after this season if his defense continues the way it’s been?” – @patriots_harley
I think it’s possible. I thought his plan for Josh Allen showed the kind of creativity that — if he continues to find success — could entice an owner somewhere to give him an interview for a head coaching job.
We saw him disguise coverages that gave Allen pause after the snap. We saw him mix up his pass-rush plan to give the Bills passing game fits. (On 13 snaps when New England showed blitz, they ended up dropping into coverage on seven of those. Allen went 2-for-7 for 12 yards with an interception on those seven plays.)
We saw him come up with ideas to wipe out an uber-productive tight end in Kincaid. We saw him hold Allen to his sixth-lowest rushing total in his career by coaching his defenders up front to play a disciplined style.
It was impressive.
Kuhr will have further opportunities to show the league what he’s all about when he sees Ben Johnson’s Bears (Week 7), Andy Reid’s Chiefs (Week 15) and Sean Payton’s Broncos (Week 17). That’s not to mention another matchup with Allen and the Bills in Foxboro (Week 13).
“Who’s coming back off injured reserve in Week 5?” – @Joeybatz35
Sounds like nobody. Mike Vrabel said on Wednesday that there are some moving parts roster-wise that might prevent the team from starting the clock on IR players who are eligible to return, like tackle Marcus Bryant, punter Bryce Baringer and linebacker Khalil Jacobs.
It’s worth noting that that list doesn’t include Brenden Schooler. He’s in a bit of a different category because he’s on the non-football injury list and has been practicing. He could return this week to give Vrabel’s kicking-game units a boost.
