One Stud, Five Duds From Patriots’ Embarrassing Loss To Saints

FOXBORO, Mass. — Look out below!

Honestly, this really says it all:

INTERCEPTED!!!

Pete Werner takes it away 🙌#Saints | 📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/WXfDmcNqOf

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 8, 2023

The Patriots on Sunday somehow followed up last week’s 38-3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys with an even worse performance, suffering a 34-0 home loss to the New Orleans Saints. New England now is 1-4 for the first time since 2000, which was Bill Belichick’s first year on the job.

Mac Jones completed 12 of 22 passes for just 110 yards while throwing two interceptions and fumbling once for the second straight game. His pick-six to Tyrann Mathieu in the first quarter prompted boos from the Gillette Stadium crowd, which didn’t let up until Bailey Zappe entered the game in the fourth quarter. The Patriots managed just 156 yards of total offense while generating eight first downs.

We don’t know if Jones will start next Sunday when the Patriots visit the Las Vegas Raiders, and we don’t know whether Belichick truly is on the hot seat. All we know is the Patriots are a bad football team, and team owner Robert Kraft can’t be happy about it.

On the other side, a limited Saints offense scored three touchdowns against an allegedly stout New England defense. Yes, New Orleans started with good field position on all three drives, but still.

Derek Carr completed 18 of 26 passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns with zero turnovers. Alvin Kamara ran for 80 yards and a touchdown, and Michael Thomas caught four balls for 65 yards. The Saints improved to 3-2 with the victory.

The Patriots haven’t scored a touchdown since Pharaoh Brown’s TD in Week 3. They were outscored 72-3 in the last two games and now have given up 69 consecutive points. This was the fourth shutout loss of the Belichick era, and the first since 2016 (the Jacoby Brissett game). Overall, Sunday marked the 10th time New England was shut out since the AFL-NFL merger in 1966.

Typically, we find three studs and three duds for the Patriots in each game — even if we need to squint. But we simply couldn’t pull it off this time.

So, here’s one stud and five duds from the most dispiriting Patriots loss in a long time:

STUD
LB Ja’Whaun Bentley
No, this isn’t just because we wanted to put someone in here. Bentley had another good game and has been great this season. He recorded tackles on the first two plays of the game and finished the Saints’ first drive with a sack. Overall, Bentley recorded a team-high 11 tackles.

Honorable mentions: Anfernee Jennings, Myles Bryant, Kendrick Bourne

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DUDS
Bill Belichick
His roster wasn’t good enough to compete with a middling Saints team, and his players didn’t look ready to go in a must-win situation. The Patriots now are 26-30 since Tom Brady left. Oh, there also was this:

Patriots are punting on fourth-and-3 from the Saints' 40 down 24-0. What?

— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) October 8, 2023

That’s white-flag stuff. Most coaches would’ve been fired by this point, but Belichick almost certainly will make it through the season — we think.

LS Joe Cardona
What is going on here? Is Cardona injured? The NFL’s third highest-paid long snapper cost the Patriots six points in Week 3 with bad snaps on field goals, and his two low snaps Sunday led to a pair of poor punts from rookie Bryce Baringer. Belichick’s continued investment in special teams isn’t leading to improved results.

Bill O’Brien
In fairness, O’Brien was calling plays with both hands tied behind his back. Heck, you can add his feet, too. Four limbs! The Patriots couldn’t block, their receivers couldn’t get open, their quarterback’s confidence appeared shot and the score forced the offense to be one-dimensional. Still, O’Brien’s play-calling was questionable in this game, from a slew of poorly timed and executed stretch runs to unnecessary deep shots on third down. And how about that fake QB sneak that resulted in a fumbled pitch to Rhamondre Stevenson? It all just felt so random.

QB Mac Jones
Once again, Jones didn’t really have a chance. His offensive line was awful and his receivers couldn’t do anything. Still, he came out shaky in this game and made a poor decision on the pick-six that gave New Orleans an early need. Jones needed to protect the ball in this game, and he failed to do so. The Patriots never recovered after that interception.

WR DeVante Parker
Had a deep ball bounce off his hands and was fortunate to not be ruled out on his 14-yard grab late in the first half. Maybe he knew he’d get his knee down all along, but we’re dubious. Either way, this was another listless performance from someone who’s supposed to be New England’s top outside receiver. Parker caught just two balls for 20 yards.

Honorable mentions: Rhamondre Stevenson, Ty Montgomery Jabrill Peppers, offensive line, secondary, Chad Ryland