MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — A thought for each one of the Patriots' six losses this season now that they are 2-6 and are 4-11 in their last 15 games. The Patriots are 6-11 over the course of a season, which is sort of apropos and feels like where this is headed ...
Topics covered:
- A team that is teetering toward losing hold of the rope - even Matthew Slater is waiting to see what happens and sounds like he has his doubts;
- Being in another weight class than the Dolphins, especially offensively;
- Does anyone have any handle on offensive personnel with this team?
- Tua Tagovailoa - the anti-Mac Jones in a lot of ways - does the Patriots in again;
- A frustrated locker room
- Officiating issue
Can this team hold on?
One of my biggest takeaways from this game and being in the locker room was that this team is really teetering on letting go of the rope — at least certain aspects of it, mostly vets from other places who were here to win, and that becomes harder every week.
At times of struggle, we, as the media, often go to Slater, who is the emotional center of this team and is the thermometer for all things locker room. I've heard Slater more dejected than this, but he sounded fairly resigned to the fate of this team at this point and has no idea how the rest of this season will go. There's a big difference from 3-5 and 2-6, and he was asked how he keeps this team going in the right direction.
"Well, it's gonna be challenging," he admitted. "For someone like myself and a lot of guys on this team, we're in uncharted waters so I think this is an opportunity for us to display what kind of character, what kind of resolve we have, what kind of commitment to the game of football we have. If you're going to play this game, you got to be committed to it regardless of what your record is, so we're going to find out a lot of things about each other."
Slater was asked a follow-up about that quote because it sounded fairly cryptic.
"Yeah, I think we've shown some commitment, especially with a tough set of circumstances the way this season has started for us," Slater said. "But I mean, now we'll really find out. You can't hide at 2-6. So, we'll see."
The next two weeks against the Commanders and Colts will tell the tale of whether players are still engaged or they're starting to tune some things out.
The Patriots of old would win these next two and generate some positive feelings heading into and out of the bye. Not even Slater knows whether that's going to happen now.
Dolphins are in another league than Patriots
Sunday was a microcosm of why New England is at 2-6 and headed toward their third losing season in four years, and the Dolphins continue on their upswing: Miami has more talent, especially offensively, making everything so much easier.
The Patriots actually won the turnover margin 2-1, and the Dolphins still won fairly easily by two touchdowns. Why? Because they have the type of talent that makes up for mistakes. They have thoroughbreds. The Patriots have cost-effective options.
QB Tua Tagovailoa had a similar day as far as completion percentage and interceptions as Mac Jones, yet his day looks great with 324 yards and three touchdowns. Why? He has Tyreek Hill (8 for 112, TD) and Jaylen Waddle (7 for 121, TD), and Jones doesn't. Tua makes a bad read/throw for an interception that sets up New England for a touchdown and the early lead. Jones throws an interception that nets the same amount of points (takes 3 off, adds 3), but it feels and is catastrophic for the Patriots and leads you to question whether he should continue leading this team.
Oh, and Tua's offensive line might be more banged up and worse than New England's. He has the scheme — and the talent to work it to capacity — to largely mask that against average to below-average teams.
Until the Patriots get serious about adding offensive talent and making it easier to gain yards and score touchdowns, this feels almost pointless at times. The Patriots basically have to be perfect, as they were last week against the Bills, to even have a chance against the better teams.
Is there any rhyme or reason to the offensive personnel?
So 16-million dollar man Juju Smith-Schuster was active for this one but wasn't going to play, it seemed like unless there was an emergency situation — which there was when DeVante Parker and Kendrick Bourne were both ruled out with injury?
And Tyquan Thornton, who is finally healthy and active this week, was forced to sit this one out on the inactive list. And Kayshon Boutte continues to be on a milk carton.
And Parker, before he was hurt, had one catch for 14 yards.
There was also Sidy Sow, who played the entire game in upsetting Buffalo, sitting for Atonio Mafi at some point before Cole Strange went out for a spell again.
We're now eight weeks into this thing ... how is there no rhyme or reason for how they use players? Do they think they're sneaking up on opponents?
And yet, the lack of offensive cohesion from game to game is killing this team. The coaches are not helping. Get some consistency for crying out loud. Give these guys a chance.
BTW, shoutout to big man Trent Brown for gutting this one out. He limped badly out of the locker room with his ankle wrapped. No doubting his resolve in this one.
Tagovailoa - the anti-Mac Jones in a lot of ways - does the Patriots in again
Tua owns Bill Belichick and the Patriots, as he improved to 6-0 against them. He's not flashy. He's not uber-talented. He just gets the job done.
This one unfolded like so many against Miami since Tua got there: Patriots make it a game, need a stop late in the fourth quarter to complete the comeback. Tua sticks a stake into the Patriots' hearts.
He did it again on Sunday.
Patriots make it 24-17 with 8:30 left, and Tua converts a 3rd and 9 and a 3rd and 1 — the latter being Waddle left wide open on the second big bust of the game for a 31-yard score that ended it at 31-17 with 2:43 remaining.
Tua's been doing this for years against New England — before all the talent got there. He knows how to make winning plays and seems like a calming influence on the team.
Mac Jones feels precisely the opposite. Mac has the potential to be a good and winning QB in this league, but everything has to be perfect around him. If it's not, then he's a freaking jitterbug that could go in any direction at any moment. I've been around a lot of different QBs covering the league. Almost all of the good ones have this quiet confidence about them, like they know they will get it done all the time. The word I would use to describe Mac is ... uneasy. He's like one of those spinning tops that look great on a smooth surface. But as soon as there is any flaw in the surface, it could fly off. That's Mac.
A frustrated locker room
To use a word to describe this postgame locker room, it would be ... frustrated.
There are guys clearly not happy with their roles. Adrian Phillips would be one of those players. He's been a good player in this league and for this team for a long time, and now he doesn't have much of a role. He shot an uptick at sub-linebacker with Ja'Whaun Bentley injured, but he didn't seem enthused.
"It's whatever," he said.
Asked about his satisfaction with his role ahead of the trade deadline...
"There's nothing to say. I play when they want me to play, so it's whatever," he said. "Everybody would like to be on the field, but when my number's called, I go out there, and I play."
Ok then.
It's more than just roles, however. Belichick has remarked in the past how New England is a tough place to play, and he's tough to play for because he's so demanding day in and day out. That's fine when the AFC title game and Super Bowl rings are at the end. At 2-6? There are probably some guys questioning whether it's worth it.
Officiating issues
If you wanted to be right every week in the NFL, just say the officiating isn't good enough. It's cliche but also correct. I usually don't complain about the officiating, and it certainly did not cost the Patriots a win today, but I have some issues with it.
Namely, every game is so inconsistent. How hard is it, with New York available, to get some consistency on a guy like Parker getting hit in the head? Or how do illegal man penalties keep getting picked up?
Coaches and players don't care if the officiating is bad per se as long as it's consistent within the game and certain aspects are called consistently from game to game.
Officials are in these games way too much, and they are too inconsistent.