Notes, musings, and observations from the New England Patriots’ 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
Another week, another loss, another final score that isn’t indicative of how the game played out. The Arizona Cardinals needed this game in order to keep their playoff hopes alive, and they delivered. The New England Patriots, on the other hand, looked like their usual, stinky selves.
1. I’m guessing there are a few fans out there who still find themselves frustrated by what we’re seeing with this team, and I get it. I really do. But it’s been more or less the same song and dance with the 2024 Patriots all season, and with only three games left, it ain’t changing. So we may as well enjoy it and try and take pleasure in the little moments.
2. I will say, though: it’s fairly remarkable how impossibly consistent the Patriots have been in their ability to lose games each and every week. You usually see teams implementing different game plans, altering their strategy, tweaking rosters, going run-heavy one week and pass-heavy the next. Not the Pats, though. Every Sunday, without fail, they make sure to miss blocks, negate big plays with penalties, tackle poorly, drop passes, and put themselves in an insurmountable hole early enough so the rest of the game is more or less playing out the string. It’s almost poetic, in a weird, masochistic way. I don’t think any team, in the history of professional football, can consistently turn a potential first-and-goal into a missed 50-plus-yard field goal attempt the way these Patriots can.
3. I think the big issue for me, at least one that represents a semi-departure from the usual issues I harp on every week, is that I didn’t get the sense that the Patriots were all that prepared to play this one. Coming off a bye, with two weeks to prepare, they just didn’t seem ready to play at any level.
4. And when you combine the usual nincompoopery with a game like yesterday’s, where it kind of had a “just one of those games” feel to it, there was just no shot New England was winning this one.
5. You know what I’m talking about. Every team experiences games like this, poor play and penalties aside, where everything just seems to go the other team’s way. The Cardinals fumbled twice but recovered them both, one by a big fat guy in the end zone for a TD. A potential game-changing pick was called back on a wildly questionable Roughing the Passer penalty. Drake Maye hit Boutte in stride, but he bobbled it and it went right into the hands of a Cardinals defender. Sometimes you just have games where the bounces all favor one team. Sometimes it favors your team. Couple that with the Patriots being a terrible football team, and here we find ourselves.
6. But let’s focus on the positive here today. I honestly don’t know how many more ways I can say that the O-line is terrible and the team has no discipline. Maybe I’ll give myself an early Christmas present and not type the words “Vederian Lowe” for the rest of the year.
7. Although literally as I was writing that last note, I also realized that there are only so many ways you can write “Drake Maye” and “Christian Gonzalez.” So maybe I need to stick with the negative for a little while longer in order to meet my word count.
8. And since I’m staying negative, I’ll celebrate Festivus a little early this year and air what are probably my three biggest grievances of 2024, O-line play and mental discipline aside:
9. One, Kyle Dugger STINKS. Maybe his ankle is shattered and he’s playing through it while also playing out of position and finding himself forced to play multiple roles due to lack of depth and injury all while simultaneously moonlighting as a vigilante who fights crime. In which case I’ll give him a pass. But he’s out there whiffing tackles, taking horrible angles, getting smoked on cuts, and not living up to that massive contract he got this offseason.
10. Two, if the Patriots have faced a third or fourth and less than a yard and called a single Drake Maye QB sneak all year, I certainly can’t remember it. I’d like to think that one of the more mobile and athletic quarterbacks in the league would be able to take a snap and fall forward for three feet. Maybe I’m wrong and he’ll get stuffed behind this line. But maybe prove it by calling a QB sneak, just once, for the love of Tebow.
11. Three, when this team needs a stop to get back in it, that’s almost always the part of the game where instead they give up a 38-play, 97-yard scoring drive that takes three weeks off the game clock. It’s not even like they can’t surrender a first down and absolutely have to force a three-and-out; they just need to prevent a score and give the offense the ball with a little time on the clock to try and do something with it. And it’s in those clutch moments where the D is at their absolute worst. And again, that all goes back to mental discipline and toughness. AKA coaching.
12. I haven’t called for Jerod Mayo’s job once all season and I’m not about to start now. He inherited a bad team and is learning on the job at one of the hardest positions there is. My big hope for him is that he’ll look back on 2024 and realize that he spent so much time trying to prove that he wasn’t Bill Belichick that he forgot to be Jerod Mayo, and this offseason he’ll find his footing and his style.
13. One of the few real regrets I have about this season is how few people are watching the Patriots play, and thus missing the absolute masterclass that Christian Gonzalez puts on week in and week out. It’s not just his physical abilities and the way he more or less erases every receiver he covers. It’s how he learns from the times he gets beat and only makes a mistake once.
14. Perfect example of that — early in this game, Gonzalez got caught on a rub route with Harrison coming across the middle, which turned into a 23-yard catch and run. It was a very well-executed play that put McBride in Gonzo’s face and sprung Harrison for a big gain. The Cardinals tried running it two more times yesterday after that one; Gonzo beat the rub the first time to maintain coverage, and the second time he read the route pre-snap and bumped Harrison at the line to disrupt the timing. That 23-yard reception was one of two passes Harrison caught on the day, on six attempts, two of which were PBUs in the end zone.
15. I’m legitimately wondering if Drake Maye is flourishing in spite of the support he’s getting from the coaching rather than because of it. The things he does best – accuracy, pocket mobility, creativity, ability to improvise – are all elements he brought to the table already or occur after the play inevitably breaks down.
16. His play of the day was that absolute dime he threw to Kenrick Bourne, which then set up a nifty shovel-pass to Douglas to make it a two-score game. Every week, I’m thankful I get to at least take some good away from this team, and it’s always something that Maye does or continues to do.
17. I honestly believe that the Patriots are in really good shape to become contenders within two years. I genuinely think that, all homerism aside. What’s going to keep me awake at night, though, is whether they squander this opportunity and mismanage their way out of a potentially generational talent.
18. I also feel like Antonio Gibson hasn’t gotten enough credit as he quietly puts together a great season. Gibson would once be considered a vintage Bill Belichick signing: a strong veteran misused under other systems who is thriving here. But since Belichick is no longer here, and since nobody cares about the Patriots anymore, he’s going unnoticed and uncelebrated.
19. Speaking of Belichick: Best of luck down in North Carolina, coach. I always kind of thought that UNC football was the redheaded stepchild of the Tar Heel sports program, given how strong the other programs are. But all that just changed.
20. The Patriots have now lost four straight, with the Bills, Chargers, then Bills again on the slate to finish out the year. I’m not sure if that Week 18 matchup is going to be
21. The real excitement, though, is at the top of the 2025 NFL Draft. There are currently six 11-loss teams, which means the Patriots could end up picking as high as first overall and as low as like ninth, depending on how the rest of the season shakes out. I think New England has one more win left in them, so the question is where 4-13 will land them. And what they’ll do with that pick.
22. But more about the draft later. Three games left in the season, then that’s all she wrote.