Familiar Issues Cost Patriots in Heartbreaking 25-24 Loss to Colts

The Patriots suffered their latest heartbreaking loss this afternoon, falling to the Colts in a 25-24 nailbiter.

New England won the time of possession battle 34:12 to 25:48, the turnover battle 2-1, and outgained Indy by over 2 yards per play. However, penalties and poor Red Zone execution on both sides ultimately cost head coach Jerod Mayo’s team.

“Yeah, it was heartbreaking,” said quarterback Drake Maye. “I think our guys fought hard, did a lot of good things. That’s what Coach Mayo preaches in the locker room. We did a lot of good things on film. Proud of the way the guys fought. I’m proud of the defense. I thought they played their butts off. Especially our guys up front on offense. They did a great job. I think we ran the football for a bunch of yards. I think we were efficient in the passing game, and just came up short. It’s a bummer. I hate it for these guys, and I hate it for these coaches. We’re practicing hard. We’re fighting hard, and just came up short.”

The Patriots must hold on to this sour feeling for two weeks as they approach their bye week. Things only get tougher from there, with Kyler Murray’s Cardinals, Josh Allen’s Bills (2x), and Justin Herbert’s Chargers standing between New England and a merciful end to a lost season.

Records are not the be-all and end-all in the first year of a fresh rebuild. Drake Maye was also excellent throughout this game, and there’s something to be said for the fight Mayo’s team showed after last week’s disaster in Miami. Still, fans are right to be disappointed in this team’s inability to close out games, and New England’s slim margin for error is only getting thinner.

Here are my quick thoughts on Sunday’s defeat.

DOMINANT DAY FOR DRAKE MAYE

Maye had possibly the best performance of his young career against Indy. He completed 80% of his 30 attempts, averaging nearly eight yards per throw with a touchdown and an unlucky pick.

The rookie looked excellent in the short passing game, throwing receivers open against tight coverage and slicing through the Colts’ zones. On the rare occasion the Colts played man coverage, Maye gashed them for a 41-yard scramble and a highlight-reel touchdown to Austin Hooper.

Maye also overcame penalties from his supporting cast, including a 29-yard connection with Kayshon Boutte and a 16-yard completion to Bourne. For my money, his best throw was a 3rd & 6 connection with Henry, where Maye, with a free rusher bearing down, let it rip before the tight end was out of his break.

There were admittedly some shaky throws. Maye admitted to throwing late to Boutte on a slant that hit the turf, and he took the blame for a miscommunication with Ja’Lynn Polk. The quarterback also (somewhat unnecessarily) took the blame for his interception, which bounced off Hunter Henru’s hands to a waiting defender.

“Just tried to get to him quick, and hopefully he gets in. I think I put it on the wrong shoulder. I think if I put it on the opposite shoulder away from the defender, and I think that’s maybe a completion there. Just unfortunate it got tipped up. Just a bummer.”

But those are all major nitpicks in the grand scope of Maye’s performance. He also didn’t fumble despite being taken down four times, an area of growth after a spree of strip sacks.

If you’re a Patriots fan, you can rest easy knowing the hardest position to fill in sports is in good hands.

RED ZONE WOES PROVE COSTLY

Negative plays have hurt the Patriots’ offense throughout their losing streak, and that trend continued on Sunday.

New England went just 2-6 in scoring territory, with offensive line errors playing some part in each negated touchdown drive.

The offense’s opening possession, which lasted 11 total plays, was halted by a sack where Mike Onwenu lost decisively to DeForest Buckner. Kendrick Bourne also admitted he contributed to poor spacing on the play, adding to a growing list of route-running errors from the veteran.

Slye then put the Patriots on the board with a 35-yard field goal.

Their next drive was essentially ended by an Onwenu holding penalty, which turned a Rhamondre Stevenson touchdown from the two-yard line into a first-and-goal from the 12. One play later, Layden Robinson was called for the same infraction, backing the offense up another 10 yards to the 22. Slye ultimately made a 31-yard field goal.

Jahlani Tavai and Christian Elliss gave the defense its first true win of the day on an exceptional effort for an interception. This didn’t put New England in the Red Zone, but Onwenu missing the play change on a run led to Stevenson losing four yards on 3rd & 1. Slye picked up the slack with a 54-yard make to put the Patriots ahead 9-7.

