Red Zone Woes Doom Patriots, Led By Cam Newton's Horrendous Pick-Six
By Matthew Geagan, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- There were many, many, many, many (many, many, many) issues with the New England Patriots in Thursday night's 24-3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, but the most glaring deficiency displayed by the team was its inability to do anything in the red zone. The Patriots mustered just three points on their four trips inside the red zone.
That is, unless you count the seven points that Cam Newton giftwrapped for the Rams with a horrendous pick-six on the first play of the second quarter. It was a truly back-breaking turnover, giving the Rams some free points off of what was a great scoring opportunity for New England.
It looked like the Patriots offense was in business after Myles Bryant wrestled an interception away from Robert Woods to give New England the ball at the L.A. 32-yard line. It was a golden scoring opportunity for a team that had a pair of three-and-outs to start the game.
But what's the worst possible way to end a free possession? That would be a turnover leading to a defensive touchdown, and that's exactly what happened for the Patriots.
New England's great scoring chance flew out the window on yet another ill-advised throw by Newton. He went looking for Damien Harris on a screen, but the running back couldn't break through the brick wall that is Aaron Donald at the line. Harris never saw Newton's pass coming, until it fell into the arms of linebacker Kenny Young.
Young bolted 79 yards for a pick-six, giving Los Angeles a 17-0 lead and completely dissolving any momentum that New England may have gotten from the Bryant pick. It was a back-breaking play, one that could have essentially ended New England's postseason hopes.
It was New England's fourth red zone turnover of the season, which is more than the team had over the past three seasons (three overall). For Newton, it was his 10th interception of the campaign.
"That type of play is all off of anticipation," he explained after the defeat. "I thought [Harris] had just gotten right outside of the defender, so I was just going to try to lead him upfield and obviously that didn't happen. It ended up being a turnover going the other way.
"We were in a position where we're just trying to make the most of what we had," the quarterback continued. "We know that this was a stingy defense and rightfully so. Probably pressed too much and if I had it back, I'd just throw it on the ground."
The issue with Newton's throws are that even if he was trying to put it into the ground, there is no guarantee it wouldn't have found a Rams defender anyways. The quarterback attempted only 16 passes Thursday night, completing nine of them, but very few of them looked like professional throws. He continued to toss wobbly ducks and underthrow his targets, giving his receivers very little to work with when they came down with the ball.
The threat of the passing game was non-existent Thursday night. The Rams were able to key in on New England's ground attack, holding the team to just 3.7 yards per carry.
The Patriots ran the ball on 11 of their 12 plays on their ensuing possession after Newton's pick-six. It was another drive that ended with zero points on the board despite New England marching all the way down to the L.A. two-yard line. The Pats had no choice but to go for it on fourth-and-2, but when Newton took off on a wide run to the left side, the Rams were waiting for him. They easily swallowed up the quarterback for a two-yard loss, ending the scoring threat for the Patriots.
"It was just too outside of the pitch-keep and I didn't want to kind of pitch the ball and lead to a potential turnover," said Newton. "So, I just took my chances of trying to take it up in there and see how much I could get. I didn't want to create another bad play."
For the season, the Patriots have scored points on just 52 percent of their trips inside the red area, which ranks 27th in the NFL. New England's red zone offense is as effective as that of the Denver Broncos and Dallas Cowboys. Yuck.
The Patriots did muster a field goal on their next possession, which would be their only points of the evening. In the second half, with Jarrett Stidham replacing Newton early in the fourth quarter, the Patriots punted away four of their six possessions while turning it over on downs twice.
The Patriots had no answers for the Rams defense, one of the league's best defensive units. Newton's inability to get anything going led to some more questions for Bill Belichick about the team's starting quarterback going forward, to which Belichick responded with an angry growl that Newton is the team's quarterback.
To his credit, Newton wouldn't blame any of his miscues or struggles on an abdomen injury that is reportedly causing him quite a bit of pain. But Thursday's defeat dropped New England's playoff odds to just six percent.
Newton may still be the team's starting quarterback, but the season is just about over for the Patriots. When the dust settles and we look back on what went wrong in 2020 (and it was a lot), the team's lack of execution in the red zone will certainly be high on the list.