The New England Patriots had an inauspicious Week 3 game against the Jaguars, getting blown out, 35-6. In a game that should have been, at a minimum, hotly contested, the Patriots tossed it into the dumpster and got demolished. What a difference a week makes.
After a promising win against the Steelers, they flopped, continuing their offensive turnovers and an invisible running game, both major contributors.
Drake Maye's quarterback play to date has been poor. His bad decisions and mistakes have the team headed to the bottom of the AFC East. Another reason the team is floundering is the lack of a running game.
When that isn't working, pressure on the quarterback increases, and mistakes are predictable. It's incumbent on 2025's Coach of the Year, Mike Vrabel, to step in and fix that running game, among other deficiencies, or it's going to be a long, cold winter in Foxborough.
The New England Patriots have a 2026 fatal flaw
The 2026 Patriots' offseason was a dud. They did a couple of good things, like trading for a top receiver, A.J. Brown. They also drafted offensive tackle Caleb Lomu in the first round. As predicted, he's now filling in at guard, replacing both Mike Onwenu and Greg Van Roten, who are both now injured.
None of the offseason moves helped get the running game off the ground.
As last season, the offensive line can't open running lanes for the team's two solid backs, Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson. Henderson has only 99 yards in two games and a decent 4.1-yard average, helped greatly by a 39-yard scamper for a touchdown against Pittsburgh.
Against Jacksonville, he had eight carries for a paltry 23 yards, and a 2.9 yard average.
Stevenson has also underwhelmed. He has 116 yards on 31 carries, averaging 3.7 yards per carry, with no touchdowns in three games. Against Jacksonville, he was also invisible, gaining just 22 yards on seven carries for a 3.1-yard average.
Of course, when you're behind, you have to throw the ball, and if the running game isn't clicking, you should expect to be behind more often than not.
The offensive line is still the crux of the problem
The run game's deficiencies aren't all, or even primarily, on the backs. As in 2025, there aren't any running lanes. When you return four of the five O-linemen who could neither pass block effectively (giving up 47 sacks), nor run block well in 2025, the expectations should have been clear to the Patriots' personnel department.
They weren't. They tinkered with the o-line when it needed another overhaul. The results have been predictably bad.
The starting offensive line wasn't good enough to begin with, and now, with predictable injuries, the unaddressed upgrades and the personnel department's lack of depth are taking their toll.
Neither the starters nor the backups are good enough to open running lanes. That leaves Maye, as he was during all of 2025, scrambling for his life too often, and he's making game-changing mistakes as a result.
The Patriots' much tougher schedule lent itself to hopes of at least an acceptable 2-2 start. In their first four games, the team faced four 2025 playoff teams, three of them away. Now, the specter of a 1-3 start looms large. The Patriots have to travel to Buffalo in Week 4 to face their high-flying star quarterback, Josh Allen. A 1-3 start is almost a guarantee.
The Patriots' 2026 prognosis is now poor. Maye is floundering, and the run game is nonexistent. Pass protection remains porous, and his offensive coordinator has no clue how to fix the offensive line's issues or use Maye's dual-threat capabilities to help.
One thing is clear: like Maverick in "Top Gun," Mike Vrabel has to engage and take charge of the entire Patriots' football operation, from personnel management to on-field management, now. He needs a new offensive direction and to instruct his personnel team to deal for the offensive line help the team needs.
Absent that, Patriot Nation should expect the worst. The wheels are falling off the 2026 Patriots' wagon, and there's no other mechanic in sight.
Add us as a preferred source on Google