Patriots Mailbag: Shifting personnel after a tough loss

After the New England Patriots’ 28-22 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, fans have questions about the team’s personnel this year and beyond.

The New England Patriots started the month of November seemingly building momentum, winning two of three games. Heading into this past Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams it felt like the young, rebuilding team was in a position to take a next step against another level of opponent.

Instead, the Patriots once again looked shorthanded. They were both out-played and out-coached in a 28-22 loss that dropped their record to 3-8.

With the Patriots’ shortcomings exposed pretty clearly on Sunday, this week’s mailbag has plenty of questions about things the team can do to shake up the personnel. That’s for both the rest of this year, and looking ahead to the offseason.

What potential changes could be on the way? Let’s take a look.

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WATCH: Barth & Dolloff react to the loss to the Rams

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• You know what Will, sure let’s start with the big question. Just how far away are the Patriots from reaching their ceiling? Adding that top wide receiver and multiple starting offensive linemen won’t be easy, and is probably closer to a two or three year project more than one. The team may also need another receiver, depending on what happens with the development of Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker.

  On defense, there are more holes than expected at the start of the year. The team projects to need multiple pass rushers this offseason, and boundary cornerback has emerged as a significant need as well. Linebacker will be on the list too.

  If that sounds like a lot – it is. It’s all doable, but the Patriots will need to be more aggressive than they were last offseason. Maye’s significant ceiling should help, but there is work to do on this roster.

• It’s hard not to like what we’ve seen from Drake Maye so far in totality. He’s been able to elevate the offense around him, and adds a true explosive element to the Patriots’ offense. This far, he looks like the player most expected when he was taken third overall back in April.

  However, one of those expectations was Maye would struggle with turnovers early on. That’s certainly been the case – he has nine in his five full starts (excluding the Jets game when he got hurt) with multiple turnovers in three of five games.

  Every quarterback drafted into the league needs to improve somewhere, and this is Maye’s biggest issue right now. The main project for Maye and Alex Van Pelt over the final six games of the season should be finding a way to limit (not even eliminate, just limit) his turnovers while still allowing him to play his electric style of football.

• At the very least, the Patriots should give Alex Austin a shot as the second boundary cornerback assuming he returns from IR this week. The Patriots’ lack of depth opposite Christian Gonzalez got exposed on Sunday, with their smaller cornerbacks struggling against the Rams’ bigger receivers. That won’t be as much of an issue next week against the Dolphins, but with games against the Colts, Bills, and Chargers on the way the issue will come up again.

  Austin had a great spring, followed by an O.K. training camp. Despite that, Austin played just 14 total offensive snaps over the first three games before getting hurt.

  Whether or not Austin can step into that role after missing so much time is a legitimate question. But, given how thin they are at the position right now, the Patriots should at least give him a chance.

• Most of Ja’Lynn Polk’s issues right now – mainly drops and penalties – are usually more mentally driven than physical. That seems the case here, especially given how reliable Polk looked at times in training camp.

  Often times with these problems, the best way out is through. Working through it and building confidence is what might be best for Polk right now. At the same time though, if he’s hurting the team it’s tough to justify keeping him on the field. It’s a tough balance for the coaching staff to find.

• My guess is Javon Baker’s role on offense won’t increase significantly any time soon. He had been working as a kick returner, but the team replaced him after two returns on Sunday – including one he muffed and failed to run back out past the 20.

  “On the kick returns, he was back there the first couple of snaps, and he didn’t execute the way that we all had hoped he would,” head coach Jerod Mayo shared Monday morning. “I know it was a big return. Even on that big return, it was one of those situations where, ‘Is he coming out, is he not coming out?’ and same thing with the second kickoff return.” That quote doesn’t bode well for Baker’s standing right now.

• No love for Dan Klecko?

• On Brian Daboll, he’s certainly someone for Patriots fans to watch. He has a history in New England, has had tremendous success with a quarterback with a similar playstyle to Drake Maye in Josh Allen, and has play calling experience.

  He’d make a lot of sense to bring in to just about any role if he becomes available, but what would that role be? The Patriots could one-and-done Alex Van Pelt, as long as they’re O.K. with Maye having two offensive coordinators in two years (historically, that’s not great for a young quarterback although it has worked in certain situations).

  At the same time, that’s assuming Daboll doesn’t get any head coaching job offers. It’s not unrealistic to think teams around the league could view the Giants’ struggles being more about Daniel Jones, who was already in New York when Daboll was hired. For the Patriots to be one of those teams they’d obviously have to be ready to move on from Jerod Mayo – something NFL insider Dianna Russini said on Monday is unlikely to happen at this point.

  As for the Ben McAdoo part, he and Daboll never worked together in New York. I wouldn’t expect them to be a package deal as Daboll – much like Van Pelt did  this year – would probably want to bring in his own staff.

• It’s still too early to talk about Eliot Wolf’s job, as rough as his first draft class is looking. Moving on from him means resetting the entire rebuild process, which would leave the Patriots spinning their tires. It was never going to be a one-year rebuild.

  At the same time, the wide receiver thing is a legitimate concern. The best thing the Patriots can do to make sure they get a much-needed hit at the position this offseason is to address the need primarily by bringing in a veteran – via free agency or trade – rather than going back to the top of the draft for their main wide receiver addition (they could still draft on top of adding the veteran).