The Patriots had a chance Sunday to prove their embarrassing Week 4 loss in Dallas was an unfortunate aberration. Instead, they followed it up with a similarly egregious performance, losing 34-0 at home to the New Orleans Saints.
Here are seven takeaways from Sunday’s flat-out beatdown at Gillette Stadium, which dropped New England to 1-4 on the season for the first time since 2000:
1. This has been an incredible and unprecedented nosedive
Just two weeks ago, the Patriots looked like a team that would, at the very least, be in every game they played this season. A team that’s talented and well-coached enough to hang with the NFL’s best teams, even if they’d wind up losing most games against favored opponents.
Remember, the Patriots lost to the Eagles and Dolphins — two teams that have a combined record of 9-1 — by five and seven points in Weeks 1 and 2. They had the ball late with a chance to win or tie in both games.
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That feisty, competitive squad now is gone. Vanished.
The Patriots suffered the worst loss of the Bill Belichick era, then followed it up with the second-worst loss of the Bill Belichick era. They were outscored 72-3 (!!!) over the last two games. They’ve allowed 69 unanswered points. They haven’t scored a touchdown in 10 quarters — none since Pharaoh Brown’s 58-yarder in the second quarter of the Jets game.
When Matthew Judon confidently stated after the Miami loss that the Patriots were “not a bad team,” that seemed like a valid assessment. Now, that’s an impossible argument to make. When you lose back-to-back games in the fashion New England has, you are a bad team until you prove otherwise.
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2. There’s no easy fix
In the words of Devin McCourty on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” broadcast: “I don’t know if it’s going to look any better. That’s the scary thing in New England right now.”
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The offensive line still can’t block effectively. The receivers still can’t get open. Mac Jones — who, it’s worth reiterating, actually played well overall in the first three games — looks spooked and flustered and is making terrible decisions. His backup, Bailey Zappe, doesn’t look like the answer, either, completing less than 40% of his passes and averaging 4.4 yards per attempt in two garbage-time relief appearances.
The Patriots are averaging just 11.0 points per game, dead last in the NFL. They have yet to score more than 20 points. They averaged 17.5 per game last season with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge running the show.
On top of that, the defense lost its top two playmakers, possibly for the season, and the field-goal and punting operations have left much to be desired.
A few weeks ago, it was easy to say the Patriots would be fine if they cleaned up their early-game ball security and found some continuity at right tackle — their biggest positional weakness for the second consecutive season. Now? There are so many holes to plug that it’s hard to know where to begin.
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Buy-in from the locker room also could be waning. Wide receiver Kendrick Bourne called out the team’s effort after the game, saying players need to “work harder” and “want it more.”
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3. Too many turnovers, too few takeaways
The offense has received the most attention and criticism in this area, and for good reason. The Patriots have turned the ball over 10 times through five games and six times in the last two weeks alone, and opponents returned four of those four touchdowns. On Sunday, Jones had a pick-six, a lost fumble on a botched pitch and another interception that bounced off Ty Montgomery’s hands.
A failure to adequately protect the ball is the biggest reason why the Patriots trailed by double digits in the first half of all four of their losses.
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Defensively, though, the Patriots have forced just two turnovers all season and none since Week 2. Only the Las Vegas Raiders, who play their fifth game Monday night, have fewer. New England was tied for second-best in the NFL last season with 30 takeaways.
The Patriots still have talent on defense, but reversing that trend will be challenging with Christian Gonzalez out for the season and Judon down for at least the next two months. In their first game without Judon on Sunday, the Patriots tallied two sacks (by linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley and cornerback Myles Bryant) but no additional tackles for loss or QB hits.
Safety Kyle Dugger believed he intercepted a Derek Carr pass late in the third quarter, but officials ruled it incomplete, and Belichick did not challenge.
4. Two Titans could have helped
As the Patriots’ season has spiraled, it’s been hard not to notice how two notable veterans have fared down in Tennessee.
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Kicker Nick Folk, whom New England traded away before the season, is a perfect 13-for-13 on field goals for his new club, including 3-for-3 from 50-plus. His replacement, rookie Chad Ryland, is 4-for-8 for the Patriots and missed a 48-yarder on Sunday.
We mentioned the Patriots’ lack of premier talent at the receiver position. Know who could have provided that? DeAndre Hopkins, who visited Gillette Stadium this offseason before ultimately signing with the Titans.
Hopkins caught eight passes for 140 yards Sunday in a loss to the Colts. No Patriots wideout has more than 64 receiving yards in any game this season.
5. Where is the run game?
In addition to a nearly nonexistent passing attack, the Patriots also have been woeful on the ground in nearly every game. Rhamondre Stevenson is averaging just 2.8 yards per carry (down from 5.0 last season) and New England ranks last in the NFL in expected points added per running play.
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The O-line deserves the brunt of the blame for these struggles, but Stevenson also isn’t breaking tackles the way he did during his breakout 2022 campaign. The Patriots also struggled up front last season, and Stevenson still managed to rack up 1,431 yards from scrimmage because he averaged more yards after contact than any other qualified NFL back. He entered Sunday ranked last in that metric among backs with at least 25 attempts, per Pro Football Focus.
It’s not hyperbole to say the Patriots have fielded the NFL’s worst offense through five weeks. That’s a downright shocking development following their offseason coaching change from Patricia/Judge to Bill O’Brien and the waves of positive vibes that ensued.
6. Injuries stacking up
Receivers Demario Douglas (head) and JuJu Smith-Schuster (head) and right guard Mike Onwenu (ankle) all left Sunday’s game due to injury and did not return. Bentley also was banged up late in the fourth quarter.
Douglas (who’s shown a ton of potential this season) and Smith-Schuster (who hasn’t) will need to clear concussion protocol before they can return, and that often takes players more than a week to accomplish. If they can’t go Sunday against the Raiders, there’s a good chance healthy-scratch rookie Kayshon Boutte will slot back into the lineup for the first time since Week 1. We also could see the return of Tyquan Thornton, who was eligible to come off injured reserve last week but did not.
Onwenu hasn’t been his usual dominant self this season, but losing him would create another hole in the Patriots’ patchwork offensive line and limit their options at right tackle, as well.
The severity of Bentley’s injury was unclear since it occurred so late in the game, but he’s developed into one of their best defensive players and is the unquestioned leader of that group.
7. How much longer will Robert Kraft put up with this?
Kraft said, publicly and in no uncertain terms, that he expected the Patriots’ streak of four consecutive seasons without a playoff win to end this year.
A 1-4 start after that declaration would have been troubling enough. But a 1-4 start that featured back-to-back blowout losses — including one at home to a middling opponent — and no clear path back to respectability? The Patriots owner’s patience with his legendary head coaches might soon run out.
Featured image via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
