For the second time this season, we’re left wondering why James White isn’t more involved in the Patriots offense

By Matt Dolloff, 985TheSportsHub.com

James White has been the MVP of the Patriots offense in 2018. But for whatever reason, his production has fallen off in recent weeks. And in the wake of certain plays where it looked like White could have come up with the big play the Patriots needed, we’re left wondering why his involvement in the offense has fallen off as well.

Why are we having this conversation, again?

If it’s a health-related issue, it hasn’t stopped White from participating fully in practice. It could be affecting his snap counts, but those could also be affecting the Patriots in the win-loss column.

Consider this: in the Patriots’ nine wins, White has averaged 42.7 snaps and 14 touches per game. In their five losses, he’s averaged 32 snaps and 7.4 touches.

Some of that is a product of some teams keying more on stopping him. The Titans, for example, were clearly ready to defend White and held him to 26 total yards from scrimmage on six touches in their 34-10 win over the Patriots in Week 10. There are other nuances to the inconsistency of the Patriots offense that certainly go beyond a single player.

But at this point in the season – one where the offense still hasn’t really found its way – there’s a pretty clear correlation between White’s involvement in the offense and the Patriots’ overall success as a team. The Pats are as dependent on Brady and the offense as they’ve ever been, based on the results. They’ve averaged 30 points per game on offense in their wins, and it plummets to 16.6 in their losses.

So we ask, again: Shouldn’t White be getting the ball more?

“Certainly, James is a player that has been very successful and productive in his role and other teams are aware of that,” said McDaniels during his Tuesday conference call. “He gets plenty of attention from other people and sometimes that means the ball needs to go somewhere else, and sometimes we can still find a way to get him the football and let him have the opportunity to make plays. I mean, he’s obviously a very good player for us, has been tremendous in his role, is very valuable. So, the more he touches it, the more we can get it to him, we usually feel very good about those opportunities.

“He needs to be involved, he certainly has been a tremendous player for us and the more he can touch the ball, the better off we all feel.”

So why isn’t he touching the ball more? Blame can be divvied up fairly evenly.

One can look at McDaniels and Bill Belichick, who prepared packages that resulted in just 26 of 62 offensive snaps for White against the Steelers. One can also look at Tom Brady, who apparently didn’t see an open White on two of the Patriots’ final four plays in Pittsburgh.

There’s a 14-game sample size now, and it tells us that White needs to have more touches if the Patriots offense wants to find consistency or more success. Especially on the road. Brady himself said back after Week 3, when the Patriots lost to the Lions 26-10 and White payed a season-low 25 snaps, that White has “got to be more involved.”

Thirteen weeks later, we’re back to that same conversation.

The Patriots appear to have lost sight of White’s importance to the offense in recent weeks. But it sounds like McDaniels knows that he should be getting more looks than he has. It’s one of the simplest ways for the Patriots offense to get going in their final two games of the regular season. It’s hard to believe they’ll get rolling without him.

Matt Dolloff is a digital producer for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Have a news tip, question, or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff or email him at matthew.dolloff@bbgi.com.