New England Patriots - NESN.com
Josh McDaniels’ New England Patriots offense stalled down the stretch of a Week 15 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
The Patriots jumped to a 21-0 lead when scoring touchdowns on three of their four opening drives, but they mustered seven points in the second half of a 35-31 loss at Gillette Stadium. TreVeyon Henderson’s rushing touchdown accounted for 65 of New England’s 80 yards in the final two quarters.
McDaniels couldn’t pinpoint a specific problem was asked about his offense’s second-half slide, via CLNS Media.
“I don’t know if there’s one answer on that,” McDaniels said on Thursday. “Certainly, I thought the guys really did a good job of executing certain things in the first half. Made a lot of big plays, and then we never really got into a good rhythm in the second half. That’s my job, so we’ll figure out why that was.”
The ground game hummed to 246 rushing yards and four touchdowns, but Drake Maye fell below 200 passing yards (155) for the first time this season. He only completed one pass for more than 10 yards in the second half and threw a costly interception while New England led 24-21 late in the third quarter.
Despite Sunday’s late setback, the Patriots have soared since bringing back McDaniels as Mike Vrabel’s offensive coordinator. They rank sixth in total yards after finishing the last three seasons no higher than 26th.
Yet the Patriots couldn’t maintain a hefty lead and clinch the AFC East title last Sunday. McDaniels will instead look to use the setback as a teaching moment as they attempt to capture a playoff bid by defeating the Baltimore Ravens.
“Whether it’s executing a specific play better or calling a different play, you’ll always look back on those things and evaluate it from both lenses,” McDaniels said. “Honestly, I think at this time of the year, when you play a team like that and get an opportunity to see the type of precision and level of execution and detail that all of us need to showcase in those types of games. It can be a blessing, if we learn from it. That’s what I’m hard at work trying to do, and I think our guys are, too.”
