At the end of the day, the Patriots had little chance of beating the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night. New England was outclassed in every way during its ugly 24-10 loss at Gillette Stadium.
Still, perhaps things would've gone differently had the Patriots gotten out to an ever-elusive hot start. But they didn't, largely thanks to a disastrous play at the end of their opening drive.
Facing a third-and-inches on its 30-yard line, New England called a running play for standout running back Rhamondre Stevenson. There was just one problem, however: Stevenson and Mac Jones ran different plays. Stevenson went one direction to receive a handoff, while Jones went another. The play ultimately resulted in a fumble, which the Patriots recovered before punting the ball to the Bills.
Jones shouldered the blame for the botched play during his postgame news conference.
"My fault. I can't let that happen," Jones said. "Something we talked about on the sideline. I didn't do the right thing, so that's on me. It's a big play in the game. Once again, that kind of goes back into getting into the flow. Rhamondre gets that, I give it to him the right way, he'll make a play. Then we can kind of move on and create a drive. That was on me."
The first-quarter fumble was one of many embarrassing plays for a New England offense that now must face the reality that its offseason experiment has failed. With Matt Patricia calling the plays, the Patriots offense predictably has regressed.
Is there time for the 6-6 Patriots to right the ship? Yes, but at this point, they'd be lucky to win any of their five remaining games -- especially if they can't get on the same page on the third play of a game.
