The Patriots’ have thrown an NFL-high 96 passes, a pace that, if it lasted 17 games, would result in Mac Jones shattering the NFL record for attempts in a season. But Bill Belichick says that doesn’t say anything in particular about the Patriots’ offensive identity.
Asked today about the offense, Belichick said he doesn’t care whether they run or pass as long as they score.
“Look, that’ll fluctuate a little bit from game to game. Do what we think is best each game. Try to score as many points as we can,” Belichick said.
Belichick noted that running the ball a high number of times only matters if the team also wins the game.
“I’d like to score as many points as possible. More than the other team,” Belichick said. “What do you want to do? Run the ball 50 times? Is that a goal? All right, if you win, great. If you don’t then, so? We’ve won games throwing three passes and we’ve won games throwing 50 passes. So do what you need to do to win.”
Belichick can’t be happy that starting running back Rhamondre Stevenson is averaging just 2.8 yards per carry, while newly arrived backup Ezekiel Elliott is averaging 3.5. But the biggest issue for the Patriots is that they’ve been playing from behind for most of this season, which means they’ve been passing the ball a lot. They’re not 0-2 because they’ve been passing the ball so much, they’ve been passing the ball so much because they’ve been losing.