The Patriots have struggled on special teams for much of this season but were much better in Sunday’s win over the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. Punter Jake Bailey enjoyed a resurgent performance, rookie Marcus Jones had a great punt return — thanks to an insane block by safety Jabrill Peppers — and Nick Folk converted all five of his field goal attempts.
However, there was one miscue late in the third quarter that could’ve proved costly for New England against a better opponent.
Bailey punted a ball that bounced at the 5-yard line before being corralled by undrafted Patriots rookie DaMarcus Mitchell around the 7-yard line. Unable to stop his momentum, Mitchell somersaulted before popping up at the 1-yard line — at which point everything would’ve been fine. But Mitchell, rather than stopping at the 1-yard line, fell forward into the end zone, resulting in a touchback. A golden opportunity for New England to pin the Jets deep in their own territory was lost.
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Thankfully for the Patriots, New York quarterback Zach Wilson threw an interception seven plays later for his third pick of the game. The Jets weren’t able to capitalize on Mitchell’s special teams blunder.
Still, the play presented a teaching moment for special teams captain Matthew Slater.
“It’s a good learning experience for all of us,” Slater said Monday during a Zoom call. “He’s a guy who’s a young guy learning how to play in this league. Doing a great job for us. And I think that was just an experience for him on the field. Every play that you have in this league is an experience. You log that experience, you hopefully learn from it and you become a better player. I don’t fault him for what happened. He’s trying to go out there and make a play, help the team. He’s playing hard. And as long as guys are doing that, you can feel good about coaching them up from there.
“Obviously, want to try down balls when we can inside the 10. We want to do that collectively, if it means batting it to a teammate, or whatever it is, to keep it out of the end zone. And I don’t put the blame on him for that play. That’s just one of those plays that happens. Hopefully, next time we get in that situation we can execute a little bit better.”
Mitchell’s error wasn’t the only blemish on the Patriots’ mostly clean special teams outing. Fellow rookie Pierre Strong also got flagged for an illegal block in the back during a second-quarter punt return.
New England’s special teams will look to continue improving while eliminating mental mistakes when the Patriots host the Indianapolis Colts this Sunday.
