Patriots heading back to the film room after their latest lopsided loss
The New England Patriots entered Sunday’s matchup with the Miami Dolphins feeling like they were a team ready to turn a corner after a season’s worth of struggles.
A 34-15 loss in Miami revealed just how much more work is left to do before they can make that pronouncement.
Rookie quarterback Drake Maye struggled to make sense of things afterward but did make his own proclamation to his teammates.
“I told some guys, just remember this feeling of really getting our butts whooped today, and it’s only up from here,” Maye said.
There was plenty of bad football for the Patriots (3-9) to dwell on after losing for the third time in four games.
It starts with self-inflicted mistakes, most notably committing 10 penalties for 75 yards, that left the team playing catch-up throughout the game.
Maye completed 22 of 37 passes for 221 yards with 26 yards rushing but had a costly strip sack in the third quarter that led to a Miami score. It was his seventh turnover in three games.
There also are big issues to work out for a Patriots defense that allowed Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to complete 29 of 40 passes for 317 yards and four touchdowns.
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New England coach Jerod Mayo said his team entered this week prepared for some tough film sessions with only Sunday’s matchup against Indianapolis left before its bye week.
“Those are those hard meetings where you have to address the elephant in the room, but it’s no secret,” he said. “The good thing about the sport, it’s all recorded. You can go back and forth on it, but the film doesn’t lie.”
It seems insignificant right now, but it was encouraging to see Maye end the game on some positive notes after Miami took a 31-0 lead. On the Patriots’ next possession, Maye connected on deep passes to Demario Douglas and Hunter Henry before capping the drive with a 38-yard TD pass to Austin Hooper.
Offensive line. This week brought regression for a group that had found some consistency after starting Ben Brown (center), Vederian Lowe (left tackle), Michael Jordan (left guard), Mike Onwenu (right guard) and Demontrey Jacobs (right tackle) in consecutive games. It evaporated against a Dolphins defense that sacked Maye four times. For the day, New England’s O-line was whistled for seven of the team’s 10 penalties.
DE Christian Barmore. In his second game of the season, he notched his first sack, dropping Tagovailoa for a 2-yard loss in the third quarter. It’s a big milestone for Barmore, who was diagnosed with blood clots shortly after the start of training camp.
Lowe. He was whistled for four penalties in the first half on Sunday: three false starts and a hold. He also allowed Zach Sieler to beat him for a strip-sack on Maye late in the third quarter that set up the Dolphins’ final touchdown of the day.
The Patriots didn’t announce any injuries on Sunday. However, Lowe did seem to be bothered by a shoulder injury that limited his practice availability leading up to the game.
7 — The number of Dolphins’ offensive plays that went for 15 or more yards against the Patriots.
The Patriots host the Colts on Sunday.
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