Focusing on Mac Jones is missing the point and other leftover Patriots thoughts

BOSTON -- I truly believe the game was lost with the missed field goal.

I know that given ... well, everything that happened after the missed field goal, that may be a useless bit of analysis. You could take a fatalistic approach and say that a thumping was going to be delivered no matter what. And hey, who am I to say you're wrong?

But to me, that kick was huge. Monumental. Yes, Mac Jones had just thrown another pick-six, though this one was just a football play rather than an awful decision. And the team actually bounced back fairly well to that gut punch, with rookie Demario Douglas providing a jolt with a 24-yard catch, hanging on the ball despite absorbing an illegal shot to the head. That play moved the ball 39 yards up the field, and they were in position to respond by at least getting on the scoreboard and making this a football game.

So up stepped rookie Chad Ryland, who was 4-for-7 on field goals entering the game. The broadcast excused his two misses in Week 3, noting that the snaps from Joe Cardona were a little high. But after an out-and-out ugly miss in Dallas in Week 4, Ryland had something to prove in this one.

Namely, he had to prove he could successfully kick a very standard NFL field goal of 48 yards, on a bright and sunny day with just a little bit of wind.

The kick started left. Then curled more left with the wind. And it sailed wide of the upright.

Yeah, it was just three points. Yeah, they lost by 34. Yeah, the offensive line was so bad that it's possible that nothing really mattered in the game. 

Yet in a 7-0 game, for a team desperate for points, it felt like a necessary moment for this team to have some belief that it could compete with the opponent on this day. But the kick was no good.

Ryland may end up having a wonderful NFL career, but he's off to an inauspicious start. He came in with pressure, with the Patriots trading up (with the Jets, no less) to take him in the fourth round. After a preseason with very little live-game kicking for the rookie (and some shaky moments in practice), the Patriots opted to keep him over reliable veteran Nick Folk. Folk has gone 13-for-13 on field goals and 7-for-7 on PATs with Tennessee, and that includes him going 3-for-3 on 50-plus-yard kicks. Meanwhile, Ryland is 4-for-8 on field goals, going 2-for-4 in the 40-49-yard range and 1-for-3 on 50-plus-yard kicks.

And with an opportunity to do his part on Sunday to help lift his team after a low moment, Ryland couldn't get the job done.

Sure, maybe it wouldn't have mattered. But it didn't feel that way at the time.

As for the rest of that 34-0 shellacking at the hands of ... Dennis Allen, Derek Carr, and the New Orleans Saints (?!), let's run through the leftover thoughts as quickly as we can.

--It's football, so everything falls on the quarterback. I understand it. I'm not here to fight it. I just think if Mac Jones' performance (or lack thereof) is in your top five issues coming out of Sunday, then you are completely missing everything that is wrong with this team. 

The easiest way to understand this would be to watch plays like this one, where Jones has no chance to do anything except get swallowed alive.

Another way would be to attend the games (you may be getting offered free tickets in the very near future, friend) and see the complete lack of separation across the board. Covering DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne and JuJu Smith-Schuster is not difficult for most opposing defenses.

But if that doesn't get it done for you ... maybe just look at the running game.

Look at this:

And this:

Or this:

Or look at the pressure the quarterback was under:

Or look at the third-down play-calling, which included two unsuccessful "jump balls" to DeVante Parker.

You take it all in concert, and you see underlying issues that touch just about every area of the offense. 

So, yes, many will spend this week yelling about Mac Jones, or pondering the potential of Bailey Zappe starting next week. That's just a part of the sport. But the Patriots are so far away from actually having to worry about the performance of their quarterback that it's largely a waste of time to focus on it right now.

--Speaking of Bailey Zappe. Woof.

Third-and-4:

Third-and-1:

Let's throw a first-and-15 in there, too:

This isn't particularly relevant to the 2023 Patriots, but as a point of reference: Zappe might not be an NFL-caliber quarterback. And in terms of relevancy to now, Zappe's 38.9 percent completion rate should at least inform you that playing quarterback for the 2023 Patriots is quite difficult.

--One spot where arrows can and should be flung at Mac Jones is for the missed pitch on the fake sneak.

