With the eyes of the nation on them, the New England Patriots have not played their best football so far. After losing the season opener in Seattle, they went 0-for-2 in prime time games last Thursday night versus the Chicago Bears.
It didn’t have to be this way. The Patriots had their opportunities to come away victoriously, but ultimately were undone by some untimely errors and an ability to make the big play when it needed to be made down the stretch.
Let’s take a look at the film and hand out some grades.
Patriots film review from NFL Week 7
Quarterback: Drake Maye briefly reverted back to his Week 1-3 self, when he saw a bad throw into the end zone intended for tight end Eli Raridon get intercepted in the second quarter — a pivotal moment in a one-possession game. However, other than that one miscue, the third-year QB played some impressive football. Case in point: even with the turnover, the second most-impactful play of the night in terms of expected points added or lost, he finished with the same EPA per play as Chicago’s Caleb Williams (0.34). In a way, it was Maye playing his usual brand of football between making difficult throws look routine, extending plays with his legs, and maneuvering around the pocket even when faced with pressure and a variety of blitz looks. | Grade: A-
Running back: Together with his quarterback, Rhamondre Stevenson seemingly single-handedly willed the Patriots to competitiveness on Thursday. The veteran running back finished with the best receiving output of his career — 93 yards including an improbable 48-yard touchdown to close out the first half — and did what he could behind some underwhelming run blocking. He also looked good as a pass blocker, something that cannot be said for TreVeyon Henderson. The second-year back continues to be uneven in that area, while his feel for run-lane development is also still a major work in progress. Corey Kiner did not fare significantly better. | Grade: C+
Wide receiver: He didn’t have the same drop issues he struggled with against the Jets in Week 6, but A.J. Brown’s impact was still limited on Thursday. He did move the chains on all three of his receptions but also didn’t manage to find the same space he did against the Jets; he looked a bit slow at times while getting up to 101 snaps in a four-day span fresh off a four-week stint on injured reserve. Catching three passes, Brown was still the most productive Patriots receiver against the Bears in terms of volume. The others — DeMario Douglas, Efton Chism, Kyle Williams — were relatively quiet in their rotational roles. Some might have been by design and the running backs and tight ends seeing increased targets, but they also didn’t provide consistently-reliable outlets for Drake Maye to target. | Grade: D
Tight end: Hunter Henry continues to be Mr. Reliable in the Patriots’ offense, and his chemistry with Drake Maye has been evident for multiple weeks now. On Thursday, he hauled in a team-high seven passes both from in-structure situations and while improvising to assist his quarterback on play extensions. He also continued to perform at a high level as a blocker, something that was not the case earlier in the year. Rookie Eli Raridon, on the other hand, is not there yet and continues to struggle with his run-block assignments. The Patriots are trusting him with a high-pressure role, but he hasn’t always been up to task. As a receiver, Raridon has looked a lot better and continues to find positive matchups against second-level defenders including on his 30-yard touchdown catch up the seam: the rookie simply ran past his man to get open for the score. | Grade: B-
Offensive line: They did what they could, but at the end of the day the blocking was the mixed bag that had to be expected given the circumstances. Down starting guards Alijah Vera-Tucker and Ben Brown, the Patriots used Walter Rouse at left guard and Matt Pryor on the right side. Both showed flashes, but their run blocking in particular left some to be desired — unsurprisingly, given that they had only four days to prepare for the starting roles they were asked to fill. And considering how important cohesiveness is to a team’s run game, it looked the part on Thursday. Pass protection was a different story, with the O-line holding up surprisingly well and being responsible for just nine total pressures all game. | Grade: C
Defensive line: The Patriots defensive line some positive moments, such as Milton Williams registering a tackle for loss and Christian Barmore taking down Caleb Williams for a 10-yard sack that could have been one of the biggest plays of the game had New England won. However, the highly-paid interior pairing was unable to consistently collapse the pocket from the middle and needs to make impact plays at a higher rate. The same is true on the edge, where Elijah Ponder found himself misplaced on multiple occasions, including a 4-yard D’Andre Swift touchdown run. Gabe Jacas, on the other hand, flashed his impressive skills and high-octane motor once again. He still has room for growth but the arrow is pointing up steeply. | Grade: C
Linebacker: The Bears made it a point of emphasis of challenging the Patriots’ off-ball linebackers, and found some success by putting Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss into tough positions. The most notable of those moments came on back-to-back plays in the late first quarter. First, Elliss seemingly did not get the memo on a coverage adjustment which left wide receiver Luther Burden wide open on a 58-yard catch-and-run. The very next play, Spillane missed a tackle while Swift found the end zone on the aforementioned touchdown. Make no mistake, there was a lot of positive as well, but on the whole the pair was still involved in too many missed or big plays. | Grade: D+
Cornerback: By his own lofty standards, Christian Gonzalez did not play his best game on Thursday. The highest-paid cornerback in football, who was added to the injury report with an illness just two hours before kickoff, gave up two separate 21-yard completions and was flagged for illegal use of hands. On the whole, he still ranked fairly low on the list of New England’s issues against the Bears, but with high salary comes high expectation. As for the issues, Marcus Jones and to a lesser degree Charles Woods had plenty of them. The pair missed nine combined tackles, with Jones’ six a career-worst. The team captain also was involved in two touchdowns, including as the assigned coverage defender on a 12-yard touchdown to Colston Loveland in the third quarter. His lack of size and modest physicality was successfully tested by Chicago all night long. | Grade: D+
Safety: Colston Loveland also made plays when matched up with New England’s safeties, including when he beat Jaylen Reed for a 22-yard gain — one of just five reps on the night for the late-August trade pickup. As for the starters, they mixed some good with some bad. Craig Woodson and Kevin Byard both missed one tackle each, and failed to make impact plays even when in decent position — including when Byard was inches from breaking up a 3rd-and-9 completion to Rome Odunze in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t a terrible night for the position, but it didn’t help lift the defense either. | Grade: C-
Special teams: New England has had better special teams days, with a 47-yard kickoff return (plus 5-yard penalty added on) as one of the worst plays of the season for the unit. In addition, it didn’t recover an onside kick that seemed to at least have a chance of being reeled in. The coverage groups also missed a pair of tackles on the day. From the positive department: new dad Andy Borregales made a 47-yard field goal and hit all three of his point-after attempts. | Grade: C-
How would you grade the Patriots’ performance against the Bears? Do you agree with our assessment? Please head down to the comment section to discuss with the rest of the community.
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