Coach Josh McDaniels Wants To Get This Struggling Patriot More Touches

Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has been watching his offense improve, and he voiced his opinion on one struggling Patriot. The New England Patriots lost two straight games and NFL experts are concerned. Will the Patriots win the remaining games on their schedule? The Jacksonville Jaguars are next on their list.

Head coach Bill Belichick spent a lot of money to get Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith in the offseason. He had great expectations from Smith, but the tight end struggled throughout the season. In Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills Smith wasn’t targeted at all.

Patriots coaches are well aware of Smith’s potential, and McDaniels wants to get the best of it.

“Sometimes when the game gets out of hand, you don’t really get to call everything you’d like to call in the game the way you’d like to call it,” McDaniels said. “And there’s certain things, certain aspects of your game, that become less productive when you’re behind and when you’re behind by multiple scores. That can become challenging because the defense doesn’t necessarily allow you to do those things when they’re in a different mindset of pass rush or what have you.

“No, there’s no question about that: He’s a player that can do some things with the ball in his hands. We know that. Very talented guy, works really hard. I’ve got to do better to get him the ball.”

Josh McDaniels and Nick Caley have high expectations from the struggling Patriot

Tight ends coach Nick Caley want Smith to match Henry’s performance. He’s got enough potential and skills to do so.

“I see the same guy every single day,” Caley said Tuesday. “He comes to work, he’s a professional, and he works his butt off. And he always has a good attitude. And he’s very unselfish and committed to working to improve like we all are. I’ve seen that from day one. And it’s been consistent.

“I have nothing but confidence in Jonnu. Him and Hunter play off each other very well. They understand the positions and the different variations of things we’re doing. So I’ve got nothing but confidence in those guys.”