‘This is a great opportunity to learn’: Josh McDaniels confident offense will bounce back

Josh McDaniels’ offense was on its way to having what may have been its best performance of the season on Sunday in the first half against Buffalo, but disaster struck. 

The Patriots were only on the field for 18 offensive plays in the second half, scoring just one touchdown on a TreVeyon Henderson 65-yard touchdown run. With Josh Allen and the Bills mounting a furious comeback, McDaniels’ unit failed to match it. 

It didn't help that his quarterback, Drake Maye, struggled to get into any kind of rhythm, finishing with a second half stat line of 5-for-12 for 47 yards and an interception.

New England’s second half struggles have been a coming theme this season. While it ranks first in the NFL in first-half scoring (16.7 PPG), the Patriots rank just 22nd in second-half scoring (10.6 PPG).

McDaniels doesn’t have a clear answer on why that is. 

“I don’t know that there’s one answer on that,” McDaniels said. “Certainly thought that guys really did a good job of executing certain things in the first half and made a lot of big plays, and then we really kind of never got into a good rhythm in the second half. And that’s my job, so we’ll figure out why that was. I think there are a lot of things you can think about”

The offensive coordinator does believe that last Sunday can be a blessing — if the offense learns from it. 

“I think at this time of the year when you play a team like that and get an opportunity to see the type of precision and level of execution and detail that all of us need to showcase in those types of games, it can be a blessing if we learn from it,” McDaniels said. 

McDaniels also isn’t necessarily seeing a trend that is plaguing the Patriots’ second-half offense. New England has had numerous occasions where it has been able to sit on a big lead for most of the half, not necessarily needing to score at will. 

It sounds like the Patriots believe their second half struggles are more human nature than anything else. 

"No trends,” McDaniels said. “I think it's just, when you play with a lead, you fight that human nature to relax and want to have done enough. I think sometimes playing from behind is easier than playing from ahead in certain situations. This is a great opportunity to learn how to close out a game...it can be a gift for us if we'll learn, and I think our guys are intent on doing that."

McDaniels' offense will have another big opportunity to change the growing narrative around them on Sunday night against the Ravens.