Josh McDaniels is already drawing heat after the Patriots’ season opener, and the biggest reason is simple: the offense never adjusted when the game demanded it.
New England went into Wednesday night facing a brutal opening stretch, with the Seahawks, Steelers, Jaguars, and Bills waiting over the first four weeks. That kind of schedule leaves no room for a sluggish start, especially against a Seahawks team that was heavily favored and returned 20 of 22 players from last year’s Championship-winning roster. The Patriots still hung around longer than the score might suggest, but Drake Maye’s late mistake helped seal a loss that put McDaniels squarely in the spotlight.
The quarterback deserves plenty of blame for the defeat, but the game plan was a major problem too. McDaniels leaned hard on first-down runs, calling them 60% of the time, and the Seahawks were ready for it from the jump.
That approach kept New England stuck in place, particularly with the backfield struggling to generate anything meaningful. It also meant the Patriots spent too much of the night handing the ball to Rhamondre Stevenson or Corey Kiner for little or no gain.
That was the most frustrating part for fans: the lack of adjustment. There was a case for trying to establish the run early, especially with a good running back and after the teams’ previous meeting seven months ago.
But once it became obvious the Patriots weren’t going to get much on the ground, McDaniels needed to pivot and attack the Seahawks through the air, especially with Seattle missing two starting safeties. Instead, New England never fully took advantage of that opening and ended up in a position where it had to rally after blowing a ten-point lead.
There were positives buried in the mess. The offensive line held up fairly well, some rookies made an unexpected impact, and Dre’Mont Jones looked like a worthwhile free-agent addition. But those bright spots were overshadowed by a play-calling approach that felt familiar for all the wrong reasons.
It also reopened an old conversation around McDaniels. When he left for the Raiders in 2022, plenty of people welcomed the change because his offense had grown stale.
He was viewed as someone whose system fit Tom Brady better than Mac Jones, and that concern followed him when Mike Vrabel brought him back last year. With Maye under center, McDaniels has clearly tried to add new wrinkles, but the bigger question now is whether he’s making the right decisions within that framework.
The Patriots need more than a tweak or two to get through the next stretch. With the Steelers up next, and another defense featuring a strong front and a talented secondary, McDaniels has to be willing to scrap the ground game quickly if it isn’t working and put the offense in Maye’s hands. If he doesn’t, the criticism is only going to get louder, and after Week 1, it already sounds pretty justified.
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Mike Macdonald later offered some relief by confirming there is no fracture, but the bigger question around Darnold is still the same: how long will this keep him out? For the Patriots, the injury added another layer to a game they already wanted to put behind them, while Jones' post kept the moment alive long after the final whistle. [Read more 🡒]
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His first chance to suit up comes against the Steelers, where New England is looking for more help and more stability in the middle of the line. The addition does mean a corresponding roster move is coming, so the Patriots are not only adding depth, but also making a calculated choice about who stays put to make room for it. [Read more 🡒]