Patriots' Playoff Hopes Dwindle After Week 14 Drubbing By Rams

New England proved they aren't a playoff caliber team on Thursday Night Football.

After dishing out a blowout just four days earlier, the New England Patriots were at the losing end of a blowout Thursday night. The Patriots (6-7) lost to the Los Angeles Rams (9-4) 24-3 in what was potentially the worst game of the season for the Bill Belichick-led squad. 

During the Super Bowl 52 rematch we saw some poor offensive line play, a Cam Newton benching, and a Rams game plan that worked masterfully against the Patriots. 

New England's defense helped showcase a breakout game for Los Angeles rookie running back Cam Akers, who had 171 rushing yards on 29 carries. 84 of those yards came in the first quarter, which is the second-most rushing yards allowed by the Patriots in the first quarter in the last 20 seasons. On top of that, an early double-digit lead was too much to overcome for Cam Newton and the New England offense, as Newton had one of his worst performances over the past month and a half of the season, which prevented the Patriots from putting the ball in the end zone and scoring a touchdown of their own in Week 14. 

Newton completed 9-of-16 passes for 119 yards with one interception, and also ran the ball seven times for 16 yards (2.3 yards per carry). He was also sacked four times. Halfway through the fourth quarter Newton was benched in favor of second-year quarterback Jarrett Stidham, who completed 5-of-7 passes for 27 yards and was also sacked twice. 

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"We were outcoached, outplayed, about everything, really," head coach Bill Belichick said after the game. "They did a good job in all the areas. We weren't good enough to really be able to stay with them here. They're a good football team that played well. They played and coached better than we did and deserve to win. We just have to all do a better job, starting with me, but it just wasn't our night tonight."

The loss Thursday night gives the Patriots a six percent chance of making the postseason, according to ESPN's Power Index. That's a shot to the heart after the six-time Super Bowl champions had won four of the last five heading into Week 14 and had slowly increased their chances of making the playoffs. While there is still a slim chance this team could make the postseason, based on what we saw against the Rams they don't deserve to be one of the seven teams representing the AFC in January. 

With three games remaining on their regular season schedule, all of which are division opponents (Dolphins, Bills and Jets, respectively), New England will have to win their last three games if they want any chance of making the playoffs. Even at that, they would finish the regular season at 9-7. To put that record into context, the Indianapolis Colts are currently the seventh and final seed in the AFC, and their record currently stands at 8-4. The two teams currently in between the seventh seed and the Patriots are the Las Vegas Raiders and the Baltimore Ravens, both of which are sporting a 8-5 record heading into their Week 14 games. 

The Thursday night loss seems to have been the nail in the coffin for this Patriots squad. If they wanted to keep fans hopeful for some January football, they needed to beat the Rams. But they didn't. 

The mindset moving forward should be that more wins equals a lower draft pick for the Patriots. So if Bill Belichick and company want to have a fast reset of their franchise, they need to give their young players plenty of opportunities to put themselves on film over the next three games and begin evaluating the 2021 free agency and draft class. 

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