Six Takeaways From Patriots’ Latest Loss To Raiders

The last time the Patriots were in this position, most of their current roster wasn’t even born.

New England lost to the Las Vegas Raiders 21-17 on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium and now sits at 1-5 on the season for the first time since 1995. That ’95 team went on to finish 6-10. Based on what this one has shown of late, it’s hard to see it beating that win total or being at all relevant in the AFC playoff race.

Here are six day-after takeaways from the Patriots’ latest defeat:

1. RIP 2023 Patriots
No, the season isn’t officially over after this mid-October loss. Three teams since 2015 rallied to make the playoffs after 1-5 starts. It’s possible. But with daunting matchups against the Buffalo Bills (home) and Miami Dolphins (road) up next on the schedule, 1-5 quickly could become 1-7 for these Patriots.

New England has beaten Buffalo just once in the post-Tom Brady era (the 2021 wind game, during which Mac Jones famously attempted just three passes) and hasn’t won in Miami since 2019.

The Bills needed a last-second red-zone stand Sunday night to hold off a one-win New York Giants team, so they’re not some unstoppable juggernaut. But the Patriots will be heavy underdogs in each of their next two games, and they haven’t shown many reasons for optimism of late.

The Patriots haven’t had a truly lost season in decades — even in 2020 with Cam Newton, they pulled back to .500 after a 2-5 start before running out of gas — so it’s difficult to predict how Bill Belichick will approach the coming weeks and months. Will they look to sell off parts ahead of the Oct. 31 trade deadline?

If they do, wide receiver Kendrick Bourne would be one obvious candidate after he caught 10 passes on 11 targets for 89 yards in Sunday’s loss. He leads the Patriots in receptions and yards this season and could fetch a half-decent draft pick from a contending club.

And, of course, there’s always the question of whether Robert Kraft will keep Belichick employed until the end of the season if these L’s continue to pile up.

2. Mac Jones still is the best option at QB
Ugly second-quarter interception notwithstanding, Jones performed better Sunday than he did against Dallas and New Orleans. He’s the best of the Patriots’ uninspiring options at quarterback, which they acknowledged by demoting Bailey Zappe and Will Grier to third and fourth string, respectively.

Simply put, none of New England’s current QBs can succeed with the talent the team has on the offensive line and at wide receiver, and starting Jones still gives them the highest ceiling.

Could Malik Cunningham get there by the end of the season? Maybe. Possibly. But it would be surprising to see him as anything more than a change-of-pace gadget guy in the near future. The undrafted rookie was unremarkable in his six snaps against Vegas, handing off once, taking a sack on his lone dropback and seeing sporadic action at wide receiver.

Belichick wouldn’t say whether the Patriots plan to stick with Sunday’s QB depth chart moving forward.

3. The injuries keep coming
The Patriots listed 17 players on their final Week 6 injury report — then proceeded to lose several more in Sunday’s loss.

Not random reserves, either. Key players. Edge rushers Keion White and Josh Uche — vital cogs in the team’s plan to replace injured Pro Bowler Matthew Judon — both left the game and did not return. Ditto for tight end Hunter Henry. Running back Rhamondre Stevenson and cornerback Jonathan Jones were banged up at points, too, but were able to finish the game.

The list of players unavailable for Sunday’s game due to injury included Judon, Christian Gonzalez, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Demario Douglas, Jack Jones, Marcus Jones, Cole Strange, Riley Reiff, Tyrone Wheatley Jr. and Daniel Ekuale. Mike Onwenu dressed as an emergency option but did not play, with rookie Sidy Sow going wire-to-wire at right guard.

Even at full strength, the Patriots aren’t a team that’s loaded with blue-chip talent, especially on offense. Their miserable injury luck is only compounding that problem.

4. Jakobi Meyers showed the Patriots what they’re missing
New England’s offense really could use someone like Meyers, eh? In his first game against the team that chose Smith-Schuster over him this offseason, the ever-reliable wideout caught five of seven targets for 61 yards and scored the Raiders’ lone touchdown.

Meyers had more receiving yards in the first half than Smith-Schuster, who missed Sunday with a concussion, totaled in his last three games combined (25 on five catches). It’s hard to overstate how disastrous that de facto 1-for-1 swap has been for the Patriots.

The Patriots got a resurgent performance out of Bourne on Sunday but next to nothing from the rest of their receiving corps. DeVante Parker was especially rough, dropping a perfectly placed deep ball from Jones in the final minutes that would have put the Patriots close to field-goal range. Parker also appeared to run a lazy route on one third-down target and finished with just one catch for 7 yards.

Since his solid season debut in Week 2 (six catches, 57 yards), Parker, who signed a contract extension this summer, has posted the following stat lines:

Three targets, two catches, 19 yards
Four targets, two catches, 33 yards
Four targets, two catches, 20 yards
Three targets, one catch, 7 yards

Tyquan Thornton also was a nonfactor in his return from injured reserve, catching one pass for 6 yards. Practice squad call-up Jalen Reagor saw ample playing time but wasn’t targeted. Smith-Schuster and Douglas were unavailable due to head injuries. Kayshon Boutte was a healthy scratch.

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5. The lack of discipline was alarming — but no longer surprising
The Patriots were called for 10 penalties in this game, plus another that was declined. Those fouls ran the gamut: offensive. Defensive. Special teams. Pre-snap. Post-snap. Early-game. Late-game.

New England had two penalties on offense, two on defense and one on special teams in the first 11 minutes of game time. It closed the game with five penalties in the final five minutes, including what J.C. Jackson called a “bull—-” third-down pass interference call that forced the Patriots to burn their final three timeouts.

In between, Henry was flagged for holding on a 74-yard Ezekiel Elliott touchdown run.

We used to call mistakes like these “uncharacteristic” of Patriots teams. But this kind of thing has been happening for years now. Teams lacking high-end talent need to be smart and well-disciplined. It’s been a while since Belichick’s troops were either.

6. Silver linings
Positives from Sunday’s contest? The Patriots ran the ball efficiently in the second half, with Elliott and Stevenson both punching in goal-line touchdowns. Bourne had a nice afternoon. Jabrill Peppers laid a Hit of the Year candidate on Davante Adams to force the Patriots’ first takeaway since Week 2.

The Patriots held Adams, an All-Pro receiver, to two catches for 29 yards and the Raiders to one touchdown in six red-zone trips. Mac Jones only turned the ball over once, though Ty Montgomery bailed him out of another one on a dangerous fourth-quarter throw.

New England didn’t lose by 30-plus points, as it did in its previous two games. This one was competitive. But the Patriots once again fell behind by double digits in the first half — the fifth time that’s happened this season — and couldn’t claw their way back.

As loss blueprints go, this one more closely mirrored Weeks 1 and 2 than what we saw in Weeks 4 and 5. There was improvement. This wasn’t another disaster. But it counts the same in the standings.