FOXBOROUGH — There were too many penalties. The offense was sloppy in the red zone. The defense gave up a touchdown on a coverage bust. There were questionable coaching decisions down the stretch. Drake Maye was encouraging, but the Patriots lost.
Sound familiar?
The calendar hit December, Christmas trees are popping up across New England, and the Patriots are still repeating the same mistakes as they lose football games. Their script played out again in a heartbreaking — but entertaining — 25-24 loss to an underwhelming Colts team on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium.
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After last weekend’s flagfest in Miami, penalties were an issue for the Patriots again. When they went in at halftime, Ben Brown was the only offensive lineman that hadn’t been flagged for holding. Jerod Mayo often says his team will do business as business is being done, but couldn’t adapt to the way Adrian Hill’s crew was doling out holding calls.
“We’ve got to move accordingly to how refs are calling it,” wideout Kendrick Bourne said. “If they’re going to be calling it, we’ve got to let go. Whatever the calls are, we’ve got to adjust to how they’re calling it.”
At one point, holding calls turned a first-and-goal from the 2-yard line into a first-and-goal from the 22-yard line. Unsurprisingly, the Patriots didn’t find the end zone on that possession. They were 2-for-6 on Sunday, and are now just 5-for-16 in the red zone since last month’s win over the Bears.
“Can’t settle for four field goals in the red zone and expect to win ball games,” Maye said.
As the defense was collapsing down the stretch, Mayo opted not to challenge a third-and-10 completion to Colts tight end Will Mallory that appeared to hit the turf. With no video review, the Colts wound up with a more manageable fourth-and-3 and converted it.
“We were waiting to see the replay,” Mayo said. “Never really got a clear shot of it, so I didn’t challenge it.”
When the Colts bled the clock on the eventual game-winning drive, Mayo opted not to use any of his timeouts to conserve time for Maye. The only one he used was with the clock already stopped ahead of an Indianapolis fourth-and-3 with 17 seconds remaining.
“Absolutely, there was a thought (to calling timeouts earlier),” Mayo said. “We have also won a Super Bowl here doing it the other way. Keeping our time-outs is what I thought was best for the team.”
The Super Bowl XLIX reference was a head-scratcher.
This wasn’t Bill Belichick looking at the Seahawks sideline in disarray and opting to let the clock run down. On the contrary, when the Patriots did call their one timeout (with the clock stopped), Anthony Richardson appeared distressed trying to get his offense on the same page. Ultimately, Shane Steichen called another timeout after Mayo’s, rendering it moot. Invoking Malcolm Butler in the explanation was perplexing.
Then in the game’s final seconds, rather than throwing a Hail Mary from midfield, Joey Slye trotted on for a 68-yard field goal attempt.
“That was 100% me,” Mayo said. “Slye was hitting it well in pregame, and I felt that that was the best thing to do to help our team win the football game. Not sure what the numbers are on Hail Marys versus the field goal there, but that’s what I felt was right.”
The numbers aren’t kind there, as a 68-yard field goal has never been made in an NFL game — Justin Tucker holds the record at 66 yards — and Slye’s max to that end in pregame warmups was 61 yards. Opting for a Hail Mary is also a low percentage play, but it’s higher than 0%.
Thirteen games into the season, the Patriots aren’t learning from their mistakes. They sit 3-10, sole occupants in the basement of the AFC East accordingly. In a rebuilding year that’s supposed to be about growth, there hasn’t been enough beyond Maye, and these repeated errors have snowballed into a concerning trend.
