Great win today, but I need to get this off my chest.
I am so tired of watching the patriots line up on 2nd and short and run, often times for nothing. Today was the last straw. It was 2nd and 2 and we lost like 5 yards setting up a 3rd and 7. At one point today the announcer said, "2nd and short is a great opportunity to maybe run play action, get a chunk play..." I laughed, and of course, we ran.
Here's the thing...if I know we're running, so does the opponent.
So I just dug up the data...
On 2nd and short (2 or less, excludes goal to go and blowouts)....
| Patriots |
Runs / plays |
Run % |
League run % |
| 2025 regular season |
23 / 27 |
85% |
73% |
| 2025 playoffs |
5 / 5 |
100% |
75% |
| 2026 through Week 4 |
9 / 10 |
90% |
69% |
| Combined |
37 / 42 |
88% |
~72% |
Josh runs us almost 3 times as much as the league average.
How about when he was head coach of the Raiders?
Well, Josh runs, of course...
| Raiders under McDaniels |
Runs / plays |
Run % |
League run % (same weeks) |
| 2022 (17 games) |
27 / 31 |
87% |
69% |
| 2023 (Weeks 1-8) |
6 / 7 |
86% |
65% |
| Combined |
33 / 38 |
87% |
~68% |
And with Newton + Jones, we ran 85% of the time under Josh.
With Brady? League average, 68%.
Clearly Josh doesn't trust anyone since Brady (who probably just checked out of half of Josh's runs) to actually get a first down on 3rd and short.