Patriots’ offense won't make strides if receivers keep struggling

“We’re going to need those guys.”

Jacoby Brissett wasn’t able to hit many of his receivers Sunday. Barry Chin/Globe Staff

FOXBOROUGH — Odds are that there were plenty of ice bags waiting in Jacoby Brissett’s locker after the Patriots’ 23-20 overtime loss to the Seahawks.

The 31-year-old quarterback was sacked three times by Seattle’s pass rush, while also dealt another eight bone-crunching hits into the Gillette Stadium turf.

Even with the Seahawks’ relentless onslaught, Brissett still managed to keep New England’s offense off the ropes — especially in the first half.

The crafty veteran routinely extended plays by using his legs, escaping pressure within the pocket by rolling out and improvising with several throws on the run. It’s not exactly a sustainable approach, given the punishment that Brissett has already endured through two weeks of action.

Brissett still somehow managed to gain 149 passing yards through the air despite being under duress for most of Sunday afternoon. But of those passing yards, 109 of them went to Hunter Henry — who served as Brissett’s safety blanket when forced to scramble.

As for New England’s wide receivers? Three total catches … for 19 total yards.

Yes, it’s not fair to stack up the Patriots’ young and inexperienced receiver group to Seattle’s — a grouping anchored by DK Metcalf (10 catches, 129 yards, 1 TD), Tyler Lockett, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba (12 catches, 117 yards).

Still, that dearth in production for New England’s pass-catchers is glaring — with those faults set to seep into the rest of the Patriots offense if Brissett can’t get the ball downfield with any sort of consistency.

“Each team to going to try to attack us different ways,” head coach Jerod Mayo said after Sunday’s loss. “We definitely have to start to get the ball down the field. We’ve got to start pushing the ball down the field to get that shell defense, and we’ve got to be able to run. We’ve got to be able to pass. We’ve got to be able to ping-pong between the two. It’s something that we need to work on. That’s what I would say.”

In total, New England wide receivers have only totaled 85 yards through the air through the first two weeks of the season.

The strength of the Patriots’ offense rests in its run game behind Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson — with both backs (along with Henry) also giving Brissett outlets for short-yardage throws when needed.

But as more teams game plan around keeping Stevenson and Gibson stuck in the mud, New England’s offense needs to find ways to get its other pass-catchers involved.

“I think obviously we would like more in our passing game,” Brissett said. “I’ve got to do a better job of getting a lot of those guys involved in the game plan and throughout the game. I take responsibility for that.”

After completing 11 of 19 passes for 117 yards in the first half, including a touchdown to rookie Ja’Lynn Polk, Brissett only completed another four passes the rest of the game.

New England’s longest play in the second half went for a whopping 11 yards. Over their final nine offensive plays, the Patriots only generated 11 total yards — snuffing out any hope of a late-game comeback or an overtime score against Seattle.

“It’s tough. You get that big play and you get all the momentum and now you’re going the opposite way,” Brissett acknowledged after the loss. “It’s in those critical situations we’ve got to find a way to – I think that was the moment in the game where it’s like, now we’ve got to put them away.

“They gave us the light and we just didn’t take it this time, and we’ve just got to find a better way to capitalize on those, especially when we get down there this late in the game versus a really good team. They don’t give you that many opportunities. So you’ve got to take advantage of those.”

Of course, some of New England’s struggles on offense are linked to the team’s porous offensive line play. Things could have been a lot worse for the Patriots if Brissett wasn’t able to scramble out of trouble, but the lack of time afforded to him when it comes to dropping back to pass isn’t giving his pass-catchers any time to gain separation and move down the field.

New England’s O-line desperately needs to tighten things up, especially after allowing 16 pressures on Brissett’s 33 total dropbacks — per Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald.

But Alex Van Pelt and New England’s coaches also need to craft more schemes to get their receivers involved, even if it’s for short-yardage gains to start. After serving as New England’s breakout star on a largely woeful offense last season, DeMario Douglas has only been targeted three times through two games.

The Patriots’ personnel up front may not be sturdy enough to give players like Javon Baker and Tyquan Thornton time to run down the sideline for big yardage. But a shifty wideout like Douglas needs to be a focal point of this offense, especially given the evident limitations.

“We have to get him going,” Mayo said of Douglas. “We have to scheme up some things for him. He’s one of our most explosive players, and that’s on us as coaches to put it together.”

Unlike last season, the Patriots offense has been able to move the ball with some semblance of cohesion in 2024. But the ceiling of this reworked offense is going to be awfully low so long as New England’s pass-catchers continue to get scrubbed off the stat sheet.

“We’re going to need those guys,” Henry said. “We’ve got a good group in there. They need to hold their heads high, because we’re going to need them to make big plays. The ball wasn’t finding them today, but we’re going to need them this week and going forward.”