FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New England Patriots' offseason plan centered on A.J. Brown and the two areas in which they figured he'd most help the team.
This was already an offense that, a season ago, ranked near the top in every meaningful statistic. But Brown, the idea went, would help the Patriots stay there because he'd force defenses into more formations that were easier to run against, and because he'd allow them to remain an explosive passing attack even against those defensive looks.
But after one miserable offensive performance and with Brown now expected to miss about six weeks with a high right ankle sprain, those plans are up in the air as the Patriots look ahead to a suddenly and surprisingly important Week 2 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
That's because both of those two areas are in for a big test without Brown.
Let's start with the passing game.
After making the trade for Brown, the Patriots felt wide receiver was one of their few positions with ample depth. Then they traded Kayshon Boutte to the Houston Texans. Now Brown is out. Without them, Mack Hollins will likely be the team's No. 2 option. Romeo Doubs, meanwhile, will be the go-to guy even after his dreadful Patriots debut in Seattle. Still, coach Mike Vrabel didn't seem too concerned about Doubs' drop against the Seahawks.
"Guys, everybody drops a pass," Vrabel said. "Everybody misses a tackle."
Quarterback Drake Maye showed last season that he doesn't need an elite group of wide receivers to be successful. But he did that in part by exploiting defenses' willingness to play man coverage against the Patriots with a single high safety. Now, defenses seem more keen to play zone against them. Besides, no one helped Maye beat those single-high-safety looks last season more than Boutte, who became one of the league's top deep-threat receivers.
That's part of how the Patriots finished last season ranked first in the NFL in explosive play rate and explosive pass rate.
Week 1 is a small sample. It happened to be a matchup against the defense that ranked first last season at limiting explosive plays. But it's still worth noting that the Patriots finished Week 1 without a single passing play that went for 20 yards or more and ranked 28th in explosive play rate.
So what's the solution? Well, if the Patriots are going to hit on big plays in the passing game, the attention turns to Kyle Williams. The third-round pick from a year ago had an underwhelming rookie season and didn't display much craftiness in his route running during training camp this summer.
But he showed in the preseason that he can do two things really well: release off the line of scrimmage with ease, and run straight, deep routes for big completions.
If the Patriots are going to get back to being an explosive passing offense without Brown, it will help to get Williams more involved. Still, it's telling that Williams was buried on the depth chart for most of training camp and he played just 12 snaps in the opener, even though Brown missed almost all of the second half.
"We want to get Kyle involved," Vrabel said. "I'm hopeful that Kyle can find a role for us and find a way to help us, using his speed and catch-and-run opportunities like we saw last year at times or some shot-type plays."
But that may be asking for too much from Williams. Instead, the Patriots' focus may need to shift to the running game.
First, the potential return of TreVeyon Henderson could add a big-play burst to the group. Henderson struggled last season at consistently getting what was blocked for him, but he also excelled at creating big plays. While Brown is out, New England may need to lean into that boom-or-bust approach to generate explosive plays. Henderson practiced Monday and Wednesday this week after missing recent sessions due to an ankle injury.
The other reason the running game is so important is that the Patriots need to more consistently set themselves up for success. Against the Seahawks, the Pats had an early-down success rate of 24 percent. That contributed to them frequently facing second-and-long and third-and-long. Only six teams faced more third-and-longs (defined as needing 7 or more yards) in Week 1 than the Patriots.
The Pats notched three rushes of 10 or more yards against the Seahawks, but two of those came on scrambles from Maye.
"Got to get into the line of scrimmage, got to block (with) force, got to run where they ain't," Vrabel said of how they can improve the running game. "I'm not the smartest guy here, but that's how you run the football. You've got to be able to move people."
Other changes could come without Brown, too. In Week 1, the Patriots used 11 personnel (with three wide receivers) on 60 percent of their snaps, easily their most highly used grouping. It wouldn't be a shock if that number dipped without Brown around to carry the load. They could also lean into bigger personnel groupings, with either an extra tight end or by using fullback Reggie Gilliam more.
The task ahead won't be easy for them. That's life when you lose a No. 1 wide receiver to injury.
But after a tough loss in the opener, the Patriots don't have time to feel sorry for themselves.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
