Ups & Downs: The Patriots failed to make plays when it mattered against the Colts

FOXBORO -- The New England Patriots are their own worst enemy. They not only have to try to beat an opposing team every weekend, but they have to make sure they aren't beating themselves.

Well, the Patriots once again beat themselves throughout an exciting but extremely disappointing 25-24 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. The Colts deserve credit for making the plays they needed to, but the Patriots offered very little resistance with the game on the line in the fourth quarter.

Stop us if you've heard this before: Penalties along the offensive line and poor red zone play on both sides of the ball doomed New England on Sunday. It's the same sad song that has been playing all season.

At least the Patriots had a chance in Week 13, unlike last Sunday's embarrassment in Miami. But another loss drops Jerod Mayo's team to 3-10 on the season, and has just about everyone on the team and the coaching staff searching for answers.

There were some very promising "Ups" from the defeat, but the "Downs" will once again dominate this space.

DOWN: Patriots defense disappeared when it mattered the most

With a 24-17 lead. the Patriots had to make one final defensive stand with just over five minutes left in the game. They came up with a few stops on third downs, but then failed to make any stops on three fourth-down tries by the Colts.

The Colts were facing a fourth-and-3 with the game on the line and only 17 seconds on the clock, but Kyle Dugger got beat by Alec Pierce on a short touchdown-pass by Anthony Richardson. The Patriots had another chance to win the game when the Indy offense remained on the field for a two-point try, but the defense came up empty again. Richardson barreled his way through the heart of defense to lift the Colts to the win.

The Colts won the game with a 19-play, 80-yard drive that saw Richardson go 6-of-11 for 46 yards. The Indy QB was just 6-for-13 before that drive. 

There was a key penalty mixed in for the Patriots. Corner Alex Austin -- who had a nice third-down PBU earlier in the drive -- was flagged for a crushing pass interference on an incomplete to Michael Pittman on a third-and-9, which gave the Colts a fresh set of downs at the New England 20.

Defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington is going to have a lot to think about over the next two weeks. Overall, the New England D let the Colts score three touchdowns on four trips inside the red area.

UP: Drake Maye

The Patriots wasted another great game by their rookie quarterback, as Maye was downright surgical at times. He showed once again that he is the real deal at quarterback and the future is bright in New England -- so long as the Patriots don't waste this immense talent and surround him with some more playmakers and a good offensive line.

Maye was 24-of-30 and missed on maybe two throws as he racked up 238 passing yards and a touchdown. He did have another pick in the red zone, but that was more on tight end Hunter Henry, who bobbled a good pass from Maye before it landed in the mitts of Indy safety Julian Blackmon. 

Maye spread the love, hitting six receivers throughout the game. Henry was his favorite target with seven receptions for 75 yards, and fellow tight end Austin Hooper caught Maye's perfectly thrown 16-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to give the team a 16-14 lead at the time.

We also got another massive Maye scramble, as he scampered for 41 yards in the first half. He finished with 59 yards on his five attempts.

Maye is the real deal. Now the Patriots need to build an actual team around him this offseason.

UP: Solid day for Patriots running backs

It was a good day for New England rushers overall, as Rhamondre Stevenson had 73 yards on his 18 carries (averaging 4.1 yards per attempt), and Antonio Gibson was even better with 62 yards on his seven attempts. 

Stevenson had a big 32-yard run early in the game thanks to a massive hole that was opened by his offensive linemen. He also had a touchdown taken off the board because of a holding penalty, which we'll touch on a bit.

Gibson gave the team a big spark and scored his first touchdown as a Patriot with an 11-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter to give the team a 24-17 lead.

Overall, it was a pretty good day from the New England offense as the unit finished with 422 total yards. We even saw some creativity out of Alex Van Pelt, as he called for a nice play-action shovel pass to Henry and even had Jacoby Brissett take the field on a handoff to Kendrick Bourne. Both plays moved the chains for New England. 

But as we know, none of that was enough in the end.  

DOWN: New England's Red Zone offense

It's bad. Real bad. The Patriots were just 2-of-6 in the red area on Sunday, which included a missed 25-yard chip shot from Joey Slye ahead of halftime. 

The Patriots had four trips to the red zone in the first half and came away with just one touchdown. Three of those trips were inside the 10, as the Patriots left a lot of points on the field.

DOWN: Colts stampede into end zone on first drive

Maybe we should have seen the end-of-game drive coming. After their terrible game against the Dolphins last week, the New England defense started Sunday's loss by letting the Colts go on an 8-play, 71-yard scoring drive to take a 7-3 lead.

Richardson was 3-of-3 on the drive for 36 yards and had an 11-yard run, while Taylor ran for 24 yards. It was just too easy for the Colts on that opening drive.

DOWN: The New England offensive line

Maye was kept relatively clean and had time to operate on Sunday, but the Patriots' offensive line once again caused a lot of laundry to fly. The Pats were hit with seven penalties for 88 yards, and four of them were on offensive linemen. All of those infractions came in the first half. 

The Pats got to the Indy 2-yard line on their second drive, but Stevenson's touchdown out of the wildcat was taken off the board by a Mike Onwenu hold. On the next play, Layden Robinson was hit with a hold that moved the team back another 10 yards. The Pats ended up settling for a field goal to make it a 7-6 game.

On the team's next possession, Onwenu didn't block Indianapolis' Grover Stewart, who flew into the backfield and took down Stevenson for a big loss. The Pats again settled for a field goal to take a 9-6 lead early in the second quarter.

Then on New England's final drive before halftime, linemen were flagged three times for holding, with Robinson, Demontrey Jacobs, and Vederian Lowe the guilty parties. Lowe's penalty was declined, but it came on a third-and-2 that saw Maye get taken down for one of his four sacks on the day. Slye then missed his 25-yard attempt, and the Pats only led 16-14 at the break.

The Patriots had a chance to ice the game after Christian Gonzalez's interception with eight minutes to play, but Maye was sacked on a third-and-11 and New England had to punt after a three-and-out. We all know what happened next. 

The Patriots have a lot of work to do this offseason, but building a good offensive line has to be at the top of the priority list. 

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