Getty New England Patriots
T
he New England Patriots passing game has struggled throughout the 2022 season yet New England has yet to use all of their offensive weapons.
The Patriots offense has only thrown for 2,781 passing yards which places New England in the bottom half of the NFL. While Mac Jones has dealt with some injury issues, even when he is under center, the Pats have struggled.
New England’s passing struggles were supposed to be fixed this season with the offseason that the team had. The Patriots traded for DeVante Parker and drafted Tyquan Thornton in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
So far this season, Parker has tallied over 50 receptions along with 383 yards and a touchdown per Pro Football Reference. Thornton has also struggled to produce.
The rookie wide receiver didn’t make his debut until Week 5 after suffering a neck injury in the preseason. He had a breakout performance in Week 6 recording his first NFL touchdown.
But since New England’s bye week, Thornton’s snap count has decreased significantly. In the five games he played before Week 10, Thornton was on the field for 65.8 percent of the offense’s snaps. In the three games since, he has been on the field for just 33.5 percent of offensive snaps.
“Thornton has not been on the injury report, so health is not a factor in these decisions on playing time,” wrote Nicole Yang of the Boston Globe. “Jakobi Meyers, Nelson Agholor, DeVante Parker, and Kendrick Bourne are ahead of him on the depth chart — and the Patriots rank 25th in passing attempts per game — so targets can be hard to come by. But you would expect a second-round pick to be featured more. It’s hard to judge Thornton off production, given the continuing struggles of New England’s offense.”
Have Thornton’s Coaches Been Impressed?
While Thornton’s play time has been cut, he is still eating praise from his coaches, including wide receivers coach Troy Brown.
“He’s a pretty talented player,” Brown said. “A lot of times you don’t have to catch a lot of passes to be involved in the game. Just your presence alone sometimes could help our team. Tyquan, his development so far in his first year, obviously it’s a little bit rocky with the [preseason collarbone] injury, but he’s coming along, like most of the other rookies in the league.”
Even Bill Belichick spoke highly of the rookie.
“For several weeks now, [Thornton’s] been out there on a regular basis, practicing every day, playing,” Belichick said. “Taking the box score out of it, just in terms of assignments, execution, adjustments, playing multiple positions, based on the formation and things like that — all those have been progress for him. The more he can be out there, the more he can have the opportunity to play and learn and get experience and improve.”
How Many Patriots Players Missed Practice?
Heading into Week 14, New England could be without a number of players for the matchup against the Arizona Cardinals.
Damien Harris, Trent Brown, Jakobi Meyers, Isaiah Wynn, and Jalen Mills all missed practice on Thursday. New England’s offense could struggle even more if those four offensive players all miss the game against Arizona.
Maybe then Patriots fans will finally get to see Thornton have a serious role as the 2022 season draws to a close.