The New England Patriots had a meltdown of epic proportions on both sides of the ball in Sunday’s 34-15 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
On defense, they got obliterated by Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins’ passing attack. The veteran quarterback went 29-of-40 passing for 317 yards and four touchdowns. Most of those passes went to wideout Jaylen Waddle, who seemed unguardable at times in the game.
The former Alabama standout hauled in eight passes for 144 yards and a touchdown. It would be easy to just point the finger at the defense, but the offense had its issues in the game, mostly notably when it came to penalties.
The unit was seemingly always behind the sticks with yellow flags flying left and right after almost every positive gain.
Rookie quarterback Drake Maye had some nice plays, and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt continued to show improvements with the play-calling. But none of it mattered due to the offense being so undisciplined in critical situations.
Overall, the Patriots racked up 13 penalties with 10 being accepted in the game.
Here are the studs and duds from the Week 12 performance: