Sunday was yet another opportunity for the New England Patriots to prove they can beat a playoff-caliber opponent without the aid of injuries, freak weather or other external factors.
Instead, they suffered the most lopsided defeat of Bill Belichick’s 24 seasons as their head coach, face-planting in a 38-3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.
Here are five takeaways from that ghastly performance, which dropped the Patriots to 1-3 on the season:
1. Mac Jones is on notice
Belichick insisted Jones wasn’t benched for poor performance. But man, was that performance poor.
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Boneheaded plays by the Patriots’ starting quarterback gifted the Cowboys a pair of scores: a lost fumble early in the second quarter that linebacker Leighton Vander Esch returned 11 yards for a touchdown, and an interception 10 minutes later that cornerback DaRon Bland took 54 yards to the house.
The interception was especially stomach-churning. Jones rolled to his right and tried to force a cross-field pass to Kendrick Bourne that Bland easily undercut. It was a terrible decision, full stop.
Jones threw another interception to Bland after halftime and nearly had a third pass picked off when it hit a defender in the chest. Belichick removed him from the game late in the third quarter and inserted Bailey Zappe.
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The head coach said after the game that Jones will start this Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, and that decision makes sense. The third-year QB actually played well overall in the Patriots’ first three games, and Zappe struggled so mightily this summer that New England felt comfortable cutting him. Multiple teammates strongly endorsed Jones postgame, with fellow captain Deatrich Wise saying they’re behind him “100%.”
But another mistake-filled outing like this could force Belichick to make a change. The Patriots are a flawed, poorly constructed team that needs to play clean football to have a chance to win (more on that below), and Jones gave them the opposite of that Sunday.
“Obviously as a team, we can’t win turning the ball over three times in a game, two for touchdowns,” Belichick said in his Monday morning video conference. “We’ve got to do a better job of that. That’s everybody’s responsibility. The quarterback’s part of it, so is everybody else.”
2. The defense could be in big trouble
This wasn’t a terrible game for the Patriots defensively — an admittedly odd point to make after a 38-3 loss. Dallas moved the ball effectively throughout the game, but New England’s undermanned defense was stout in the red zone (1-for-4) and didn’t surrender its second touchdown until more than halfway through the fourth quarter.
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But that group now must move forward without two of its best and most important players. Rookie cornerback Christian Gonzalez and Pro Bowl edge rusher Matthew Judon both left the game with injuries and didn’t return. Gonzalez’s prognosis remained unclear as of Monday morning, but Judon reportedly suffered a torn biceps tendon that could wipe out the rest of this season.
Wise accurately called Judon’s injury “devastating.” The 31-year-old has been the Patriots’ overall MVP since he arrived in 2021, with more sacks than anyone not named Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt or Nick Bosa during that span. There now will be enormous pressure on players like Josh Uche, Anfernee Jennings and Keion White to pick up the slack.
And losing Gonzalez, if the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Month for September is sidelined for any extended period, could be even more damaging.
The Patriots already were playing without three of their top four cornerbacks in Jonathan Jones, Jack Jones and Marcus Jones. Gonzalez’s stellar start was keeping that patchwork group afloat. Without him, Myles Bryant and Shaun Wade were their only outside cornerback options.
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One play after Gonzalez’s injury, CeeDee Lamb beat the undersized Bryant — who’s playing out of position as an outside corner out of necessity — 1-on-1 for a 20-yard touchdown.
New England badly needs Jonathan Jones to return from his three-game absence this week. Jack Jones is eligible to come off injured reserve, but multiple reports suggest he’s not yet ready to return.
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3. Turnovers killed the Patriots again
The Patriots faced double-digit first-half deficits in each of their three losses this season, all three followed a similar blueprint: pure ball security gifting the opponent prime scoring opportunities.
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Thirty-five of New England’s 64 first-half points allowed this season came off turnovers, including three defensive touchdowns. The two of those in Sunday’s game quickly turned a competitive game into a laugher, with Dallas leading 28-3 at halftime following Vander Esch’s scoop-and-score and Bland’s pick-six.
It’s no coincidence that the Patriots turned the ball over multiple times in all three of their Ls and not at all in their lone victory.
“We’ve got to take care of the ball better,” said running back Ezekiel Elliott, who lost a fumble in Week 1. “I think that’s everything.”
The Patriots already are just one shy of their Belichick-era record for defensive touchdowns allowed in a season (four in 2019 and ’21). They’re 0-12 in their last 12 games that featured one dating back to 2019.
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4. Demario Douglas needs to play more
The rookie wideout provided one of New England’s few offensive bright spots when he hauled in a third-down deep ball from Mac Jones and then evaded a Cowboys defensive back with a downright ruthless spin move.
The 42-yard catch-and-run was Jones’ first completed deep pass since Week 1 and just the Patriots’ fourth pass play of 20-plus yards this season.
But despite the clear juice and separation he brings to the offense, Douglas was on the field for just 18 snaps Sunday, the fewest among active Patriots wideouts. With the rest of his position group lacking the ability to get open and make plays, that needs to change.
The play of JuJu Smith-Schuster, whom Jones was targeting on his second INT, has been a huge problem so far. Four weeks into the season and more than eight months removed from the knee injury he suffered in the AFC Championship Game, he still looks like he’s running and cutting in quicksand.
The veteran receiver has failed to catch multiple passes just five times in his NFL career (83 games total), and two of those came in the last two weeks. He had one catch on five targets against Dallas.
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5. The run game disappeared
The Patriots were coming off an encouraging rushing performance against the Jets (157 yards) and were facing a Cowboys defense that let up 222 yards on the ground and 7.4 yards per carry a week ago. Golden opportunity, right? Not so much.
New England’s final ground-game stats: 53 yards, 2.3 yards per carry. Rhamondre Stevenson finished with 30 yards on 14 carries — and had a 12-yard run called back for a Mike Onwenu holding penalty — and Elliott had 16 on six attempts.
It’s been a disappointing start to the season for Stevenson, the Patriots’ offensive MVP a season ago. He’s averaging just 2.7 yards per carry — down from 5.0 last season — and entered Sunday ranked last in the league in yards after carry per attempt, per Pro Football Focus.
The pregame report that indicated Elliott would take on “starter reps” against his former team also proved inaccurate. The ex-Cowboys star played 40% of New England’s snaps, just a slight uptick over his season-long average. Dak Prescott said after the game that the Patriots should play him more.
Featured image via Tim Heitman/USA TODAY Sports Images
