Matt Patricia, Troy Brown address Patriots' eye-opening miscues originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The play essentially summed up the New England Patriots' offensive ineptitude in 2022.
Facing a third-and-4 early in the first quarter of their Week 17 matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals, the Patriots saw their two highly-paid tight ends, Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith, collide with each other on crossing routes, forcing Mac Jones to take a sack and forcing Henry to exit the game due to injury.
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So, what the heck happened on that play? Offensive play-caller Matt Patricia -- who appears to have lost his voice -- didn't offer much in the way of an answer.
Curran: Pats, Mac Jones simply did not take desired step forward in 2022
"When we went into that play, we had a really (good) play that we practiced, and thought we had a couple of good options on it," Patricia told reporters Tuesday. "I think we saw the play a little bit differently on the field. We just have to clean that up from that standpoint."
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Patricia also didn't seem to view the gaffe as a sign of a larger issue, noting that while the Patriots went 0-for-4 on third downs in the first half, they converted six third downs in a row to start the second half.
"Those plays came up later in the game, and we executed them well," Patricia said. "We obviously didn’t do a very good job on third down in the first half trying to get a feel for some of the different looks that they had. But we came out in the second half, and I think we went 6-for-6 to start the second half. So we got a lot of that cleaned up at halftime.
"I was glad we got them fixed and we were able to execute them better in the second half. But obviously, we've got to start better than that, though."
That third down wasn't New England's only glaring miscue; as ESPN's Dan Orlovsky pointed out on Twitter, the Patriots also weren't on the same page on a failed screen pass attempt later in the game.
Patriots wide receivers coach Troy Brown was asked about the team's spacing issues in the passing game and did his best not to sound any alarms.
“Sometimes the details may be a little off, but I wouldn’t say it’s something that’s been a major problem for us," Brown said. " ... I watch film all the time. It happens to just about every team around the league from time to time. So obviously, you want to go out there and be perfect.
"Detail mistakes aren’t acceptable. We do everything we can to get them corrected."
Detail mistakes have haunted the Patriots' offense all season -- particularly in December, when a Bill Belichick-coached team should be playing its best football. Those mistakes could cost New England a playoff berth, which may lead to a serious evaluation of the offensive coaching setup in the offseason.
