Maye, Gonzalez remain bright spots, but the Patriots are heading in the wrong direction

BOSTON -- The New England Patriots are heading in the wrong direction to close out the 2024 season. Somehow, the team is getting worse every week, and no one has any answers or a solution to fix their many issues.

"I kind of sound like a broken record standing up here, just being disappointed after a performance like that," head coach Jerod Mayo said after the team's 30-17 loss to the Cardinals on Sunday. "We've got to do better."

That "better" was supposed to come this weekend, with the Patriots coming off their bye week and having two weeks to do some soul searching. Instead, we saw the same old Patriots take the field in Glendale, Arizona for Week 15.

A number of offensive plays went either nowhere or backwards. Penalties either wiped out first downs for the Pats or gave them to the Cardinals. Playmakers didn't come through when they needed to, whether it was a bobbled catch that turned into an interception or any of the missed tackles by the defense. The play-calling was once again uninspiring and mostly uninventive, and had Mayo seemingly calling out Alex Van Pelt after the game. 

If you're frustrated as a fan, the Patriots' ownership is with you. This was Jonathan Kraft's reaction after Antonio Gibson was dropped for a five-yard loss in the second quarter -- New England's sixth negative play of the first half.

I'm no lip reader, but it appears Kraft uttered "terrible" when talking about the team's offensive play-calling. That was how most people watching Sunday's game felt about New England's offense, though they likely used some more colorful language.

The Patriots had 11 plays go for zero or negative yardage on Sunday. The defense was able to hold the Cardinals to field goals in the first half, but the unit was out of gas by the fourth quarter and let the game get out of hand.

So another Sunday results in another frustrating loss for the Patriots. And it doesn't look like it's going to get any better over the final three weeks.

We knew they weren't going to be great in Mayo's first season, but we were expecting some progress over 18 weeks. Instead, the Patriots continue to make the same mistakes over and over, and they continue to take steps backward each weekend.

Here are two "Ups" from Sunday, but as has been the case all season, there were a lot more "Downs" that plagued the Patriots.

UP: Drake Maye

He is one of only two reasons to watch this team right now. Maye didn't have a big day, as the struggles of the offensive line kept him from throwing downfield for most of the first half. But he completed his first 10 passes of the game, and finished 19-of-23 for 202 yards, a touchdown, and an interception that wasn't his fault. 

And when he finally got chances to launch it downfield, there was this throw:

Followed by this play:

This kid is the real deal. Now he just needs playmakers and something resembling an offensive line around him.

UP: Christian Gonzalez saves some touchdowns

The other reason to tune in to a Patriots game? The play of second-year corner Christian Gonzalez, who is making a nice push for the Pro Bowl. (Remember when that didn't mean anything to the Patriots? Good times.)

Gonzalez was all over Marvin Harrison Jr. throughout the game on Sunday, and ended up breaking up two potential touchdown catches for the talented rookie in the end zone. Harrison did have an early 23-yard reception against Gonzalez, who was picked on the play, but he finished with just two receptions for 32 yards on six targets. 

Like Maye, Gonzalez appears to be the real deal. Sunday's performance was another nice entry on his Pro Bowl resume this season.

DOWN: Third down

OK, now to the downs. And there are a bunch of them.

We'll start with the Patriots inability to do anything on third down on either side of the ball. Offensively, they were 0-for-5 on third down in the first half and 0-for-6 in the game. 

On the defensive side, the Patriots allowed the Cardinals to convert on 10 of their 15 third-down tries. Third down was a disaster on both sides of the ball for New England on Sunday.

DOWN: Another bad day for the Patriots' O-line

The Patriots won the toss and opted to receive the ball to start the game, in hopes of giving the offense a spark out of the bye. They got to the Arizona 18 on a 15-yard run by Gibson -- but that was taken off the board because of a holding penalty on Layden Robinson. That killed the drive, turning a third-and-5 conversion into a third-and-15. Two plays later, Joey Slye missed a 53-yard field goal and the Patriots got nothing out of their opening drive.

The second drive was even worse for the New England O-line, as Vederian Lowe missed a block on two straight plays. The results were Rhamondre Stevenson losing two yards and Maye getting sacked for a seven-yard loss. The Pats went three-and-out that possession. 

Center Ben Brown also sent a pair of low snaps to Maye early in the game. The quarterback was able to salvage one of those snaps, but the other resulted in a loss of a yard.  

The struggles of the line kept the offense vanilla for the majority of Sunday's loss, and had the Patriots playing from behind when they had a chance to take an early lead. 

DOWN: New England's run defense

The Cardinals ran all over the Patriots to the tune of 163 yards on 32 attempts, good for 5.1 yards per carry. Kyle Dugger and Jahlani Tavai had a number of missed tackles on the day, as James Conner ran for 110 yards on his 16 carries. He picked up 53 of those yards on a first-quarter run that set up Arizona's first touchdown.

DOWN: Joey Slye's miss

The hold on Robinson killed New England's first possession, but they still had a chance to get three points out of it. But Joey Slye hooked his 53-yard attempt wide left, and the Patriots got nothing. It was the kicker's seventh miss on the season.

Want a little salt for your kicker-related wound? Chad Ryland, who was the worst kicker in the NFL last year for the Patriots, was 3-for-3 against this former team on Sunday.

DOWN: Patriots receivers

Other than some garbage-time catches, the New England receiving corps did nothing on Sunday. Tight ends Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper were the only ones making catches for much of the loss, combining for seven catches on seven targets.

Kayshon Boutte caught just two of the five passes that went his way, and he essentially lateraled the ball to Cards cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting for Maye's only interception. DeMario Douglas and Kendrick Bourne both had just three catches, while Ja'Lynn Polk didn't catch his only target. 

Pats receivers got no separation on Sunday, which only exacerbated the struggles of the offensive line. Wide receiver would be the team's biggest need heading into the offseason if the offensive line wasn't such a mess.

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