Ups and Downs: Patriots beat themselves -- again -- in loss to Ravens
FOXBORO -- The Patriots actually played a fairly entertaining and competitive football game on Sunday. Until they didn't.
All the good feelings from the first half and early in the third quarter against the Ravens evaporated quickly as the offense kept turning the ball over and the defense gave up long scoring drives to Lamar Jackson and company. The Patriots turned it over four times, and Jackson was in full Lamar Jackson mode to end the contest, in Sunday's 37-26 Baltimore victory.
The Patriots held a lead in the third quarter on Sunday and were within striking distance for much of the second half, but the common theme as players discussed the loss was that New England beat themselves. Again.
"The Ravens made more plays than we did," Bill Belichick said after the loss. "They were able to take advantage of our mistakes. We weren't able to capitalize on as many of theirs, so. All the way across the board, just a few plays here and there that we need to play better, need to coach better, need to do better. We certainly made too many mistakes today to be able to win."
This is the second time in the last three weeks we've heard that from the Patriots head coach.
Mac Jones threw a trio of interceptions, including one in the end zone, and a huge fumble by Nelson Agholor in the fourth quarter as the team was marching down the field cost the Patriots a chance to beat the Ravens. Jackson ran one in with three minutes left as the defense struggled to make a stop to put Baltimore up by 11 points, and that was that.
Making matters worse, Jones was injured on his final play of the game, suffering a nasty looking leg injury as the Ravens came down with their third interception of the quarterback. It looked like a pretty severe injury that could sideline the second-year quarterback for a while.
Overall, Sunday was a missed opportunity for the Patriots in a season where it feels like they need to cash in on any break they get. They did not do that against the Ravens, and now sit at 1-2 on the season.
Let's check out the Ups and the Downs from Sunday's loss, starting with the things that bugged us the most in the defeat.
Downs
Mac's INTs
Jones threw three picks on the day, including two in the fourth quarter. His decision-making has been pretty abhorrent all season, and it was really bad on Sunday.
He threw another bad interception on a bad throw where he didn't see a defender in the middle of the field. That came in the third quarter after the Ravens scored a touchdown to take a 28-20 lead, when Jones somehow didn't see linebacker Josh Bynes on an over-the-middle look to DeVante Parker. The Ravens got a field goal out of the ensuing possession to take a 31-20 lead.
Mac's first fourth-quarter pick was even worse. It came when the Patriots had a chance to take the lead, but ended when the QB threw an inexcusable pass while under heavy duress, heaving one to the end zone in the direction of Parker. There was nothing 50-50 about the pass though, it was 100 percent going to be an interception by Marlon Humphrey after it left Jones' hand.
It was another horrible decision by the quarterback when he should have just thrown the ball away.
He threw another pick late in the game, and had to limp his way off the field after the play. Jones was taken down hard by Calais Campbell and couldn't put any weight on his left leg.
The day was filled with some questionable decisions by the second-year QB, and now we're left wondering if he's going to be out for a sizeable amount of time after seeing him hobble off the field.
Red Zone defense
The Ravens made five trips to the red area on Sunday, and walked way with a touchdown on all five of those trips.
Three of those were scored by Baltimore tight ends. Mark Andrews had two touchdowns, one on a nice shovel pass from Jackson and another when he brought in the ball and Devin McCourty's entire upper body on a 16-yard strike from Jackson. Josh Oliver scored on a one-yard feed from Jackson to give Baltimore a 21-20 lead in the third quarter.
Devin Duvernay's four-yard touchdown capped off a four-play scoring drive for Baltimore just a few minutes later, and then Jackson capped off the Ravens scoring himself with a game-sealing 9-yard touchdown run with three minutes to play.
The Patriots just couldn't make a stop in the red area on Sunday.
4th-and-3
Oh no, not this again. But c'mon, Matt Patricia, what was that???
Facing a fourth-and-3 at the Baltimore 33, Patricia called for a quick pick play to Kendrick Bourne in the flat. Usually, you want to throw the ball past the sticks in a gotta-have-it situation like that.
This came after the Patriots called a time-out on third down... to run a run up the middle. They followed that up with the screen pass on fourth down, a couple of curious decisions by the offensive staff.
Offensive line penalties
New England's first possession was derailed by an illegal formation penalty on Isaiah Wynn, which negated a five-yard Kendrick Bourne reception. Instead of a third-and-1, the Patriots faced a second-and-12. Jones was sacked a few plays later when Patrick Queen shed Cole Strange and brought down the quarterback, forcing the Patriots to punt. It ended a promising drive that started with a 31-yard connection between Jones and DeVante Parker.
