Patriots safety Devin McCourty sounded like he was searching for answers after New England was dealt a convincing 33-21 loss against the now division-leading Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium.
It marked the second straight loss for the Patriots. New England now sits as the sixth seed in the AFC.
"I wish I knew," McCourty responded when asked about the last two losses coming after the Patriots' bye week, per the team. "It's too late in the season not to play your best football and I would say these last two weeks have come down to that. We're playing against teams that are playing the way you're supposed to be playing in late December. We got to play better. There's not, I would say both games it's not one thing that needs to be fixed, it's overall everybody just playing a little bit better -- units playing better. And we're not doing that.
"It's not like it's just all bad we're getting killed, but when we need to make a play we're not making those plays. It's just not good enough," McCourty continued. "We're starting slow, falling behind, now we're playing catch up and now you got to play perfect basically. When you play a game like that, it just hasn't been good. And it's up to us as a team for what's left for the season. We're guaranteed two more games and that's it. That's how we got to approach it. That's the mentality and a mindset we need to have, and if not, this season won't end the way we want."
Bills quarterback Josh Allen threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns while Buffalo tallied 428 yards of offense and averaged 5.7 yards per play. The Bills reached the red zone on seven possessions and were the first team ever to not punt against a Bill Belichick-coached group.
"It didn't feel like we really did anything well enough," McCourty added. "(We) had some plays where it looked like we'll get off the field and then we might miss a tackle or, you know, the play extends a second or two longer. It just felt like nothing was really good enough. We only really got stops once they got all the way down in a red area. ... It just wasn't good enough as a defense. It wasn't just the front or the linebackers or the secondary, it was just overall not good enough."
The Patriots, who were the top seed in the AFC before last week's loss to the Indianapolis Colts, now will need help if they want to get back atop the AFC East. And with Buffalo having the Atlanta Falcons and New York Jets left on the schedule, the Bills have a very reasonable path to repeat as division champions.
The Patriots will face the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 17 and Miami Dolphins in Week 18.
