FOXBORO, Mass. — There's one good thing about having a bad game in the preseason: The league standings are drawn up with an erasable pen, and wins and losses are irrelevant.
The bad thing, though? The hot sun and sticky New England humidity always seems to bear down that much stronger when the Patriots return for their first practice.
"It's behind us now, [but] that’s why we're out here on this hot day in full pads," Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo said about the team's 36-35 loss to the Rams. "We did get some humble pie, and we didn’t play like we were supposed to."
When asked to be more precise about the loss, Mayo complied.
"We just played dumb football, had too many penalties and couldn’t get off the field on third down," he said. "That was the story of the game on defense."
The Rams converted 11 of 17 third downs, which was an astronomically high rate for an offense. It's also been a focal point for the Patriots during training camp, so it obviously didn’t sit well with head coach Bill Belichick or the defense. It also allowed the Rams to hold the ball for 43:46 and run 84 offensive plays.
As much progress as the Patriots made during their first few weeks of training camp, they quickly realized Thursday they had plenty more work ahead. That started this week.
"I think we have a long way to go," said safety Brandon Meriweather, who shook off an apparent knee injury and participated in Monday's practice. "Every day, we're building. We're continuing to learn our playbook, do the things our coaches to ask us. I think we'll be all right."
