The New England Patriots came out of Paycor Stadium on Sunday with a 26-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals to extend their win streak to nine games and cement their place as the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed entering Week 13.
The victory came at a cost, though, as injuries to key players piled up, most notably left tackle Will Campbell and left guard Jared Wilson.
This game also highlighted one of the Patriots’ most glaring weaknesses — one they must fix if they want a chance at making a deep playoff run in January.
The issue is red zone efficiency. And it’s not just one side of the ball. New England ranks in the bottom tier of the league in both red zone offense and red zone defense.
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When the Patriots get inside the 20-yard line on offense, they score a touchdown 54.8 percent of the time, which ranks 20th in the NFL.
The numbers on defense are even worse. The Patriots are allowing opponents to score a touchdown on 73.1 percent of their trips (19-for-26) inside the red zone, which ranks dead last in the league. And when opponents get inside the 10-yard line, they’ve scored a touchdown 100 percent of the time.
The Patriots failed to score a touchdown on both of their red zone trips against a historically bad Bengals defense last Sunday, despite having eight (!) cracks at it during one trip in the third quarter. With the help of a Bengals penalty, six of those eight plays happened with the ball at the Bengals’ 1-yard line. New England still couldn’t punch it in.
Do the Patriots have the personnel to be a good red-zone team?
“They do against the Bengals, when given seven opportunities at the goal line. They should have had enough to put it in there on one of those occasions,” NBC Sports Boston’s Phil Perry said on a new episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast. “But in general, I do think they’re lacking. I think it’s both in the trenches and on the outside.
“The best red zone offenses are ones that are creative, because I do think you need to be somewhat creative at times when you’re outnumbered in the box or you feel you don’t have the personnel against another team’s secondary on the outside.
“I’m not sure the Patriots have either one right now. If you look at their overall run game — because no matter where they’re running it right now, they’re very inefficient. The offensive line is lacking there. They don’t have the power, it seems, to just grind out a yard there when you need it.
“And then on the outside, how many times did we watch Tom Brady flick it up to Rob Gronkowski because he was around 6-foot-6 and 260 pounds and could go get the football. We saw it a few weeks ago when the Atlanta Falcons were here with Drake London. They don’t have that guy.”
London caught three touchdown passes in the red zone against the Patriots back in Week 9.
Perhaps the best way for the Patriots to be a more productive red zone team is running the football better. Despite going up against the Bengals’ 32nd-ranked run defense, Patriots running backs averaged just 2.8 yards per carry on Sunday. It might be time for Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to dial up some designed QB runs or RPOs down near the goal line — anything that can utilize Maye’s athleticism and ability to throw on the run.
The bottom line is it’s tough to beat good teams in the playoffs if you can’t consistently score touchdowns in the red zone.
Several of the most likely playoff opponents for the Patriots — including the Denver Broncos (No. 1), Los Angeles Chargers (No. 6), Kansas City Chiefs (No. 10), Indianapolis Colts (No. 12) and Buffalo Bills (No. 15) — currently rank in the top half of the league in red zone defense. This presents a tough challenge for Maye and the entire New England offense.
They’ve gotten away with it so far, but that luck might not last much longer. If the Patriots are actually going to be a contender in the AFC this season, they need to be more effective inside the red zone on both offense and defense.
Also in this episode:
- Reality check: Be more thankful for this Patriots team
- How concerning are the Patriots injuries?
- How can the Patriots get their run game going?
- Can the Patriots get the No. 1 seed?
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