New England falls to 3-11 on the year.

Coming off the bye week, it was a largely uninspiring effort from the New England Patriots in a 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

New England’s offense managed just three points over the first three quarters of work as the other side of the ball surrendered over 5.0 yards per carry and 10 third-down conversions.

Here’s everything that went down as the Patriots fall to 3-11 on the year.

Final Score: Patriots 17 : 30 Cardinals

Sunday, December 15, 4:25 p.m. ET | State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ | Inactives | Game day roster | Broadcast information

First Quarter

The Patriots won the coin toss and elected to receive the opening kick for the first time this season. The drive quickly got on the move behind tight ends Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper and Rhamondre Stevenson. After a pair of Cardinals injuries — including to former Patriot Mack Wilson — a holding on Layden Robinson negated a 15-yard third-down conversion. On 3rd-and-10 after a Cardinals penalty, a conservative screen call to Pop Douglas gained just four yards. That set up a 53-yard field goal which Joey Slye missed wide left.

Taking over at the 43-yard line following the miss, Arizona’s first drive got started by a man beater to Marvin Harrison Jr. who took it 23 yards. New England then held as Christian Elliss brought down Kyler Murray in the open field, leading to Chad Ryland knocking through a 49-yard field goal. [Patriots 0 : 3 Cardinals]

Two bad reps from left tackle Vederian Lowe — one in the run game and one leading to a sack — set New England up with a 3rd-and-12. Maye’s short pass was complete to Douglas, who fumbled after a big hit and saw the ball end up being caught by Kendrick Bourne. Bryce Baringer then punted.

Arizona’s second drive started with a big 53-yard by James Connor to set the offense up outside of the red area. After working inside the 10, an end around to Greg Dortch saw the receiver fumble before the goal line and the ball was recovered in the end zone by a Cardinals offensive lineman, Jonah Williams, for a touchdown. [Patriots 0 : 10 Cardinals]

Second Quarter

Two short completions forced the Patriots next drive into an opening 3rd-and-6, where Ben Brown’s second bad snap of the game resulted in a punt.

The Cardinals offense picked up a pair of first downs back with the football, before facing a 3rd-and-6 just shy of midfield. Murray looked for Harrison Jr. down the left sideline, but perfect coverage from Christian Gonzalez led to an incompletion.

New England’s next possession started on the ground, as Stevenson took three carries for 18 yards. Some Maye scrambles mixed in with no open receivers led to a 4th-and-1, where a pitch to Stevenson picked up just enough to move the chains. A screen to Marcus Jones then helped pick up 18 yards before two runs to Gibson went backwards. On 3rd-and-16, a short pass to Bourne picked up just eight yards leading to a 50-yard field goal from Slye. [Patriots 3 : 10 Cardinals]

With two minutes left in the half, Arizona’s drive started promising before a pair of penalties — one hold drawn by Keion White as he got home for a sack along the interior. Facing 3rd-and-11, a short pick play to Dortch saw the speedster take it 39 yards — with Kyle Dugger missing a tackle. Inside the red area on third-down, Gonzalez played Harrison Jr’s hands to knock the ball out in the end zone. Ryland’s field goal was good. [Patriots 3 : 13 Cardinals]

A handoff to Stevenson ended the first half.

Third Quarter

Starting the second half with the ball, some poor tackling on New England’s part led to Arizona picked up a pair of first downs over midfield. A Deatrich Wise sack then resulted in a 15-yard gain due to a blatant horse collar tackle. The Cardinals could then not overcome an offensive holding as Gonzalez recorded another third-down pass breakup to force a field goal. [Patriots 3 : 16 Cardinals]

Remaining down by two scores, back-to-back RPO runs to Stevenson picked up 25 combined yards to get the offense moving. With Gibson then in the backfield, the speedier back bounced a run outside for a 29-yard gain to move inside the red area. Another run to Gibson picked up nine more yards before the back was stuffed on 3rd-and-1. Staying on the field on 4th-and-1, a run up the middle to Stevenson was stuffed.

The turnover on downs left the Cardinals offense inside their own five-yard line. On 3rd-and-6, Murray flipped a poor decision under pressure which was intercepted — but a poor roughing the passer call resulted in an Arizona first down. With Murray then exiting the game and Clayton Tune behind center, New England’s defense held to force a punt.

After a pair of short completions picked up a first-down, disaster struck for New England. With Maye missing an open Boutte downfield, he went back to his receiver the next pass who saw Boutte basically hand the ball to the defender for an interception.

Fourth Quarter

Kyler Murray reentered the next drive and looked for his tight end Trey McBride on a pair of connections to move the offense. He then found Conner on back-to-back completions to set Arizona up at the one-yard line — where the back then plunged in for a score on 3rd-and-goal. [Patriots 3 : 23 Cardinals]

Down by 20 with just over 10 minutes remaining, Stevenson and Maye got things going highlighted by a beautifully placed completion to Kendrick Bourne for 37 yards. On 2nd-and-goal, Maye bought time outside of the pocket to the left and flipped a touchdown to Douglas. [Patriots 10 : 23 Cardinals]

Injury update: LB Christian Elliss (head) is questionable to return.

Arizona converted back-to-back key 3rd-and-4s to start their next drive to move the ball outside the red area and keep the clock moving. Conner then bounced a run and made a pair of defenders miss to move the ball to the one-yard line, where he plunged back in for a touchdown. [Patriots 10 : 30 Cardinals]

Quickly back down 20, two short passes to Gibson saw the back pick up 31 yards before Maye hit Austin Hooper up the seam for 26 more yards. From the five-yard line following the two-minute warning, Maye escaped to the right and kept it himself for six. [Patriots 17 : 30 Cardinals]

A perfect bounce on an onside kick resulted in the Cardinals recovering as no Patriot was in the area. Arizona kept it on the ground to end the game.