Kendrick Bourne had plenty to say about New England's inability to generate offense against the Bills

FOXBORO -- Quarterback Mac Jones was not the only player frustrated with the Patriots' offensive display in Thursday night's loss to the Bills. Wide receiver Kendrick Bourne had plenty to say about the team's struggles after the 24-10 defeat.

Like Jones, Bourne said the Patriots need to start executing some big plays. During his nearly 10-minute scrum in the locker room, it sounded like Bourne was calling out the lack of creativity in Matt Patricia's offensive system. He echoed Jones' sideline sentiment, which was that the Patriots need to dial up more big plays.

Unfortunately, that is just one part of the laundry list of issues facing the New England offense this season, as Bourne highlighted.

"We got to get the ball downfield. I think Mac needs more time. He's obviously running around, so it's hard to get the ball downfield when you can't really have time for him to throw," Bourne said after the defeat. "No knock to the line, it's just what we need to work on. The receivers can't do nothing if the ball can't get downfield. If we can't throw it past five yards, it's going to be a long game."

Bourne said that the Patriots have the plays in the playbook and the players on the field to get it done. 

"We have to play harder. We have to want it more," he said. "We still have life, but we need to hurry and pick it up."

The New England offense had just 242 yards on the night. The Patriots' only touchdown came on a screen to Marcus Jones, when the dynamic return man took it 48 yards to the house. That accounted for a large chunk of the 195 passing yards from Mac Jones on the night.

Bourne had just one reception for 15 yards on his two targets. No New England receiver or tight end had more than two receptions on the night, with running back Rhamondre Stevenson leading the way with six receptions for a whopping 24 yards.

"We were only down 10 for the whole game, but we just couldn't do nothing on offense. We have to figure that out as a group," said Bourne. "Everyone."

The Bills didn't look like they were taking the Patriots very seriously throughout the contest. Buffalo spent much of the night just running out the clock and trying to get out of Foxboro without any injuries, possessing the ball for over 38 minutes.

"Shout-out to the Bills. They did a great job controlling the clock, keeping us off the field, keeping us cold and stagnant. It was a great game plan they had," Bourne said of New England's AFC East foil, who have now won three straight against the Patriots in fairly dominant fashion. "We just got to be able to get the ball downfield. We have plays, but we can't get to them. We're calling them, but they're just not working."

Bourne was very direct when asked about New England's inability to do anything on third down. In those must-have situations, the Patriots were just 3-for-12, which is a trend that has haunted the team all season. The Patriots have converted just 36 percent of their third downs for the year.

"Yeah, man, we need to scheme up better. We need to know what they're doing. We need to know what they wanna do on third down," said Bourne. "They call this, and we call that, and it falls right into what they want. We have to have it where they're falling into what we want.

"That's not my job, my job is to just run the call," he said. 

Bourne is certainly not wrong, but it's very unusual for a Patriots player to voice such an opinion about a New England coach. At least he was a lot more G-rated than Patriots fans in Gillette Stadium on Thursday evening, who consistently shared their displeasure with Patricia's unimaginative offense.

"We can attack more, I think. It's not my job, so it's really just me playing the play that is called -- all of us," he added. "As players, we have to make the tougher plays if that is how it's going to be. It's about looking at yourself and asking 'what can I do better.' It's a group thing and it has to balance better."  

With the quarterback shouting out some vulgar suggestions on the sideline and receivers criticizing just about every aspect of the offense in the locker room, it could get a lot uglier for the Patriots over the final five weeks of the season.