Patriots Offense Struggled In Opener

By: Steve Atkinson

The Patriots played a game against the Raiders that resembled last year’s performances, particularly on the offensive side. They struggled to find any rhythm in the second half after Drake Maye’s interception in the third quarter shifted the momentum to the Raiders’ favor. Geno Smith outperformed Drake Maye, and Pete Carroll outcoached Mike Vrabel. There was no reason to lose this game, especially against a team traveling from the West Coast in rainy conditions.

Patriots Looked Like Last Year

The run game was ineffective for the Patriots today. Henderson should have been utilized more, particularly in the red zone. The standout players on offense were Boutte and Hunter Henry, who both made some impressive catches. Aside from that, it was a disappointing performance from Drake Maye and the entire offense. Maye appeared nervous at the start of the game but settled down afterward. However, that costly turnover ultimately cost them the game due to the momentum shift. Even Stefon Diggs was largely absent in today’s match.

Will Campbell wasn’t good either. He had some penalties and looked to give up on some plays that lead to Drake Maye scrambles he did not look like a guy that lives up to the “I’ll fight and die for my quarterback.”

The defense looks good Christian Gonzalez not being out there or out because of a hamstring injury the first day of training camp is ridiculous. There’s no excuse why he shouldn’t be out there they could’ve used him today for sure. They have a lot of work to do before going to Miami next week. Here was Vrabel after the game.

Again, without looking at the tape, I thought there were some good, positive plays and really good command of what we were doing. Then there were times where maybe he missed somebody, and we’ll have to see. It’s a challenge playing quarterback in this league, and we got to help him out. We have to be more balanced. We have to use our run actions and be able to run the football. It’s hard to turn it into a drop-back passing game in this league. I mean, that’s just the facts. They’re up two scores, and they’re in their third-down package. We just don’t want to ever live in that world.”

It’s clearly not good to be down two scores late in the game to come back and try to win. If they scored coming out of the half they would’ve had a better shot of winning the game. I think Efton Chism should’ve been active but I’m glad Tommy Devitio wasn’t active.

“We all can be better, whether that’s me, the coaching staff, and Drake, and Will, and everybody that you asked about. That’s the attitude that we’re going to take. That’s the belief that we’re going to take. We’re disappointed, but we can’t sit there and hold on to it too long. We got to go on the road, and we got to play a division opponent, and we got to embrace moving on. I think that’s what we’re going to try to do.”