Why the Patriots’ red zone play might be the only thing to slow down their offense

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — This was the kind of play in the kind of moment that the New England Patriots offense has talked about all summer.

Coach Mike Vrabel hasn’t been shy about discussing the main area in which he wants the offense to improve. Drake Maye and his unit were mostly incredible last year, but that came despite struggles in the red zone. The Pats offense ranked 17th in the NFL in the percentage of its red zone drives that led to touchdowns (57 percent) and 24th in the percent that led to points of any kind (84 percent).

Now, the thinking is this: If New England can replicate the rest of its offensive numbers from 2025 while improving in the red zone, this group could be the best in the NFL. So the Patriots have spent more time than usual practicing inside the 20. They’ve dedicated entire practices to repping plays from there.

After some early success in their second joint practice with the Philadelphia Eagles, it seemed like it might be mission accomplished for the Patriots offense. That’s when, from the 5-yard line, Drake Maye locked in on A.J. Brown on a simple out route headed to the near pylon. Brown was well covered, Maye threw it late and Eagles cornerback Riq Woolen jumped the route and nabbed an interception that would’ve been a pick six during a game.

So much of the Patriots’ two practices against the Eagles yielded positives. Brown is still a weapon. The defense produced turnovers in bunches and dominated an undermanned Eagles passing attack. The pass rush even held up better than expected.

But the only concerns for New England were that the two areas in which the team really wanted to improve offensively don’t look dramatically different. There were mishaps in the red zone. And, though it’s tougher to judge this phase of the game when tackling is not allowed, the line struggled to open holes in the running game. The Pats want to get better at running the ball to help set up more success through the air.

After clearly being the better team on Wednesday, Thursday’s session was more of a draw. There were enough Patriots struggles to draw even with an Eagles passing attack that is clearly still trying to sort itself out.

“I feel like we had some good periods that we were attacking them and had some good plays,” Maye said. “Then we had some periods where we’ve got to continue the competitive stamina. That’s the thing about this game. It can’t just be one play here, one play there. You’ve got to string some plays together in a row, and I felt like we did that more yesterday than we did today.

“I know it’s tough down there in the red zone, a lot of bodies in a short amount of space,” Maye continued, “but I feel like we could have done more in the red zone, and I think that is something for us to learn. It’s one of our focuses this year to be better in the red zone, so we’ve got some work to do.”

The issues weren’t with any one position, but it’s worth noting that the offensive line struggled with the Eagles’ front seven more on Thursday than on Wednesday.

There weren’t consistent holes for the team’s running backs. Maye faced a bit more pressure. With less room to operate in the red zone, it led to fewer positive plays.

A year ago, New England’s run-game statistics looked mostly fine because there were enough home runs from TreVeyon Henderson to offset their struggles. But this season, they want to be a more consistent running team that doesn’t go backward as much. Last season, the Patriots ranked 28th in the number of rushing plays that went for 0 or negative yards, a sign of how often they were digging a hole for Maye and the passing offense. That’s largely on the offensive line.

“I think they stood in there and tried to take it on the chin,” Maye said of the O-line’s play on Thursday. “I think the best thing about those guys up front is they never really get the love that they deserve, and I think they really deserved it yesterday. And I think there are some things today, including myself getting the ball out and them standing more firm up front, that we can continue to challenge them. Those guys have a tough job. It’s two consecutive days of getting a good front that has got some good players up there that have made a lot of plays in this league.”

In the big picture, the Patriots offense looks like it’s trending toward being one of the best in the league. When it has room to operate, the passing game is dominant, and Brown has looked great. There’s hope the running game will improve, especially since it can be difficult to fully evaluate in these practices. All of that was on display in this pair of joint practices.

But if this offense has an Achilles heel, it might be in the red zone, where things don’t look a whole lot better than a year ago.