Six Thoughts On Patriots’ Humiliating Loss To Saints

FOXBORO, Mass. — After the Patriots’ Week 2 loss to Miami, Matthew Judon stood at the podium and confidently declared: “This is not a bad team.”

At the time, that take seemed valid. New England was 0-2, sure, but had pushed two of the NFL’s best teams to the brink. Take away a few boneheaded early-game errors, and either of those could have been a Patriots victory.

Three weeks later, the Patriots no longer look like a good team suffering from poorly timed mistakes. A good team doesn’t lose back-to-back games by 30-plus points, with one of those coming at home to a mediocre opponent.

These Patriots look broken.

Seven days after losing to the Dallas Cowboys in historic fashion, New England fell to the New Orleans Saints 34-0 on Sunday at Gillette Stadium. The embarrassing defeat dropped Bill Belichick’s club to 1-4 on the season for the first time since 2000.

It was the Patriots’ first shutout since 2016 (a 16-0 loss to Buffalo with an injured Jacoby Brissett starting at quarterback) and just the fourth of the Belichick era. New England was outscored 72-3 over its last two games and has not scored a touchdown since Pharaoh Brown raced 58 yards through the New York Jets’ secondary in the second quarter of Week 3.

Here are six thoughts on Sunday’s laugher:

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1. Mac Jones benched again
The Patriots stuck with their third-year QB after his disastrously poor outing in Dallas. Will they do the same after this dud?

Jones turned the ball over three times for the second consecutive week — including an early-game pick-six that opened the scoring — and actually posted worse numbers than he did in Week 4, finishing 12-for-22 for 110 yards and no touchdowns with two interceptions and one lost fumble.

The second INT was not Jones’ fault, as it bounced off seldom-used receiver Ty Montgomery’s hands and straight to Saints linebacker Pete Werner. The fumble came on a botched pitch, with Jones flipping the ball behind running back Rhamondre Stevenson on a fake QB sneak.

Jones didn’t play a snap in the fourth quarter for the second straight week, with Belichick again lifting him for Bailey Zappe. The popular backup, who reportedly saw an uptick in practice reps this week, didn’t fare any better, going 3-for-9 for 22 yards and missing multiple open receivers downfield.

The Patriots were a putrid 1-for-13 on third down in the game.

2. Blocking problems persist
As was the case against the Cowboys, quarterback play wasn’t the sole reason for New England’s offensive struggles. The O-line again was awful, with tackles Vederian Lowe and Trent Brown both struggling against New Orleans’ edge rushers.

Jones was sacked three times, including on two of the final three plays of the first half, snuffing out one of his most promising drives of the day. He also was pressured on his pick-six and myriad other dropbacks.

Riley Reiff looked like a candidate to take over at right tackle if Lowe continued to struggle, but all of his snaps came at guard. Reiff replaced left guard Atonio Mafi during the first half, then switched over to right guard after Mike Owenu left the game with an ankle injury. Those were Reiff’s first career snaps at any position other than tackle.

3. Defense lacks pass rush without Matthew Judon
In their first game without their injured Pro Bowler, the Patriots tallied two sacks — one by Ja’Whaun Bentley on the opening drive, another by Myles Bryant on a cornerback blitz — but no other QB hits or tackles for loss.

The pass defense wasn’t awful without rookie cornerback Christian Gonzalez, with an erratic Derek Carr throwing for just 183 yards, but that was more than enough for a Saints team that got one defensive touchdown and started three other scoring drives inside Patriots territory.

J.C. Jackson came off the bench and saw ample playing time in his first game back with the Patriots. New England rotated Jackson, Jonathan Jones, Myles Bryant and Shaun Wade at cornerback, with special teamer Ameer Speed also seeing action in garbage time.

4. Another impact rookie goes down
Demario Douglas, the Patriots’ impressive rookie slot receiver, took a shot to the head from cornerback Marshon Lattimore on an early 24-yard reception. He initially stayed in the game but later exited toward the locker room and officially was ruled out after halftime.

Though he’s seen limited playing time, Douglas quickly established himself as the Patriots’ most explosive pass-catcher. New England’s passing game lacked pop after he went down, with only Kendrick Bourne showing any playmaking ability (two catches, 43 yards).

JuJu Smith-Schuster had three catches for 6 yards before also leaving the game with a head injury midway through the third quarter. New England played most of the second half with DeVante Parker, Bourne and Montgomery as their only available wideouts. It seems likely rookie Kayshon Boutte will slot back into the lineup next week with Douglas and Smith-Schuster in concussion protocol.

For those keeping track, DeAndre Hopkins had more than 100 yards for the Titans on Sunday. Think the Patriots could have used a guy like that?

5. Bad day for the kicking game
With a chance to put the Patriots on the board late in the first quarter, rookie kicker Chad Ryland pushed a 48-yard field-goal attempt wide left. New England traded up to draft Ryland in the fourth round, and he’s made just four of his eight field-goal tries this season. Nick Folk, meanwhile, entered Sunday a perfect 10-for-10 for Tennessee.

The Patriots also struggled to punt the ball effectively. Bryce Baringer’s first two attempts traveled just 26 and 43 yards, and both featured low snaps from veteran Joe Cardona. Cardona is one of the NFL’s highest-paid long snappers, but he’s been uncharacteristically shaky this season. He also had high snaps on two Ryland misses against the New York Jets.

Cardona hasn’t appeared on the Patriots’ injury report this season, but he was wearing a padded sleeve on his snapping arm Sunday, suggesting he might be dealing with something.

For good measure, Matthew Slater also was called for two penalties, and Jabrill Peppers had an adventure on punt returns, fair-catching one on his own 6-yard line and muffing another.

6. Belichick waves the white flag
Facing a fourth-and-3 from the Saints’ 40-yard line, down 24-0 with 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter, Belichick punted. It was a clear sign of surrender — that he lacked faith his team could stage another second-half comeback like they did in their narrow losses to the Eagles and Dolphins.

Was he right? Yeah, probably. And what does that say about where the Patriots are as a franchise? This team looks as bad as it ever has under Belichick. The question now becomes: How much longer will team owner Robert Kraft put up with this kind of futility?