This unit has been inefficient even worse, it’s been painfully boring to watch. The passing game, led by rookie quarterback Mac Jones, has jumped up a spot, to 26th on the DVOA leaderboard, but the run game has dropped to 18th after a top-10 finish a year ago. So far this season, New England’s offense has fallen from 23rd to 26th in DVOA. With that guy-his name is Tom, by the way-set to make his return to Foxborough on Sunday night, we can say this about the offense: It is different than last year’s version … just not in a good way. And, most significantly, they replaced aging starting quarterback Cam Newton with a first-round rookie who plays more like the guy who led the Patriots to six Super Bowls over the last two decades. They signed two solid receivers in Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne to help fill out a painfully thin corps. They splurged on two tight ends-Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry-after realizing how hard it is to play football without a good one. The team spent a lot of money this offseason to ensure that it was.
This season was supposed to be different for the Patriots offense.
