Bill Belichick: Our passing game is still not as efficient as we need it to be

[Pat Patriot]

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With three games left in the regular season, the Patriots are 6-7 and won’t win the AFC East for the first time in over a decade. A significant part of what’s gone wrong for New England this year has been its passing attack.

After nearly two decades with Tom Brady (and a year of Matt Cassel sprinkled in), the Patriots Offense has been radically different with Cam Newton at quarterback. New England was No. 8 in yards passing last year and No. 5 in attempts, finishing the season 12-4.

In 2020, the Patriots rank No. 29 in yards passing and No. 31 in attempts. Newton is completing 66 percent of his passes, but has just 2,172 yards with five touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Overall, New England has eight touchdown passes to 14 interceptions this year.

All that adds up to head coach Bill Belichick saying this on Tuesday:

“Our passing game is still not as efficient as we need it to be.”

Per Mark Daniels of the Providence Journal, Belichick went on to say that the issues do not just fall on one player. Instead, the Patriots are having problems with things like pass protection and receivers running good routes.

Belichick did credit N'Keal Harry for “starting to come on here in the last few weeks,” per Mike Reiss of ESPN. But at this point in 2020, the Patriots likely are who they are. This season, that’s just an offensive with an inefficient passing attack.