That was actually a good idea. Just completely botched by Jones.

It might have been too late to matter in the game, but that looked like it could have been the first real boom play for Stevenson this year.

--Bill Belichick was being logical in his decision not to go for it on fourth-and-3 at the Saints' 40-yard line. As Belichick put it, the Patriots just aren't good enough on third or fourth down to justify that "risk." 

Again, logical.

But think about what he's saying. He's saying -- publicly, into a microphone (except for the one that he dismantled) -- that his team isn't good enough to even really consider trying to gain three yards to keep a potential scoring drive alive.

That's a bit of a problem!

I don't know what's going on there, but I know that Belichick handpicked the Matt Patricia/Joe Judge-led offense last year and faced an incredible amount of (justified) criticism for doing so. It also felt as though the Bill O'Brien hire was forced upon him from ownership. It's not that Belichick doesn't like or respect O'Brien, but a major shift on the coaching staff without full acknowledgment from Belichick felt like a decision that was at least partly out of his control.

And now, impossibly, the offense under O'Brien is worse than last year's. And Belichick is calling it out.

It just doesn't seem like a functional situation, and while there's certainly an element of blunt honesty at play with Belichick's comment, there's also the possibility that a public display of a complete lack of trust in the offense can lead to some fractures in the locker room.

--Speaking of fractures, I don't think this "source close to Mac Jones" is helping matters:

With it being unclear who exactly was saying that, it needn't be the biggest deal right now. But at the very least, it raises our antennae to be on the lookout for some potential finger-pointing if the offensive futility continues.

--Let's not forget the defense, though. This play was brutal:

Have you ever seen 33 yards given up with such little resistance?

The Saints got whatever they wanted on the ground, they accomplished plenty through the air, and most damning of all, they went 3-for-3 in the red zone (before a fourth-quarter kneeldown made them 3-for-4). They entered the game dead last in red zone offense, scoring touchdowns on just a third of their trips. Yet the Patriots laid out the red carpet to the end zone three times.

There was supposed to be a dip with Matthew Judon and Christian Gonzalez getting hurt, no doubt. But this dropoff was beyond the pale.

--Special teams, too. In addition to the missed field goal, they had a 26-yard punt (after one of Joe Cardona's two bad snaps), a muffed punt, two penalties on Matthew Slater, and a fair catch of a punt at the 5-yard line.

If there's any greater indication for Bill Belichick not being the same coach he used to be than these continued blunders on special teams, I'm not sure what it could be.

--Mac Jones' two best throws had very bad results. His completion to Demario Douglas led to the rookie getting a forearm to the head that eventually knocked him out of the game. (Not sure how or why Douglas was allowed to keep playing, only to be removed due to the head injury several minutes later.)

That pass was delivered while Jones was getting hit. It was a good one. 

Similarly, his pass to Ty Montgomery was a rare ... good play from the Patriots' offense ... until Montgomery flubbed the catch and handed the Saints an interception.

Play-action fake, clean pocket, drop in the bucket in the middle of three defenders:

Interception.

Even when they do something right, bad things happen. It's that kind of season.

--I'll wrap it up, because I'm not sure how much more anybody wants. But I'll just say this: I don't know where the Patriots go from here. I really don't.

I was high on the team after Week 1, because I thought they went toe-to-toe with the Eagles. What I didn't know at the time was that the Eagles are largely doing juuuuust enough to win this year without expending too much energy.

I didn't hate them after Week 2, when awful right tackle play by Calvin Anderson sunk them on what otherwise could have been a competitive night against a good team.

But it's since gone from bad (narrow victory over the Jets, lone touchdown on fluke-type play to Pharaoh Brown), to worse (38-3 in Dallas) to unfathomable (34-0, at home, to a blah Saints team). Unlike in past years, where you could point at one or two positions and envision team-altering upgrades, the issues at play appear to be so ingrained in this team that there appears to be no way out. And suddenly, the possibility of this team being 1-7 or 2-6 in a couple of weeks seems ... almost likely.

Other than that, it was a lovely day at the stadium for the football game on Sunday.

You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.