Patriots Making These Offensive Changes After ‘Really Good Meeting’

FOXBORO, Mass. — In the wake of back-to-back unprecedented losses, Bill Belichick altered the Patriots’ Week 6 schedule.

Rather than reporting to Gillette Stadium on Monday and then getting Tuesday off, as is customary, Belichick flipped those, holding a rare Tuesday walkthrough ahead of Sunday’s crucial matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Before that low-speed practice, the Patriots held what offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien called a “really good meeting” to address the team’s biggest problem: an offense that cannot score points and isn’t doing much else well, either.

O’Brien said there’s “absolutely” frustration within Gillette Stadium after the Patriots followed up a 38-3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys by being blanked 34-0 at home by the New Orleans Saints.

“There’s always a level of frustration,” O’Brien said Tuesday. “We just had a really good meeting. We’re all trying to do the right things. We have to do them better.

“You’ve heard this for years: we have to coach the details better. We have to coach better. At times, we have to execute better. We have to be a lot more consistent in what we do. There’s times where we show glimpses of being — very few times, I get it, in the last two weeks — of showing glimpses of what we can be. But it’s not enough.”

Among the matters discussed in that meeting were schematic changes aimed at improving New England’s ineffective and injury-riddled offensive line. Quarterback Mac Jones was pressured on 46% of his dropbacks in the two blowout losses, per Pro Football Focus, and the Patriots struggled to run the ball effectively in all four of their defeats this season.

New England already has utilized seven different O-line combinations, including four different starting fives. Only center David Andrews started all five games. Guards Cole Strange and Mike Onwenu haven’t been fully healthy in months, and the Patriots still don’t have a viable option at right tackle.

“I think at the end of the day, it comes down to communication and the technical aspect of it,” O’Brien said. “Anticipation sometimes, awareness. There’s things that we can do better to help them from a scheme standpoint.

“But we just had a good meeting. We went over a lot of things, fundamentals, that we can do better, some schematic things that we can really improve on to help them. Hopefully, that’ll start to show this week. It needs to start to show this week.”

The Patriots’ No. 1 issue, in O’Brien’s opinion: turnovers. Only one team has committed more than New England’s 10 through five weeks, and opponents returned four of those for touchdowns. The last two games featured a total of six Patriots turnovers — all by Jones — including two pick-sixes and a strip-sack scoop-and-score.

Jones, who was benched in both losses, will start Sunday against Las Vegas, O’Brien and head coach Bill Belichick confirmed.

“At the end of the day, we’re turning the ball over too much,” O’Brien said. “That’s the No. 1 thing. We’ve got to stop turning the ball over. We’ve got to take care of the ball.”

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That poor ball security directly led to the double-digit first-half deficits New England faced in all four of its losses to date. All four of its opponents’ defensive touchdowns occurred before halftime, and the one week the Patriots didn’t turn the ball over (Week 3 against the New York Jets), they won.

“One of the main reasons why we’ve played from behind is we’ve turned the ball over,” O’Brien said. “Not only have we turned the ball over, but we’ve turned it over for touchdowns. So, that’s No. 1. We have to stop doing that.”

The Patriots’ season isn’t officially over after their ugly 1-4 start, but it’s trending that way. Just three teams since the AFL-NFL merger started 1-5 and went on to make the playoffs. With daunting matchups against the Buffalo Bills (home) and Miami Dolphins (road) looming in Weeks 7 and 8, New England desperately needs a win Sunday against a mediocre 2-3 Raiders squad.

“There’s a lot of season left,” O’Brien said. “There’s always obituaries being written, but there’s a lot of football to be played. So let’s see if we can get better. I think the NFL’s always about who can improve the fastest. We have a long way to go, don’t get me wrong, but hopefully we can get there.”