AP Photo/Steven Senne
FOXBOROUGH – So, at the very least, there’s clear growth with this 2024 Patriots team.
The only problem is, the NFL is a results based business and Sunday was another disappointing finish.
Drake Maye was picked off at the Rams’ 48 with 1:55 left, ending a potential game-winning drive and securing a 28-22 victory for Los Angeles.
The Pats dropped to 3-8 with another loss, but this one feels different.
Maye was 30-40 for 282 yards, two touchdowns and the interception while the offense had 382 yards. The rookie QB continues to show that he’s the real deal, there just aren’t enough playmakers around him yet.
Rhamondre Stevenson had 73 yards on 20 carries and Kendrick Bourne was the team’s leading receiver with 70 yards and a touchdown on five catches. Hunter Henry added six for 63.
Defensively, the Patriots struggled to find answers for Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp. The duo combined for 229 yards and three touchdowns while the Rams had 402 yards of total offense. The lone bright spot on that side of the ball was the return of Christian Barmore after being diagnosed with blood clots in August.
“I will say the guys came out with energy, and even when our backs were against the wall, they still continued to play hard, which I definitely appreciate,” Jerod Mayo said postgame. “I know the rest of the coaches and hopefully the fans appreciate it, as well. They’re playing hard. Do we need to get better? Absolutely, and that’s my job as the head coach of this football team. It starts with me. I have to do better.
“We have to demand more from our assistant coaches. We’re going to demand more from our players. We have enough talent in our locker room to be a very good football team, we’ve just got to be able to put it together.”
After trading punts to open the game, the Patriots took a 7-0 lead on a 10-yard dart from Maye to Kendrick Bourne over the middle, capping a seven-play, 77-yard drive. The drive included a couple big third down throws from Maye to Pop (28 yards) and Austin Hooper (18 yards).
Both teams traded punts again to end the first with New England still up by a touchdown. LA put together its best drive of the afternoon to that point with a nine-play, 80-yard march spanning just over five minutes and ending with a Kupp five-yard TD catch from Stafford.
Three plays later, Maye was strip-sacked and the Rams recovered at the New England 12. One snap after that, Nacua – who carved up the Pats for six catches and 117 yards in the first half – made a sick diving touchdown grab to put LA up 14-7.
New England responded with a nine-play, 57-yard drive that culminated in a 32-yard field goal for Joey Slye with 1:52 left in the half. Stafford put together a surgical 12-play drive and the Rams had 1st-&-goal at the eight yard line, but ultimately shanked a field goal off the right up right, leaving it a four-point game as the teams headed into their locker rooms.
“Look, you win or you learn,” Mayo added. “That has to be our mindset. It would be a huge disservice if we don’t learn anything from this game. But that’s a good football team that we played today.”
It took the Rams just two plays and 50 seconds to push the lead to 21-10 in the third quarter as Stafford hit Kupp for a 69-yard touchdown after Jonathan Jones got beat clean.
The Pats responded with a lengthy 13-play, 63-yard drive that took 7:08, but only resulted in a 25-yard Slye field goal after Rhamondre Stevenson was stuffed inside the five on 3rd-&-2, cutting it to 21-13. The boos rained down as the field goal unit made its way out, understandably so.
Again, the Rams had an almost immediate answer as Stafford quickly led LA on a 72-yard march in seven plays. The Rams went back up 28-13 on an absolute dime to the back left corner from 19-yards out to Colby Parkinson with 3:30 left in the third.
A few personal foul penalties on LA and a Maye scramble during the ensuing 10-play, 70-yard drive heading to the fourth quarter eventually set up a four-yard throwback to Vederian Lowe for a touchdown. Instead of going for two, the Pats tried for a PAT that was blocked, keeping it a two-score game at 28-19 with 12:45 remaining.
After forcing an immediate punt, the Pats marched 66 yards in 13 plays over the next 6:06 and a Skye 42-yard field goal with 4:54 left cut it to 28-22. The Patriots had lined up to go for it on 4th-&-1, but Polk had a false start.
New England got the ball back with 2:14 to go at its own 10. Five plays later, Maye was picked off when he and Douglas had a miscommunication on a ball over the middle, with Pop seemingly not turning his head around. A few kneel downs from Stafford sent fans in Foxborough home deflated again.
“Yeah, it was a two-high look and Pop [DeMario Douglas]’s up the middle, and they’re pretty good up front rushing five. I tried to kind of put it on them and kind of hit them over the linebacker, and Pop was thinking probably deep, but at the end of the day, just got to be on the same page, and I think Pop did the right thing, I guess, got to just talk through more conversations,” Maye explained. “Just goes back to me during the week doing more, talking through different situations, hey, I may put this one on you versus let it rip. That’s about it.”
The good news is that this isn’t the 2023 Patriots that circled the drain for the final two months of the season. This team will continue to play hard and make life difficult on its final six opponents.
“Like I said, proud of the way those guys competed. Just got to clean up a few things,” Mayo said.