The New England Patriots are coming off a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the bigger picture scope of the season has been one of disappoint. It’s one that former NFL running back Shane Vereen weighed in on recently.
Vereen was drafted by the Patriots and played for the organization for four years. His best year with the team came in 2014, when the team overcame the Legion of Boom to win Super Bowl XLIX.
New England is far removed from their Super Bowl days at this point, sitting with a 3-10 record and a top-five selection in the 2024 NFL draft.
Part of this is due to the struggling offense. They currently rank 28th in the league with 290.4 total yards per game. They rank dead last in points scored with an average of 12.3 points per contest. Between personnel issues and lack of weapons overall, the team is struggling right now.
“It’s tough for me to even evaluate Mac Jones because I’m not confident in the players he’s surrounded with,” said Vereen, when appearing on “Up & Adams,” via WEEI’s Mike Kadlick. “And that’s not a knock to the players. I know that they’re working hard every day and trying to do their best.
“But at the end of the day it’s really tough to pinpoint what’s wrong, in terms of scoring points, because one week it’s this, and the next week it’s that. To me, that just means that as a whole, the whole offense just isn’t gelling. And that could be because they’re not making big enough plays, could be because they don’t have a go to guy. It could be a multitude of things.”
Former #Patriots RB Shane Vereen on the state of the New England offense (via @UpAndAdamsShow):
“It’s tough for me to even evaluate Mac Jones because I'm not confident in the players he's surrounded with.
And that's not a knock to the players. I know that they're working hard…
— Mike Kadlick (@mikekadlick) December 7, 2023
There is no doubt the offense needs a jump start.
That’s obviously easier said than done, especially if the personnel is a big question right now. All that’s left is a team simply treading water until the season ends.
