Mark Daniels: Even after the win, we're left wanting more from the Patriots offense

If anything, you can’t question Mac Jones’ level of toughness.

The Patriots quarterback struggled just to walk following the team’s Week 1 loss in Miami. He entered last wee on thek injury report because of a back injury. On Wednesday, a stomach illness forced him to miss the first practice of his young NFL career. The injured back and upset stomach aside, the game must go on.

Despite all that adversity, it was certainly a positive that the Patriots came away with a 17-14 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. Winning on the road in the NFL is hard, so Jones & Co.  left Pittsburgh feeling good about themselves, as they should.

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Of course, here in New England, we’ve been spoiled.  Living in the Tom Brady-era is a big part of the reason why we have placed high expectations on the shoulders of Jones. Last season, he delivered one of the best seasons in NFL history for a rookie quarterback. Ten wins and a spot in the wildcard round made him the winningest rookie quarterback in league history.

Considering the team’s history, it might feel unfair to leave Sunday’s game with an uneasy feeling about the Patriots offense. A win is a win, right? For those who watch the NFL religiously on Sundays, we know that 17 points are rarely going to be enough. Watching the Patriots offense put up just seven points against Miami was disappointing.

Jones and the Patriots took a step forward in Pittsburgh, but the offense needs to improve if this franchise wants to take the next step forward.

“We’re only going to get better,” said Patriots receiver Nelson Agholor. “I hope that this game is a stepping stone towards where we’re headed. I don’t want this to be like, ‘Hey, this is our identity.’ I want it to be, 'We see some good stuff now let's get better from here.' ”

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Patriots need more playmakers to step up

The Patriots are in need of some help with their passing game and it’s not all on Jones. He needs more help.

Jones hit Agholor with a beautiful 44-yard touchdown pass with 22 seconds left in the half. He made multiple nice throws to Jakobi Meyers. Those two receivers were the few bright spots for this veteran-laden offense. Agholor finished with six receptions for 110 yards while Meyers finished with nine for 95 yards. Right now, they are the only constant threats in the passing game.

We know the Pats have two solid running backs in Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson.

“I hope that this week springboards us into more weeks to come,” said Agholor. “With Mac, he’s getting better every week. Me, as a player, I want to get better with him. I want to produce with him. I want to build the confidence that he feels that he can come to me.”

Mark Daniels: It's up to Bill Belichick to solve the Patriots' offensive woes

Jones was 15-for-19 for 205 yards with a touchdown when targeting Agholor and Meyers.  The Patriots quarterback was 6-for-15 for 47 yards with an interception when targeting anyone else. When throwing to Meyers and Agholor, Jones had a 129.1 quarterback rating. When targeting everyone else, he had a 20.7 passer rating.

For reasons we don't know,  Kendrick Bourne (two catches on three targets for 16 yards) played behind Lil’Jordan Humphrey (one catch for 11 yards) for the second week in a row. Another big issue with the passing game this week was the tight end position. Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith finished with zero catches on four targets. Henry has the second-highest cap hit on the Patriots. Smith has the sixth highest. The Patriots need more from those players.

The other concern is DeVante Parker. After catching one pass for nine yards in Miami, the veteran was targeted twice and didn’t catch a pass on Sunday. Jones threw an interception when targeting Parker for the second week in a row.

Another issue on Sunday was untimely penalties by the offense.

A flag on Isaiah Wynn for holding negated a 14-yard completion. The Pats punted two plays later. A Wynn false start in the third quarter proved to be costly when Nick Folk missed a 52-yard attempt. The very next series saw Michael Onwenu's false start and the offense couldn’t dig itself out of that first-and-15 hole. In the fourth quarter, David Andrews was flagged for holding.

Patriots low scoring total is worrisome

After Pittsburgh's score closed the gap to three points, the Pats had two drives early in the fourth quarter  that could have put this game away.

The first drive ended when the Pats couldn’t pick up five yards in two plays in a row — incomplete passes to Smith and Parker. The next series was a three-and-out and the group left the field when Jones couldn’t hit Smith on a third-and-2 play. The Pats finally put the Steelers away thanks to Stevenson and Harris.

Right now, the offense needs to lean more on its run game. That’s who this offense is.

“It’s definitely a step in the right direction,” said Harris. “Obviously, we’re not where we want to be. We’ve got a long time before we get there, but closing the game out like that — end the game with a ball in our hands as an offense is a huge confidence booster. It’s another step we can take.”

The biggest thing right now is points scored.

The lack of offensive success over the last two weeks is worrisome. Last year, Jones’ rookie season, the Patriots never looked this bad offensively. They had one rough stretch in Weeks 3 and 4, but scored 30 combined points in those losses to New Orleans (28-13) and Tampa Bay (19-17).

The 24 combined points scored by this year’s offense is the lowest since Cam Newton was the quarterback. That team managed just 21 combined points in Weeks 14 and 15. Prior to that, the 2020 Patriots scored 22 points against Kansas City and Denver, but that was when the Pats were dealing with COVID-19 and Brian Hoyer started against the Chiefs.

Sure it’s unfair to compare Jones and this offense to any of the Brady teams, but the last time Brady and the Patriots scored 17 or fewer points in back-to-back games was 2014. That happened when the Patriots had a playoff spot wrapped up and then-rookie quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo played most of the regular-season finale.

Entering Sunday, the Patriots are 22-55 (.286) when they score 17 points or less since 2000.

“We just have to execute better and we’ll get more points and it won’t be as close of a game,” said Jones. “The big thing is to put more points on the board and continue to grow.”

So even though the Patriots' win on Sunday was a step in the right direction, it feels fair to act like that spoiled child when we say, "We want more."’ The Pats will likely need more points next week when they welcome the Baltimore Ravens to Foxboro.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: New England's sputtering offense has managed only 24 points this season