The New England Patriots are 5-4 and are now in their bye week. During this time, they’ll like improve on their weak areas and perhaps make some changes. Even undefeated teams can make significant changes at their bye week.
Even the best teams in the NFL recognize that there are some weaker areas of their team that could use fixing. The bye week in the NFL is one of the most desirable things each year, even for bad teams. The bad teams likely want to get to the bye to try and stop the bleeding, and the good teams get to sit on a great start and try to get even better.
The Patriots are currently 8th in the AFC playoff seeding, and they are a middle of the road team. What type of changes would we like to see from the team as they enter into their bye week?
Changes from the Patriots during the bye week
Keep Isaiah Wynn out of the lineup for good
This one might be too harsh, but I think it’s time to simply keep Isaiah Wynn out of the lineup for good. Perhaps either making him inactive or sliding him down the depth chart could be the solution.
He just hasn’t been good this season, but he can play tackle and guard. The Patriots should work on retooling the unit to account for Wynn’s departure in this scenario, which could include signing a free agent. Daryl Williams, who played for the Bills most recently, is a free agent and could help at RT if Marcus Cannon struggles when he comes off of injured reserve.
Wynn should have been dealt at the deadline and I don’t see how he re-signs with the team, so perhaps a mutual parting of ways in the middle of the season will help both. Wynn has been a liability for the Patriots this season.
Changes from the Patriots during the bye week
Retool the offensive play-calling and gameplanning
Something needs to change on the offensive side of the ball. Matt Patricia seems to be the play-caller for New England, and while the Patriots’ offense has shown signs of life, it’s still too up and down for my liking. I think this could be a perfect opportunity to change something in this process.
Perhaps completely changing play-callers could be the move here? I don’t think Patricia has necessarily done a bad job, but I don’t think he’s done a good job, either. Maybe Joe Judge or another offensive assistant can put together a strong process on offense.
Perhaps I’m way off here but it’s clear that the Patriots need to improve on offense if they want to win more games. Mac Jones needs to play better, but the play-calling largely is not doing them any favors.
They have two weeks before their next game, and this is when we see the best of the Patriots come out. Bill Belichick is the GOAT and will surely use the bye week as a time to improve what needs to be improved.
Changes from the Patriots during the bye week
Bench Mac Jones and stick with Bailey Zappe
I am not sure why Mac Jones continues to see the field for the New England Patriots. He has been bad this year and the offense has looked worse under his command than it has when Bailey Zappe plays, who has a 100+ passer rating this year.
Mac Jones has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns and is one of the worst starters in the NFL in 2022. He was OK on Sunday, but did miss a few throws and took some sacks that could have been avoided. He simply isn’t as dynamic as Zappe, who has shown more poise.
Zappe can also move around much better than Jones and can make plays out of the pocket that Jones can’t. I trust the Patriots’ offense more with Zappe under center than I do with Jones under center, and I think the film would concur.
Perhaps because Jones is a first round pick, they feel obligated to play him, but the Colts acquire a veteran quarterback who went to a Super Bowl and won an MVP award and benched him for Sam Ehlinger.
It’s time for this to happen for the rest of the season, at least.