Team Leaders Come Down Hard On ‘Exposed’ Patriots After Ugly Loss

ARLINGTON, Texas — If the Patriots’ Week 1 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles was a “moral victory,” we’re not sure what you’d call Sunday night’s disaster in Dallas.

New England was blown out at AT&T Stadium, suffering a 38-3 loss to the Cowboys in the most lopsided defeat in Bill Belichick’s coaching career. Mac Jones was benched after committing three turnovers, two top defenders suffered potentially serious injuries and even the special teams got embarrassed.

There was no positive spin during postgame media availability. In fact, Patriots players looked and sounded as defeated as they ever have in the post-Tom Brady era.

“We didn’t play good today, at all, at all levels, and got exposed,” tight end Hunter Henry solemnly told reporters.

But in what ways did the Patriots get exposed?

“I mean, look at the score, man,” he said.

“Just wasn’t good. I mean, we’ve been preaching not turning the ball over. You give them three turnovers, two of them were points. Just too many mistakes, man. It’s hard to say exactly where it is, but I’m still optimistic. I know the group of guys that we have in that locker room. It wasn’t good enough today but we have a resilient bunch and we’ll learn a lot, a lot from this.”

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Jones said New England must “bury” the ugly loss and move on to next Sunday’s home game against the New Orleans Saints. And other team leaders communicated a similar message.

“It is what it is,” safety Jabrill Peppers said in the locker room. “We got punched in the mouth today; got our ass kicked. We didn’t come out here and do what we were supposed to do tonight. And that’s just the end of it. I am going to watch the tape, get it corrected, and try to get this bad
taste out of our mouth next week.”

Much of the conversation this week will center around Jones and whether he could be replaced by Bailey Zappe. For what it’s worth, Belichick after the game said Jones will start against the Saints.

Center David Andrews was asked whether players still have confidence in Jones after the worst game of his career.

“I think we all have some confidence issues after a performance like that,” Andrews said. “It’s a team game so you know, I think it’s all of us
that have to look in the mirror and correct everything. It’s not just (Mac’s) fault. It’s a team game, we got to do better. Everyone has to hold up their end of the bargain. It can never be one person’s fault.”

Obviously, New England’s season isn’t over. Yes, the Patriots are 1-3 for the third straight season, but they rebounded the previous two campaigns to move back to .500. And they’re about to enter another potentially light portion of the schedule.

What matters now is how the Patriots respond. Will they save their season next Sunday, or will they roll over?

“You know, that was tough,” Henry said of the loss in Dallas. “That’s not what we wanted, at all. But like I said, we are a resilient bunch and we’re going to
find out a lot about ourselves.

“We got knocked down today, but that’s today. We’re going to learn from it and keep going.”