Karen Guregian: The Patriots need a cure for their red zone nightmares

Story by

Story by
Karen Guregian: The Patriots need a cure for their red zone nightmares

Karen Guregian · MassLive

Wed, Nov 26, 2025 ·

5 min read

About Our Ads

FOXBOROUGH - On the surface, two of the Patriots’ biggest shortcomings make no sense.

They don’t compute.

They have the NFL’s 7th-best scoring offense. An MVP candidate in quarterback Drake Maye. And yet, they can’t score a lick in the red zone. The Patriots offense is closer to the bottom (20th overall), than the top in that all-important category.

But the red zone madness doesn’t stop there.

The Patriots also have the league’s 6th-best scoring defense. But can’t keep a soul out of the end zone.

They are allowing opponents to score a touchdown on 73.1 percent of their trips (19-for-26) inside the red zone, which ranks dead last in the league. And when opponents get inside the 10-yard line, it’s automatic. They’ve scored a touchdown 100 percent of the time.

Yes, the Patriots have won nine straight, and sit in first in the AFC East by a comfortable margin, but it still behooves them to shore up those areas.

With five games remaining, the red zone nightmares can’t continue.

If the Patriots want to maintain their division lead, continue to vie for the AFC’s top seed, and ultimately go deep in the playoffs, they’re going to have to remedy those issues on both sides of the ball.

Offensively?

Turnovers down close plagued them early in the year. Of late, it’s simply been the inability to gain a yard.

During one red zone trip against the Bengals, they had six plays at the 1-yard line, and couldn’t punch it in.

“We have to make it easier on ourselves,” center Garrett Bradbury said Wednesday. “Obviously, that’s a huge point of emphasis. I think we hurt the team pretty bad (in Cincinnati ). The game could have gone a lot different if we had just punched those in.”

Solutions?

While Maye’s talents are many, the QB sneak isn’t one of them. Some quarterbacks ( Tom Brady ) are great at finding that sliver of space to gain the necessary yard. Others, not so much.

There’s still time for Maye to improve, and make gaining that yard a given. At 6-4, 225, he should be able secure a yard almost at will. It just hasn’t happened. He’s great scrambling, but hasn’t had much success finding a yard when needed.

“I gotta find a way to get in, I think that’s the biggest thing,” Maye said Wednesday. “I don’t think there’s an art (to it), I think there’s a mentality ... I gotta flip the switch, or do some smelling salts in there. Do something to get in the end zone from the one.”

Maye said he’s been successful sometimes this year, and was successful on QB sneaks in college.

“My biggest thing is trying to hold onto the football, and try to get the yard,” he said.

Of course, there’s the injury factor to weigh any time Maye is a runner. Mike Vrabel says it’s a delicate balance trying to keep the franchise quarterback safe, and calling his number in those short yardage situations.

“I mean, we’ve had some of those plays and we’ve called some of those plays. And so, you kind of want to be careful,” the Patriots coach said during his Wednesday press conference. “Guys are going in concussion protocol left and right.

“Again, we’ll be willing to do anything to win a football game, but I think being smart is probably the biggest thing. We’ve run Drake and he’s run himself, and then we’ve handed it off to the running backs. And so, I think it’s just about a good balance of plays that we feel like can help us.”

Using defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga as a fullback to clear a path has been effective, but he got hurt against the Bengals and wasn’t used in that capacity. If and when he’s healthy, he’s a better option than Jack Westover to bulldoze a hole.

The Patriots also aren’t getting much push up front from the line. None of the backs ( Rhamondre Stevenson, TreVeyon Henderson , Terrell Jennings ) could cross the goal line from the one against Cincinnati, who sport one of the worst run defenses in the league.

The New York Giants, the Patriots opponent Monday night, is actually worse.

Bradbury has had trouble moving bodies up front. The guards, be it Jared Wilson or Michael Onwenu , also haven’t been very good in those short yardage situations.

The Patriots have had some luck running to Will Campbell’s side, but he was just placed on IR, and will miss at least the next four weeks with a knee injury.

Whether it’s 3rd-and-1, or 2nd-and-1 from anywhere, the Patriots have trouble moving the chains. They’re second to last in the league converting in those situations. They just don’t have the type of line that can overpower another line in those moments.

“It’s not good enough. That’s not the standard we hold for ourselves,” Bradbury said. “We have to get better going forward.”

Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels might have to get a little more creative. Perhaps rolling Maye out to the right, where he’s been effective, giving him the option to run or pass. That’s where Maye has been at his best.

It would also help if they had a receiver like Atlanta ’s Drake London , one who will come down with jump balls in short space, but they really don’t have that guy.

Stefon Diggs is fine, but he’s not 6-4, 215 pounds. He’s made a few plays, namely a sensational leaping catch over a Buccaneers defender on a 4th-and-1 play against Tampa two weeks ago. That’s what they’ve needed down close - spectacular plays.

“I feel like we just have to execute better,” Diggs said. “We had some plays in the game, we didn’t execute them at a high level, so it’s a matter of everyone doing their job, and finishing.

“As receivers, we have to get those blocks on the safeties, and throw our hat in there, an extra arm in there, do whatever we can to get in the end zone.”

As for the defense, it doesn’t help not having Milton Williams up front. But the problems existed before the star defensive tackle got hurt.

Linebacker Christian Elliss said the coaching staff is working to find solutions, and put them in better positions to succeed. It just hasn’t come together for them as yet.

“For us as a defense, when we get to that point, we just have to lock in, buckle up, and hold them to three points,” Elliss said. “There’s always something we can look at after the fact on the film. I know our coaches are working very hard to give us the best scheme, the best position to be in to stop them.”

Safety Jaylinn Hawkins agreed.

“It’s very important for us to improve,” Hawkins said. “We’re working on it every week. We’re working for it to change.”

A change can’t come soon enough.

More Patriots Content