Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images The Patriots were shut out 6-0 at home. The New England Patriots lost yet another game, this time to the visiting Los Angeles Chargers despite only giving up two field goals all day. Their 6-0 defeat was a tough one to watch, but it keeps the Patriots alive in the race for a top pick — and maybe the top pick — in next year’s draft. With all that said, let’s get into our takeaways from Sunday’s game. 1. Patriots’ issues run deeper than the final score: The Patriots aren’t good right now and losing a game 6-0 is a testament to that. Their issues, however, run deeper than that final score. They also had several self-inflicted mistakes again, including a muffed kick return by Jalen Reagor, a drop on a deep throw from Bailey Zappe to Tyquan Thornton, and operational problems such as too-many-men-in-the-huddle and delay of game penalties. Add it all up, and you get a team that looks laughable — something that falls not only on the players, but directly on the coaching staff as well. The Patriots simply did not look ready to play competitive football on Sunday, again. They are great defensively, but their inability to get anything going when in possession of the ball, whether that be on offense or special teams, is a major issue regardless of who is lining up at quarterback. This has resulted in a mix of incompetence and blandness that we have not seen from the Patriots in a long, long time, and it is therefore no accident that they are 2-10 without much hope for immediate improvement. Until they can put some halfway decent offensive performances together, and clean up their entire operation from top to bottom, they are not going to win (m)any games moving forward. 2. Bailey Zappe fails to electrify the offense: Bailey Zappe did not turn the ball over, which is good. Outside of that, he was not able to do much on Sunday either. Starting the game in place of Mac Jones, who was benched for good after a string of disappointing outings, the sophomore QB finished with only 13 completions for 141 yards on 25 attempts while leading an offensive effort that produced zero points. Zappe did a nice job avoiding pressure in the pocket at times, but still ended up sacked five times. He also had multiple plays where he just could not get the ball to his open receivers, with the worst examples coming on back-to-back plays in the first quarter: deep in his own end he mis-fired consecutive throws to Hunter Henry and JuJu Smith-Schuster that might have allowed them to at least move the chains. The Patriots did let him air the ball out down the field a bit, which was good to see, but he was unable to connect — sometimes due to his own inaccuracy, sometimes due to his teammates’ inability to finish plays. “I‘ve got to make plays towards the end. I’ve got to throw better balls,” Zappe said after the game. “I’ve got to make the balls catchable, especially in conditions like today — wet ball, wet hands. I’ve got to throw the ball better. It starts with me on the offensive side in getting things going.” At the end of the day, the Patriots didn’t look much better on offense with Zappe, but he also didn’t do anything that would warrant Mac Jones taking back over. 3. Trent Brown is clearly hobbled: Trent Brown has been one of the best offensive tackles in football when healthy this year. It was pretty clear that he wasn’t that on Sunday. The Patriots were rotating him with Conor McDermott at left tackle, and he looked slow and, frankly, not very good when he was out there. You like to see the guy toughing it out, and also that the Patriots tried their best to protect him. He’s been one of their better offensive players this season, and the Patriots should really consider bringing him back next year. Sunday, however, was not pretty. 4. Rhamondre Stevenson injury stresses running back depth: Stevenson left the game in the second quarter after sustaining an ankle injury, and while it remains to be seen how long he will be out it did not look good on the field. As a consequence, it seems unlikely that he will be able to make the quick turnaround for the Thursday game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but then the Patriots have 10 days off before the Kansas City Chiefs come to town. The hope is that the injury turns out to be not as bad as it looked, because Stevenson has been the Patriots’ best offensive player this year and has shown that he still has a whole lot of juice and power in his legs. He is a guy that the Patriots need moving forward — not just in 2023, but beyond. With Stevenson out, the Patriots’ running back depth will be tested. Ezekiel Elliott is the next man up, and he finished with 52 yards on 17 carries on Sunday. The team also has Ty Montgomery and JaMycal Hasty on its roster, as well as Kevin Harris on the practice squad. 