Patriots Rookie Takes Ownership After Messing Up On Tyreek Hill TD

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — J.C. Jackson got most of the heat for Tyreek Hill’s 42-yard touchdown, and deservedly so. The Patriots cornerback got absolutely burned on the play.

But Marte Mapu also deserves blame — and he knows it.

As you’ll see in the video below, Jackson bit on the end-around fake, providing Hill with the only step he needed to get wide open. However, Mapu’s eyes also appeared to be in the wrong spot, and he wasn’t nearly deep enough to provide help on one of the fastest receivers in NFL history.

JC & Mapu vs Tyreek…… pic.twitter.com/Cntc9orDkV

— Video from: @TSV__1 (@TSV__1) October 29, 2023

The rookie safety was asked about the play after the game.

“Everybody knows that they have a fast team,” Mapu told NESN.com after New England’s 31-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins. “They take shots. It was just, we gotta be in the right position when it happens — and we weren’t.”

Does Mapu feel he could’ve done anything differently on the play?

“I feel like, just in general, situational awareness,” he said. “Just because that’s one of the areas that they do tend to take shots in. I don’t think that’s really hidden from anybody. Probably just being more alert to that and getting out earlier to help out. It just depends on whatever coverage we’re playing.”

Mapu, a third-round pick out of Sacramento State, acknowledged he wasn’t looking in the right place.

“I was just reading my keys,” he said. “And then after I seen him screaming down to the field, I tried to get back as much as I could.”

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Unfortunately for the Patriots, the mistakes that Jackson and Mapu made on the touchdown are nothing new. Jackson is prone to lapses of discipline, and New England free safeties, including Mapu, have struggled with their reads and situational awareness all season. Predictably, it hasn’t been a smooth transition to the post-Devin McCourty era.

It’s all on film, and the Dolphins were ready to take advantage. If you watch the play again, you’ll notice Tua Tagovailoa turned after making the fake and looked right at Hill as he was blowing by Mapu and Jackson.

That’s because Hill and Tagovailoa knew the play would work.

“You know what, our coach (Mike McDaniel), he does a great job of setting plays up,” Hill said during a postgame news conference. “So, me and Tua had obviously talked about how their safeties play, and we run so many in cuts that the safeties try to drive our in-cuts. It was just a situation where me and Tua just had a conversation about, ‘Hey, these guys are sitting, and once you do your play-action fakes, the corner is even driving.’

“Tua did a fantastic job of selling the fake, the corner and the safety bit up, and the rest was history.”

Overall, the Patriots should be pleased with how their secondary has performed without McCourty, Christian Gonzalez and Marcus Jones. Jonathan Jones and Jack Jones also have missed time due to injuries this season.

But it still hasn’t been good enough. And if Mapu, who’s freakishly talented but only has topped 18 snaps three times, wants to start playing more, he can’t make those kinds of mistakes against a receiver like Hill.