Josh McDaniels discusses struggles of Patriots’ young players during playoff run

The New England Patriots have already won two playoff games, but the wins are coming in a different fashion than they did during the regular season. Offensively the Patriots have been much more inconsistent over their last two games compared to the regular season, when they averaged 28.8 points per game (2nd in the NFL), while the defense has taken on a leading role.

During the regular season, a big part of the Patriots' surprise offensive success was the quick development of young players in key role. Quarterback Drake Maye highlights that group but left tackle Will Campbell and left guard Jared Wilson also gave the team starting-caliber play. Meanwhile running back TreVeyon Henderson went from a rotational to leading role, while wide receiver Kyle Williams carved out a rotational role for himself late in the season.

That hasn't been the case in the postseason. Turnovers - in particular fumbles - have been a big issue for Maye over the past two weeks after a relatively clean season. Part of that is due to poor protection from the left side, with Campbell and Wilson regularly allowing pressure. As for Henderson and Williams, they haven't had the same big-play burst, with Williams dropping a deep ball last week and nearly fumbling on a kickoff.

On Wednesday offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was asked about Campbell's struggles specifically, in the context of the Patriots' turnovers. However, his answer gave insight into what all the young players are going through.

 "It's never a straight line. I think Will is - We have a lot of young players that are playing and I think there's a lot that's been learned over the last two games, by a lot of people. And that's a good thing," McDaniels explained. "You're never going to go into the playoffs as a young player and just dominate your matchup the entire time. That's really difficult to imagine."

"Between Drake and TreVeyon and Jared and Will and Kyle - you're playing against really good players. You're playing against really good coaches," McDaniels continued. "There's going to be some ups and downs in the game that you have to to persevere through and that's the nature of the National Football League in the postseason. So, I'm encouraged by the way all of our guys have taken these experiences and tried to benefit from them and improve so that we might be able to play better this week and beyond."

As for Campbell himself, getting back to the original question?

"Encouraged. Love the way he's responded, and again there's there's always going to be some plays that you wish you did a little bit better here and there, but that's across the board," McDaniels said. "I'm excited to watch him play on Sunday."

Head coach Mike Vrabel also spoke about the growth of the younger players in the playoffs this week, when asked what the two previous games mean about them getting more comfortable with the big spots.

"They are two more games experienced in the playoffs than there were two weeks ago," Vrabel replied. "So, I mean, just try to play well, prepare and enjoy it."

Getting better play from their younger players will be crucial for the Patriots across the board in Sunday's AFC Championship Game, against a strong Denver Broncos defense. When it comes to cutting down on the turnovers in particular, McDaniels noted it will be a group effort.

"Turnovers are - everybody always focuses on the one person that touched it last. A lot of times turnovers have more of a team complexion to it than what you know you may understand just with the naked eye," McDaniels explained on Wednesday. "Whether that be protection or somebody finishing a play or the route concept and what they saw together in terms of trying to throw the ball accurately and well. So there there's a lot of things that go into it. I'd say no matter what we want to talk about, we need to do it a little better than what we've done in a few games recently. Certainly, it's been a big thing when we've won this year. We've really tried to focus on making sure that we take care of the football. And, absolutely going to be paramount this week in Denver."

In all three of the Patriots' losses this year, they failed to win the turnover battle (two lost, and tied the Raiders in the opener), then hung on in two turnover-filled games in the Wild Card and Divisional rounds. Against a Denver defense that forced five turnovers last week it's a crucial fix, and one that will heavily involve the younger players continue to grow as their playoff careers take another step.