Wynn was hit with a hold late in the first quarter, setting New England up with a second-and-16 after they had found their way into the red zone. The Patriots ended up settling for a field goal to cut Baltimore's lead to 7-3. But a touchdown would have been a lot nicer.
Wynn has been flagged for four penalties over the last two games. He needs to clean it up.
Uche's missed sack
Josh Uche was so surprised that he had a free path to get to Lamar Jackson on a third-and-5 on Baltimore's second possession that he hesitated for just a second. That was all Jackson needed to turn a would-be sack into a first-down rush.
It didn't help that Matt Judon came running in like a bat outta hell and boxed out Uche, but Uche should have gone for the sack when he had a chance. Even if he missed, Judon would have been there to finish it off. Instead, Jackson kept the drive alive, which ended with Baltimore's first touchdown of the game.
That was a huge whiff on Uche's part, and a very undisciplined move by Judon. Both cost the Patriots in a big way.
Third down offense
The offense was just 2-for-9 on third down on Sunday. Yeah, they may have missed Jakobi Meyers just a bit.
Ups
Parker connection
At least the Patriots got a breakout game from DeVante Parker. He had just one reception heading into this game, but finished Sunday with a number of incredible grabs. Parker had five receptions for 156 yards on the afternoon.
His first reception went for 31 yards thanks to a nice catch-and-run, and he picked up 40 yards on a nice play-action pass by Jones late in the first quarter. He had a 36-yard pickup on a deep feed down the left sideline to jumpstart New England's opening drive in the third quarter, and set up Damien Harris' rushing touchdown with a nice toe-tap grab for 25 yards.
His sideline tippy toe catch is even more impressive considering it had a 7.4 percent completion probability.
Parker could have had an even bigger day, but Jones missed him on a few occasions. But on a day when the Patriots were without their most productive receiver, Parker stepped up in a big way.
The double score is alive!
Remember how deadly the double score used to be for the Patriots? It was back on Sunday.
The Patriots got the ball back with 30 seconds left in the first half and looked like an efficient offense, driving to the Baltimore 32 to set up a 50-yarder from Nick Folk. That cut Baltimore's lead to 14-13 at the break.
Then the Patriots came out and looked like an efficient offense again to start the second half, thanks in large part to two incredible snags by Parker. New England took a 20-14 lead when Damien Harris capped off the seven-play, 75-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown.
O-Line/Run attack
From a run-blocking standpoint, the Patriots offensive line was once again stellar on Sunday. New England picked up 145 yards on 28 carries -- good for a 5.2 yards per carry average -- and ran for three touchdowns.
Rhamondre Stevenson was a beast all afternoon, rushing for 73 yards on his 12 carries for a robust 6.1 yards per carry average.
Mac's wheels
If it weren't for those pesky interceptions and the injury, Mac would have had a pretty good day. But he threw three picks and got hurt in the end, so it was indeed a rough day for the Patriots quarterback.
But Jones found the end zone with a nice three-yard scramble to score the team's first touchdown on Sunday. It was a solid job all around by the offensive line and a nice read by Jones to take it himself rather than force a throw somewhere.
(Mac does lose points for his post-touchdown Griddy. That could still use some work.)
He gained those points back though with an unreal conversion on a must-have fourth-and-1 early in the fourth quarter. Jones kept the play alive with some non-Griddy moves in the backfield before finding Jonnu Smith for the first down.
That set up the Stevenson touchdown, and Jones would have had a two-point conversion had Stevenson's knee not hit the ground before lateraling the ball to the quarterback. But the conversion didn't count, which would have been a nice swing in New England's favor.
Mighty Wise
Enough about the offense. The defense was pretty solid for most of the game, largely thanks to first-year captain Deatrich Wise, who was an absolute wrecking ball on Sunday.
Wise finished with three sacks in the game, becoming the first Patriots player to have three or more sacks in a game since Chandler Jones did it all the way back in 2015.
Wise finished the game with six tackles, including four for a loss, and those three sacks. He's been an absolute monster to start the season.
Jonathan Jones: Turnover Machine
Jones had a nice pick on Jackson, and he also punched the ball out of Rashod Bateman's hands as the Baltimore receiver was running down the field for a long reception. Jabrill Peppers jumped on the loose ball to give New England a chance, but Mac Jones threw an end-zone interception to end the team's ensuing drive.