5. Tyquan Thornton can’t catch a break, or anything else: The Patriots’ second-year wide receiver had a nice 39-yard run on a reverse on Sunday. He was making a few guys miss and showed off his speed en route to the second longest run by a wide receiver in team history. However, catching the ball is still a problem for Thornton. Bailey Zappe hit him on a nice deep ball in the late third quarter, but the ball just went right through his hands. It was the wideout’s lone target of the day. “I wish I could get that one back,” Thornton said after the game.” Just to make that play for our offense, I feel like we really needed that. I have got to do better at my job just to make that routine play.” Zappe, on the other hand, blamed himself for the incompletion. “I need to throw it better,” he said. “I led it too far. Maybe if I throw it six inches shorter, that’s a touchdown, he’s catching and running it.” Regardless of who is to fault for the missed connection, Thornton is dangerously flirting with the “bust” label in his second seasons as a pro. The Patriots should therefore not be afraid to move on from him after the season; fact is that he contributes little to nothing to the passing game at this point. 6. New England’s defense is approaching elite status: The Patriots haven’t been winning games, but it is not the defense’s fault. The unit has been stifling teams against both the pass and the run. In fact, the Patriots are the first team since the 1938 Chicago Cardinals to lose three straight games while allowing 10 points or less. The Patriots haven’t been forcing a ton of turnovers, but they have dominated opposing offenses. On Thursday, it looks like they are going to be facing Mitchell Trubisky at QB for the Steelers, and you have to think that they should be able to stop them from scoring much as well. The Patriots have to completely retool their offense, but the defense looks to be solid already — even while missing key pieces such as Matthew Judon and Christian Gonzalez. 7. Loss to Chargers a reminder that the Patriots have a lot of good players to re-sign: The Patriots have a bunch of players coming to the end of their deals that are going to deserve a second contract. Obviously Trent Brown and Michael Onwenu are solid, and deserve contracts, but there are a few other guys making a case for themselves as well — and Sunday’s game was another reminder of that. At the top of list is Kyle Dugger, but not far behind him should be Anfernee Jennings. He might not be a flashy player, but he’s been solid in the running game all year long, and has even gotten after the passer a bit. Christian Barmore isn’t technically on an expiring deal, but he needs to be paid as well: he has been the Patriots’ best defender this season, and looked the part again on Sunday; his improved run defense stood out and helped limit the Chargers to 1.4 yards per non-kneel-down carry. 8. The race for a top draft pick is heating up: The Patriots are on their way to getting a top selection in next year’s draft, and the loss on Sunday — combined with a win by the Arizona Cardinals — improved their spot. They now hold the No. 2 selection in the draft, and they have some wiggle room because they have a worse strength of schedule, so another win would still keep them in that spot. And if the Carolina Panthers somehow end up winning another game down the stretch, the Patriots might be in a position to move past them as well because the two teams’ respective strengths of schedule are almost identical as well. If you are going to be bad, you might as well be the worst team in the league. The Patriots are certainly close to being that right now. Speaking of things heating up... 9. Brandon Staley’s seat looks scorching hot: The Chargers won the game, but I might feel worse about the team after watching that game if I were a Chargers fan. They looked like a team that could not move the ball offensively, and did not show practically any creativity. Now, maybe they knew that they just had to not do anything stupid and they would beat the Patriots. However, New England almost won the game despite having no business being in it at all. The Chargers are a mess, but they do have a ton of talent led by quarterback Justin Herbert, which usually means bad news for a coach like Brandon Staley. Maybe it won’t be much better with someone else, but it cannot look much worse. 10. Short week headed to Pittsburgh: The Patriots will head to Pittsburgh, who, as noted above, will be led by Mitchell Trubisky on Thursday night. While the Steelers will be without their quarterback, the Patriots will be without at least Rhamondre Stevenson, and maybe wide receivers Demario Douglas (concussion) and Kayshon Boutte (shoulder, illness) as well. Yep. This one could get ugly. If you are having trouble motivating yourself to watch the game, just think how much fun it could be watching Drake Maye, Caleb Williams or Marvin Harrison Jr. next year. You need to pay your dues this season to earn the fun in 2024! At least, that’s what I’m hoping will happen. Source: https://www.patspulpit.com/2023/12/4/23 ... ppe-boring
