Before they might take their first offensive snap Sunday, the Patriots went backwards with a false begin.
The subsequent time they lined up, they had been fortunate to remain put after a Trent Brown penalty the Raiders declined.
At the top of the loss, the Pats once more went backwards, this time for good.
Las Vegas drove a stake into the center of the Patriots’ season by dropping Mac Jones for a security on the finish of a 21-17 dwelling win. The security served as the ultimate stroke of a masterpiece of offensive failure, one other sport doomed by Jones and Co..
Moments earlier, Jones was flagged for a delay of sport penalty. The play prior, DeVante Parker dropped a 40-yard bomb that might have put the Patriots on the doorstep of discipline aim vary in a 2-point sport. Before that, rookie left guard Atonio Mafi was whistled for holding, which negated two small features that began the drive.
That stretch captured a damaged unit undone once more by late-game sacks and penalties; the identical story that unfolded in Weeks 1 and a pair of versus the Eagles and Dolphins. The Patriots (1-5) can’t shut.
“We had three penalties in the last two minutes,” Pats coach Bill Belichick stated. “That’s not a good formula.”
Through six weeks, the Patriots have scored the fewest factors within the NFL. Their offense is the one one within the league that hasn’t topped 20 in a single sport. That facet of the ball is the chief purpose the Pats have spiraled from a doubtlessly promising begin.
Yet Sunday really marked enchancment for the offense; an indication of darkish instances.
Ezekiel Elliott’s 2-yard landing run within the third quarter ended a streak of 39 straight drives with out a landing. When Chad Ryland kicked a 43-yard discipline aim within the second quarter, the Patriots snapped a streak of 79 unanswered factors, the NFL’s longest drought since 1999. Another drought: together with their first 4 drives Sunday, the Patriots went 28 consecutive offensive possessions with out reaching the purple zone, per ESPN, the longest dry spell of the Belichick period.
Jones additionally completed with only one interception, a high quality followup from his consecutive disasters towards the Saints and Cowboys, who benefitted from three turnovers apiece. Jones later admitted, although, the choose stemmed from the identical impulse that price him in these two losses.
“Interceptions are part of the game, and I didn’t make a good throw,” Jones advised reporters in Las Vegas. “Just trying to do too much. They got three points from it or whatever, and that’s on me.”
CBS sport analyst Tony Romo described it this manner: “This is a horrendous throw by Mac Jones.”
There are seemingly no straightforward in-house options for the offense, notably with a litany of accidents that touched working backs, broad receivers, tight ends and offensive line both main as much as Sunday or in the course of the sport. The Patriots aren’t positioned to switch offensive coordinator and play-caller Bill O’Brien. None of their different offensive assistants seem suited to take over.
The most skilled amongst them, Adrian Klemm, simply landed in New England and has his palms full with maybe the worst offensive line within the league. The Pats performed with two rookie guards, one in every of whom, Mafi, was concerned on the game-ending security.
Another rookie, undrafted quarterback/broad receiver Malik Cunningham, was supposed to provide the Patriots a raise and performed three snaps underneath middle. His final snap at quarterback resulted in a sack.
Meanwhile, Jones believes he’s nonetheless the quarterback of the long run, regardless of an more and more bleak current and penchant for failing to shut late. In his profession, Jones has one fourth-quarter comeback and simply two wins as an underdog; his final in a windstorm at Buffalo in December 2021.
“I’m confident,” he stated. “I believe that comes from years of expertise and incomes respect from individuals, and I believe I’ve achieved that. But I’m making an attempt to win each sport I play in, and I’m not doing it. So I simply actually need to give attention to, ‘How can I bring these guys with me? How can we clean up the little things?’
“It takes all 11, and that’s important. And to be the leader of that 11 is a lot of stress, but that’s why I play this game. I really want to win, and I’m doing a lot of things to do that during the week. But for whatever reason, it’s just not happening on Sunday.”
And it gained’t get any simpler. Next up are those self same Bills, now three-time reigning AFC East champions.
Source: www.bostonherald.com