Patriots Journal: Defensive struggles amplified on third down

FOXBORO — The defense rested — on third down, that is.

The Patriots were filleted by the Jacksonville Jaguars and quarterback Blake Bortles to the tune of 481 yards, 27 first downs and, most importantly, 31 points as they absorbed an 11-point loss on Sunday at TIAA Bank Stadium.

Among the defense’s many issues were a lack of a pass rush on Bortles, who finished 29 of 45 for 377 yards and four touchdowns [...]

FOXBORO — The defense rested — on third down, that is.

The Patriots were filleted by the Jacksonville Jaguars and quarterback Blake Bortles to the tune of 481 yards, 27 first downs and, most importantly, 31 points as they absorbed an 11-point loss on Sunday at TIAA Bank Stadium.

Among the defense’s many issues were a lack of a pass rush on Bortles, who finished 29 of 45 for 377 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. The Pats were guilty of raggedy pass coverage and shoddy tackling.

Unfortunately for the Patriots, those problems seemingly manifested themselves all at once on third down as the Jaguars converted on 10 of 14 attempts (71 percent).

“Well, we need to play better on third down on both sides of the ball,” coach Bill Belichick said in a conference call on Monday. “Again, there were times where everything was a problem. Sometimes we had a rush and not enough coverage. Sometimes we had good coverage and not enough rush.”

The Jaguars not only picked up the first down with regularity, they did so repeatedly when the odds were against them. They were 7-for-10 on third down when needing six yards or more and one of the failures came after they had converted only to see it negated by a penalty.

Bortles picked up four first downs with passes to three receivers and another three with scrambles of 9, 10 and 10 yards after breaking containment.

“So, just overall, we’ve got to do a better job of playing and coaching and executing in that situation,” Belichick said.

The Patriots also struggled in the red zone as the Jaguars scored touchdowns on two of their three trips inside the New England 20. Going back to a Week 1 win over the Houston Texans, the Patriots have surrendered TDs in four of their last five red-zone situations.

In their season-opening win over the Texans a week ago, the Patriots clearly flustered second-year quarterback Deshaun Watson.

That wasn’t the case on Sunday with Bortles, who connected with nine different receivers. Wideouts Keelan Cole (7 catches, 116 yards, TD) and Dede Westbrook (four catches, including a 61-yard TD) ran wild most of the day.

“He made some great throws, scrambled, threw some crossing routes. He played a good game,” the Pats’ Stephon Gilmore said after Sunday's loss. “They had a good game plan and played good.”

Quick turnaround

The Patriots trailed, 24-13, and were faced with fourth and 1 from the New England 18 with 8:01 left to play when Belichick elected to punt rather than run an offensive play.

“Well, there were still, I don’t know, eight minutes or so to go in the game,” he said. “So I felt that was the right thing to do at that point. We got good field position, but then we lost it.”

The Jaguars needed one play and 13 seconds to go 61 yards and add six points to their lead as Bortles connected with receiver Dede Westbrook on a catch-and-run touchdown that effectively sealed the Patriots’ first loss in their second game of the season.

Asked if it was a fairly easy decision to punt rather than play while faced with a two-score deficit, Belichick didn’t elaborate other than to say, “There’s a lot of things that go into that. We could talk about it all day.”

Hollister gets a chance

Second-year tight end Jacob Hollister made his 2018 debut Sunday after being inactive in Week 1 with a hamstring injury.

Hollister played 14 offensive snaps (23 percent) and made the most of them, catching all three passes to come his way for 35 yards, including one for a career-long 23 yards and a first down.

“I made some mistakes, but it felt good to get out there,” Hollister said. “Obviously my season debut after having my hamstring injury, so physically I felt good.”

Going up against a stout defense like the Jags and, the week before, the Houston Texans should serve the Patriots well going forward.

“It definitely helps us out,” Hollister said. “I think it kind of vocalizes what we have to do to execute the game plan going into it. We knew exactly what we had to do to win this game, we really just didn’t take advantage of it.”

— Journal Sports Writer Kevin McNamara contributed to this report.