I mean, come on…
Dec 18, 2022; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Chandler Jones (55) stiff-arms New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones (10) on the way to scoring a touchdown at the end of the second half at Allegiant Stadium. Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
They say one of the best things about sports is every time you watch a game, there’s a chance you’ll see something you’ve never seen before. Well, the Patriots ended up on the wrong side of that cliché on Sunday afternoon, as a draw play to run out the clock turned into a complete disaster.
On a called draw play designed to bleed the clock and force overtime, Rhamondre Stevenson got 20 yards up field and decided to try to create a big play. He lateraled the ball to Jakobi Meyers who then threw the ball halfway back across the field to Mac Jones, only to have Chandler Jones waiting to pick the ball off and score.
“I would say we made a mistake on that play. The play didn’t work. We made a mistake on the play,” Bill Belichick said after the game. “Look, we’ve talked about situational football. We talk about it every week. Obviously, we got to do a better job playing situational football and not making critical mistakes in the game.”
The way end-of-game lateral plays are usually designed, there’s one player left on the backside of the play to throw the ball to so if the defense gets too sucked in towards the action sideline, the offense can throw the ball back across for a clear running lane. However, there are two reasons that didn’t apply here. First off, the play was not designed to be a lateral. Stevenson told reporters after the game it was a regular draw call and he improvised.
Secondly, when teams design such plays, the player on the back side is almost always a running back or receiver. If it is the quarterback, it’s usually a mobile QB. Plus, that player is usually all the way on the other side of the field, not in the middle. But because it was not a designed lateral play, the back side player was Jones, who was in the middle of the field and not on the sideline.
To Meyers’ credit, he took full responsibility for the play. “Just trying to do too much. Trying to be a hero, I guess,” a visibly emotional Meyers said. “It ain’t even about Rhamondre. Once he gives it to me, I’m smart enough to know the score was tied and go down with it,” Meyers said. “Whether he gave me the ball or not – he gave it to me because he trusts me. I’ve just got to be smarter with it.”
“I promise you I’ll learn from it,” he continued. “Just try to be better next time.”
We broke this play down more here, but all-in-all, this play was just more sloppy football from a team that used to hang its hat on playing sound situational football and succeeding in the margins. That’s been a theme all season, as well as at other times in this game.
On Meyers and Stevenson…
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – DECEMBER 18: Mac Jones #10 and Jakobi Meyers #16 of the New England Patriots celebrate a 2-point conversion during the second half against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on December 18, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Getty Images)
Part of what made that play hurt so much was the players involved. As much as this offense as a whole has dipped and dived and roller coaster’ed this season, those two have seemingly been above it – showing up and producing week in and week out when healthy.
It’s especially crushing for Meyers, who is in a contract year. The 2019 UDFA has been a consummate pro on and off the field since setting foot in Foxborough four years ago. He’s also been one of the teams most steady performers during a transitional, up-and-down window. Yet this play will now likely go down as one of the defining moments of his time in New England.
That ‘health’ qualifier from above comes in here too. Both Meyers and Stevenson played this game under 100%, missing practice for most of the week this week. Yet they showed up in a big way for a big game. Had it not been for that final play and the botched out of bounds call (which we’ll get to in a minute), they would have been the two heroes of the game. They hit on back-to-back big plays to give the Patriots a 24-17 lead late in the game. First, Meyers had a 39-yard catch-and-run up the seam, followed by a 34-yard touchdown run from Stevenson.
Center David Andrews was another key player who stepped up for the team in what was a big moment at the time. Despite having to be helped off the field before that two-play touchdown drive, he was back in the game and set key blocks on both plays. Andrews has already worked his way back from two injuries this season, including one that was initially reported to be season-ending.
Lost on the goal line
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – DECEMBER 18: Mac Jones #10 of the New England Patriots reacts after a penalty against the Las Vegas Raiders during the first half of the game at Allegiant Stadium on December 18, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
I’m a firm believer in the fact that no football game in the history of the sport has ever been won or lost in a single play. Football is a cumulative game, and Sunday’s game was s perfect example of that. As impactful as that final play was, the Patriots had plenty of chances to prevent it from happening.
