The Patriots’ offense has spent the first three weeks looking lost, and one of the clearest warning signs is how little Hunter Henry has mattered.
New England has put up just 29 points across three games, a number that tells the story all by itself. The Patriots scored 10 points in a loss to the Drew Lock-led Seahawks, followed that with 13 against the Steelers, and then managed only 6 in Week 3 against the Jaguars. Even with the defensive touchdown from Elijah Ponder, the offense’s overall output has been brutal - and its 12 points per game ties the 0-3 Dolphins for the league’s worst offensive production so far.
That’s a sharper drop than the one that drew criticism during the Patriots’ playoff run. In that four-game stretch, they scored 16 points against the Chargers, 28 against the Texans, 10 against the Broncos, and 13 against the Seahawks, good for 16.8 points per game. This time, the slide has been even uglier.
Drake Maye has taken plenty of heat for the collapse, and the turnovers have piled up fast. He threw three fourth-quarter interceptions in the Week 1 loss, added another pick against Pittsburgh, then unraveled in Week 3 with a comical fumble and two more interceptions, including one at the goal line. Since his first-half touchdown pass to rookie tight end Eli Raridon in Week 1, Maye has turned the ball over seven times.
But the quarterback has not been the only problem. His supporting cast has been too quiet, too inconsistent, or too banged up to help.
A.J. Brown was put on IR after suffering a high ankle sprain in Week 1, removing Maye’s top wideout from the picture.
Romeo Doubs was rough in the opener, looked better statistically in Week 2 but still seemed to be searching for his footing, and then finished Week 3 with just three catches for 49 yards. Pop Douglas had two drops in Week 3.
Kyle Williams has only two catches on the season. Mack Hollins has done solid work as a veteran target, but he’s not the kind of receiver who should be carrying the passing game, even if he led the team in receiving in Weeks 1 and 3.
Then there’s Henry, who has quietly become one of the most disappointing non-factors in the offense.
The 31-year-old tight end earned a new three-year contract after a career-best year in receiving yards last season, but he has barely shown up through the first three games. He caught all three of his targets for 26 yards in Week 1, then finished with 40 yards in Week 2, and dropped to a single catch for 5 yards on only two targets in Week 3.
That’s a far cry from what the Patriots have come to expect from him. Henry was Maye’s safety blanket in 2025, and his production through three games in 2026 looks far too thin for a player who was once a reliable seam threat dating back to the Mac Jones days.
Through three games last season, Henry had 13 catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns while playing at least 80% of the snaps in every game. This year, he has just 7 catches for 71 yards.
The bigger issue is how little the Patriots have leaned on him. His snap rate has stayed similar, but his targets have fallen from 22 to 10.
Alignment data points in the same direction: he was lined up in-line 55.9% of the time to start 2025, compared to 51.4% this season. Relative to Drake Maye’s snaps, Henry lined up in-line 48.1% of the time in 2025 and 42.9% in 2026.
He has also played about 20% more snaps by this point in 2026.
Age may be part of the story, but the Patriots need Henry to reappear in the passing game. With A.J.
Brown expected back in a few weeks, getting Henry going again would give the offense something it badly lacks right now. If New England is going to make a playoff push, Henry getting back on track figures to be a major reason why.
In Other News...
Vrabels Explanation For Benching A Patriots Veteran Will Sting Fans
The Patriots are already trying to steady themselves after opening the 2026 season at 1-2, and the loss to the Jaguars only added to the early unease around the team. One of the more notable in-game moves came when head coach Mike Vrabel pulled veteran offensive lineman Morgan Moses, a decision that quickly stood out because it was tied not to injury or performance alone, but to Vrabel's sense of the bigger picture.
Vrabel's explanation carried an edge that Patriots fans are not used to hearing from a head coach in September. He pointed to the long season ahead and said he did not believe the team was likely to win, an unusually blunt admission that lands hard for a roster still trying to find its footing. For a veteran like Moses, being taken out under those circumstances says plenty about where the game was headed, and even more about how quickly the mood around New England has shifted. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Need More From Kevin Byard Than Theyve Seen So Far
Kevin Byard arrived in New England with a reputation that suggested instant help on the back end, the kind of veteran safety the Patriots hoped could steady a defense that has looked better than its record in spots. After leading the league in interceptions last season, he signed a one-year deal and brought obvious name value, plus the expectation that he would make quarterbacks pay for mistakes.
Three games in, though, the production has not matched the resume. Byard has yet to record an interception or forced fumble, and the concern is less about one quiet stretch than whether he can still deliver at the level that made the signing appealing in the first place. His age, along with past trends for players coached by Al Harris, only sharpen the pressure on him to turn limited impact into something more meaningful for a Patriots defense that could use the boost. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Put Drake Maye In A Tough Spot They Created
The Patriots spent the 2025 offseason reshaping their roster, but the changes have left Drake Maye operating with far less margin for error than the team probably intended. Releasing Stefon Diggs and trading Kayshon Boutte stripped away two of the more recognizable pass-catching options around the young quarterback, and the offense has not found an easy way to replace that production.
Mayes early-season struggles have reflected the larger problem, with interceptions piling up while the receiving group has thinned further because of the absence of key players like Diggs, Boutte and the injured A.J. Brown. For a team trying to build around a developing quarterback, the issue is not just that Maye has had to play through mistakes - it is that the Patriots have created a setup where those mistakes are much harder to absorb. [Read more 🡒]