After going touchdown-for-touchdown with the Colts, then forcing a three-and-out before halftime, Slye shanked a 25-yard attempt. This wiped out a potential five-point lead.

“Operation,” Slye answered when asked about the miss. “I need to be better on my communication as a whole. To be honest. Just kind of a shitty situation.”

Baringer disagreed, taking responsibility for the miscue.

“I got to put a better spot down, I feel like. Obviously, I’ll watch the tape, but we’ve been operating really well the whole day… but I just feel like I need to put a better ball down in that situation. Obviously, like Joey said, communication, but it comes down to execution, and I need to see if I could have done my part better. I feel crappy, but we’ll see what happened and we’ll work hard to fix it.”

Maye’s interception came at the Colts’ seven-yard line on the next drive. That can graciously be chalked up to bad luck, but it doesn’t excuse the sins of the previous drives.

DeMario Douglas was also flagged in scoring territory for not getting set at the snap, but Antonio Gibson overcame it with an impressive touchdown run for New England’s final score.

Fewer pre-snap penalties were a bit of a consolation prize, but this offense cannot afford penalties, period. Linemen told reporters they didn’t agree with all of the calls, but as Mayo says, do business as business is being done.

“Look, we know with this crew the first – I think we had them the first Miami game,” the head coach explained. “They threw ten holding penalties between the two teams. So we went into the game knowing that’s one of the calls that they make a lot. It just comes down to, look, some of them obviously were questionable, but they called them, and we just have to fix those mistakes.”

Miscommunications and miscues from receivers are other persistent issues that popped up in this game.

This game had blowout potential with better Red Zone execution. But until New England proves otherwise, they simply are not a team where that feels like a realistic threat.

DYNAMIC BACKFIELD GETS BETTER OF PATRIOTS’ GROUND DEFENSE

The Patriots hadn’t seen a quarterback run game entering this game, and they certainly hadn’t faced a specimen like Anthony Richardson. Davon Godchaux even admitted postgame that he was glad Richardson didn’t play when the teams met last season in Germany.

Like last season, the run defense held elite back Jonathan Taylor under four yards per carry. Commendable, but Taylor got yards when he needed them and kept Indy ahead of the chains. The Colts lived in short-yardage situations all afternoon, and the defense showed little resistance.

Richardson proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. He ripped off two explosive runs to the outside, including a 3rd & 1, each on touchdown drives. He also ran in a touchdown, converted a 4th & 2 that could’ve helped end the game, and put the nail in the coffin with a game-deciding two-point rush (where refs may have missed a high-low/hold on Christian Barmore).

The miscommunication that led to the Colts’ first score shouldn’t be ignored, as it was another example of poor communication costing points.

Still, when looking at the larger picture, the defense’s inability to contain Richardson on designed runs (an admittedly tall task) cost them when it mattered most.

New England must return refreshed and ready to improve after the bye, as Murray, Allen, and even Herbert can and will run them over behind already-potent run games.

CORNERBACKS STEP UP AGAINST COLTS’ OVERSIZED RECEIVERS

The Patriots successfully experimented with a new corner rotation against the Colts’ corps of six-footers. Rather than asking Marcus Jones and Jonathan Jones to spend the day against Alec Pierce and Michael Pittman Jr., New England turned to depth corners Alex Austin and Isaiah Bolden.

Austin had what may have been his best performance to date, breaking up two passes and providing consistently tight coverage.

Bolden also appeared to hold up well in limited snaps.

Marcus Jones was still involved in the action, and he notched a pair of key pass breakups against AD Mitchell.

But, per usual, Christian Gonzalez was the star of the show. He undercut a Pierce target for his third turnover of the season, showed great awareness shoving Mitchell on the tipped pick, and prevented two potential Richardson rushing scores.

On a rough day for the defense, the cornerback room deserves credit for smothering a talented receiver group.

JEROD MAYO ANSWERS FOR QUESTIONABLE CALLS

As has become tradition, Jerod Mayo had some decisions to answer for following yet another close loss.

On the decision to attempt a 68-yard field goal instead of a Hail Mary:

“That was 100% me. Look, [Joey] 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.”

On if New England considered taking a time-out earlier during the Colts’ final scoring drive:

“Absolutely, there was a thought. 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.”

On not challenging the 3rd & 8 catch by Will Mallory, which appeared to wobble, with three time-outs:

“We were waiting to see the replay. Never really got a clear shot of it, so I didn’t challenge it.”