On Sunday, the Patriots won a game in which we have been looking for for years. Even in 2021, where the Patriots offense was hailed as a “top 10 offense,” the Patriots won a single game where they had to score more than 20 points offensively— against the Houston Texans (note: also won 27-24 against the Chargers, but had a pick six). Since 2019, the formula to beating the Patriots appeared to be to simply score 20 points and you have a win. With the loss of Jakobi Meyers this past offseason, teams turned towards using single high safeties and man coverage, locking down the poor man beaters the Patriots have.

On Sunday, Bill O’Brien decided to make some changes. The key move was moving 6th round rookie Demario Douglas to the slot. This allowed the Patriots to use Douglas’ skill set to use some RPOs, motions, screens, and even some downfield work in one on one situations. The second key adjustment was moving Michael Onwenu to Right Tackle, creating an offensive line that has 5 players across the line you can be confident in. As a result, the Patriots pass blocking, run blocking, and receivers looked competent.

For the first time in Mac Jones’ career, his job was made easy in a come-from-behind situation. He simply read the defense, dumped the ball off to his receivers against the Bills’ man coverage and let them go to work to the tune of 28 YAC yards from Demario Douglas, 30 from Pharoah Brown, 51 from Rhamondre Stevenson, and 46 from Kendrick Bourne. Can these short dumpoffs and YAC generation be an answer for the Patriots against man coverage going forward?

In addition to the prior key development, Mac Jones also made the throws he needed to make when the team relied on his shoulders. In the game winning drive, the Patriots fell behind the sticks and fell to 3rd and 8. On the play, Mac Jones stepped up and delivered a pretty pass to Hunter Henry over the middle, taking a hit from AJ Epenesa (side note, Epenesa really took Mac Jones down after the play here— anyone else shocked Mac didn’t complain? Maybe all the chatter of him being beat is getting to him, lol). This conversion extended the drive, while in previous weeks I think they may have stalled out. A few plays later, the Bills lined up in a two high defense and ran man coverage again. Mac Jones stepped up in the pocket and checked down to Rhamondre, who had his man beat by a step. Rhamondre caught the pass and was tackled from behind, but the fun part of this play is if he stays up and breaks that tackle from the coverage behind him, he had a one on one with a safety that came late because he was focused on the Douglas/Henry route combination. It was one of the first times I’ve seen a safety being held by our receivers. On the ensuing play, Demario Douglas lined up in the backfield, then motioned out. They used him to check zone/man, then Mac threw a beautiful out route to Douglas with anticipation— a throw I’m not sure his arm could make (check out the all 22 view of the accuracy on this play when you get the chance, great throw). This set up a new set of downs at the 1 from a flag drawn. On the first play, Douglas motioned from the left to the right, setting up the man/zone check again. Douglas ran a pretty slant, getting open, but an underneath defender came and I think Mac was a little spooked, I’d like to see him zip it in there above the defender, but I think rookie Mac gets picked off by that underneath defender. The ball sails over Douglas’ head, but the Patriots actually recover from a missed opportunity and get the touchdown on the next play on a pretty route and pass from Mac/Gesicki.

All this to say, the Patriots appear to have their play of adjusting to the defense they have struggled with the most this year— short, quick game with YAC and motion. One concern that still sits with them is their deep game ability. With the regression of Devante Parker and loss of Jakobi Meyers, they’re left with a severe lack of downfield threats. One answer may be turning those RPOs/motions into play action shot attempts in one on ones. I have some doubts this would work, but it appears to be their best solution for a downfield game outside of a trade for a player like Jerry Jeudy.

This Sunday, the Patriots are matching up with a defense they have struggled against and is now returning Jalen Ramsey to create a decent trio of corners. They will also need to score points with the potent Miami offense. This will be a huge game to see if there’s any hope for this 2023 Patriots team.