Dan Orlovsky calls Patriots' offense "the most predictable offense in the NFL"
FOXBORO -- No one could have predicted the ending of New England's embarrassing 30-24 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. If you had a premonition that the Patriots would throw the game away on an ill-advised lateral in the closing seconds, then go buy all the lottery tickets.
But everything else the New England offense did last Sunday was pretty easy to forecast. At least it was according to ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky, who on Wednesday's NFL Live, called the New England offense "the most predictable offense in the NFL right now."
And the former QB has the numbers to back it up.
"Last week, this team was under center for 23 snaps. Twenty two of those 23 snaps were runs," Orlovsky explained. "They were in the gun for 34 regular snaps [excluding the two-minute drill and from inside the five-yard line] and threw the ball 31 times out of those 34 snaps."
So when the Patriots had Mac Jones line up under center, they ran the ball every time but once. When the Patriots had Mac Jones in shotgun, they threw the ball all but three times.
Sounds pretty predictable. Even a defensively deficient team like the Raiders (allowing 361.6 yards per game this season) were able to keep New England to just 318 yards of offense.
"This is a small microcosm of what has been going on this season," said Orlovsky. "Seventy two percent of the time lining up under center in non-goal line situations, they run the football. Almost 80 percent of the time in the gun, they're throwing the ball.
"If I know it, you don't think the teams you're playing don't know it?" asked the analyst.
This is not something that has recently popped up for Matt Patricia's offense, either. In a Week 9 win over the Colts, Indy linebacker Shaquille Lawson was calling out New England's offensive plays before the ball was snapped. Patriots players also felt that the Jets' defense knew what was coming before the snap in Week 8.
The Patriots' predictable offense hasn't been able to move the ball with any consistency this season, ranking in the bottom 10 of the NFL at just 319.5 yards per game.
