Bill Belichick, Mac Jones Acknowledge Patriots Predictable Play-Calling

Opposing defenders have apparently been recognizing New England’s offensive plays.

FOXBORO — The New England Patriots have received significant criticism for their performance on the offensive side of the ball thus far in 2022.

Whether it be implementing a new offensive style, or the installation of inexperienced coaches, New England’s scoring unit has sputtered for much of the season; essentially being kept afloat by strong performances by their defense and special teams.

In addition to having its share of difficulties, the Pats offense is apparently becoming predictable.

In the immediate aftermath of their 26-3 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 9, several Patriots players were overheard discussing Colts’ linebacker Shaquille Leonard calling out the Pats offensive plays before the snap.

When speaking with reporters earlier this week, coach Bill Belichick confirmed that not only was Leonard identifying the Pats plays, Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley was doing the same during the Pats Week 8 contest against New York at MetLife Stadium.

“I thought that there were two or three plays for sure that Leonard really got a big jump on and stopped us basically on those plays. [C.J.] Mosley got a couple of those a couple weeks ago in the Jets game, Belichick said. “It looked like Mosley almost heard the play in the huddle. He was on it so fast. Leonard had a couple like that, too.”

Ironically, New England was victorious in both games.

Still, Belichick realizes that deploying easily-recognizable offensive schemes is far from being a sustainable way to pursue a spot in the playoffs.

“Whether that's something we were giving away or just something that [they] anticipated based on whatever the keys were that he might have picked up, we certainly want to try to prevent that.”

At 5-4, the Patriots currently sit in eighth place in the conference. As such, a postseason berth is a possibility. However the Pats must play smarter and more guarded, especially when it comes to choosing their point-scoring strategy. Offensive line coach Matt Patricia has been the de-facto play caller through New England’s first nine games. Despite some moments of effectiveness, Patricia and the Pats have struggled in putting together a complete game effort. The Pats have often found themselves in 3rd and long situations due to predictably running the ball on most of their first-down attempts. Allowing their opponents to sit on the run on early downs, the Pats have made things much easier on the opposition to hold them in check.

Despite their Week 8 and 9 wins against the Jets and Colts respectively, New England has managed to muster only 491 yards of total offense and two touchdowns. During that stretch, quarterback Mac Jones has looked uncomfortable and under constant duress while running the team’s offense.

Though the team is in the midst of enjoying their bye, Jones realizes that this brief respite provides him the opportunity to make some much-needed improvement. Priority one is likely to be making the Patriots’ offense less-predictable.

When meeting with reporters on Wednesday afternoon, Jones acknowledged that he and the team will be hard at work to identify and correct their issues. Though it will not be easy, they are ready for the challenge.

“That’s also stuff that you can look at,” Jones said. “How many times are we doing this, running the ball, play action, screen?’ So, there’s a lot of things that coaches are looking at. Every team does that I’m sure, in some capacity. At the end of the day, like I said, if each individual player gets better, then we can kind of put that together as a team, and obviously as an offense and then kind of kick start the back half of the year here.”

The Patriots will welcome the New York Jets (6-3) to Gillette Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 20 for a 1 p.m. ET kickoff. 

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Follow Mike D’Abate on Twitter @mdabateNFL and Listen/Subscribe to his daily podcast: Locked On Patriots

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