Perhaps the biggest such example came early in the second quarter. After marching the ball across the field from their own 12 in 11 plays, the Patriots had a 1st & goal from the 2-yard line. With momentum and a chance to take the lead though, the Patriots fell flat.
The first play resulted in a one-yard run by Stevenson, getting the ball from the 2-yard line down to the 1. That’s when the wheels fell of the wagon, as that play was followed by a sequence of an incomplete pass where Jones missed a wide open Jonnu Smith, followed by a late timeout from the Patriots’ sideline wiping out a would-be touchdown to Meyers, followed by an incomplete pass to Nelson Agholor on a play that ran a receiver motion underneath and in front of the quick slant Agholor was running, followed by another timeout, followed by a false start when Jones snapped the ball before Smith was set that took away another touchdown, with that penalty backing the Patirots up for what ended up being a 24-yard field goal.
That sequence – which ended up costing the Patriots four crucial points – is more than just the mistakes that did happen, but also what didn’t. The Patriots have leaned heavily on Stevenson this season, yet after getting the ball to the precipice of the end zone they suddenly were afraid to put it in his hands. That play-calling decision stuck out as much as everything else that happened in that sequence.
If the Patriots seemed lost running plays inside the five, that may be because they don’t have a ton of experience doing it this year. Coming into this game, they’d only run 31 plays inside the other team’s five yard line, the seventh-fewest in the NFL this season.
Back to basics
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – DECEMBER 18: Head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots coach Matt Patricia react before a game against the Las Vegas Raiders and at Allegiant Stadium on December 18, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
It wasn’t just that sequence in the red zone where the Patriots looked lost. There were moments throughout the game where the team just seemed unprepared. From offensive players seeming confused with play calls at the line of scrimmage, to Jabrill Peppers and others not being set when the ball was snapped on what ended up being a crucial blocked punt, to Nelson Agholor failing to get his foot down in bounds on a deep pass late in the game, there were situational mistakes littered throughout this one.
For a team that is build to win close games, there certainly isn’t enough margin of error to constantly make mistakes like this and still win games. That’s been a theme all season.
What’s especially frustrating is the pre-snap issues. When we talk about the “teaching period” or “install period” during OTAs and the first few days of training camp, these are the sorts of things that are being installed – how to get the play in, formational groupings, and where everybody is supposed to line up. Seeing those issues still popping up this regularly a week away from Christmas has been jarring.
After further review…
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – DECEMBER 18: Keelan Cole #84 of the Las Vegas Raiders catches the ball for a touchdown as Marcus Jones #25 of the New England Patriots defends during the fourth quarter at Allegiant Stadium on December 18, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
How crazy was this game? It’s taken us five items to get to what most weeks would be the most talked-about item across the NFL – that Keelan Cole “touchdown” catch that tied the game late.
With about two minutes to go, the Raiders got the ball back for a drive to tie the came. After three incompletions in a row, Derek Carr finally got things going by doing something the Raiders surprisingly failed to do for most of the night – exploit their size advantage in the passing game. Outside of Shaun Wade, who didn’t play for most of the game, the Patriots’ active cornerbacks were all under 5-foot-10, while most of the Raiders’ top pass catchers stand over 6-foot.
On 4th and 10, Carr found 6-foot-4 Mack Hollins working against 5-foot-8 rookie Marcus Jones. That play resulted in a 12-yard gain, extending the drive. Carr went back to that matchup on the next play for 13 more yards.
A few plays later, Carr threw at Jones again. This time, he targeted 6-foot-1 Cole. It looked like despite it being a high-point situation, Jones had covered the play well, forcing Cole out of bounds. However, the refs saw things otherwise, calling the play a touchdown and upholding that ruling after a review that seemed to show Cole’s second foot stepping out of bounds.
The rule of thumb has generally been that for a player’s foot (or any body part, really) to be considered in bounds on such a play, there needs to visibly be space of whatever color the field is in that spot (in this case, black for the Raiders’ end zone) between that foot and the white boundary line. Yet even in the hours after the game, there didn’t appear to be one angle that showed Cole’s white cleat separated from the white boundary.
This is the second time in less than a month that the Patriots have gotten burned by a questionable call on a touchdown catch. An apparent touchdown by Hunter Henry on Thanksgiving night in Minnesota being wiped off the board following a review flipped the trajectory of that game, a Patriots loss. As was the case then, the league issued a report after this game explaining the call.
No one call decides a single game. There were reasons the Patriots lost this game outside of this moment. That being said, these kinds of calls are starting to stack up, and they aren’t exactly helping.
Covering Adams
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – DECEMBER 18: Marcus Jones #25 of the New England Patriots breaks up a pass intended for Davante Adams #17 of the Las Vegas Raiders during the first quarter at Allegiant Stadium on December 18, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Getty Images)
Alright, let’s end with some positives because, why not? Consider these the ‘would have been’ key takeaways had the game not ended the way that it did.
For starters, the Patriots’ defense kept a star receiver in check for a second week in a row. After limiting DeAndre Hopkins last week, they held Davante Adams to just four catches for 28 yards on nine targets in this game.
What makes that feat even more impressive is the Patriots were without two of their top cornerbacks in this game with Jalen Mills and Jack Jones both inactive. Rookie Marcus Jones came up big, with help over the top from the safety position.
In total, no single pass-catcher really had a breakout game for the Raiders. Adams’ four catches were tied for a team high, while Cole paced Las Vegas with 50 yards on two grabs. Where the Raiders succeeded was spreading the ball around, with seven different players catching multiple passes. Spreading the ball like that hasn’t been a strength for them this year, but the Patriots were able to force them into those looks for most of the game.
The pass rush keeps rolling
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – DECEMBER 18: Derek Carr #4 of the Las Vegas Raiders is sacked by Davon Godchaux #92 and Lawrence Guy #93 of the New England Patriots d3 at Allegiant Stadium on December 18, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The Patriots got another big performance out of their pass rush, which has arguably been the best in the league since their bye week. with three more sacks against the Raiders they now have 48 on the season, which ranks third in the league.
This performance was about more than just the sacks though. Carr was under pressure for the heavy majority of the night, scrambling and throwing the ball away regularly which stunted a number of the Raiders’ drives.
Christian Barmore made his presence felt in his return, picking up half a sack and getting in Carr’s face on another of occasions. He split his sack with Josh Uche, who now has an NFL best 10.5 sacks over the last eight weeks. Ja’Whaun Bentley had a sack of his own while Lawrence Guy and Davon Godchaux split a sack.
That all being said, a logical question is where that pass rush was on the final drive of the game. This was a busy one of the Patriots’ defense, as the Raiders possessed the ball for 33:16 and ran 64 offensive plays.
Penalties
Dec 18, 2022; Paradise, Nevada, USA; New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick reacts in the second half against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium. The Raiders defeated the Patriots 30-24. Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
This was a game between two of the most penalized teams in the league, and boy did it look like it at times. The Patriots were called for six penalties for 30 yards, while the Raiders had 13 penalties for 90 yards.
As has been the case for much of this season though, it wasn’t the number of penalties that hurt the Patriots as much as it was the timing. From the alignments issues on the goal line to second down penalties putting them behind the sticks on key drives, the flags seem to come at the worst times.
Coming down the stretch, the Patriots will face three of the best teams in the AFC in the Bengals, Dolphins, and Bills. Their margin of error will be much thinner in those games, especially against Cincinnati next week as the Bengals are the fifth-least penalized team in the league. It may seem like too little, too late, but there’s still time for the Patriots to clean these issues up.
