Patriots Delivering Coal in New England's Stocking, Trail Bengals at Halftime

Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow completed his first 11 passes and the Pats trail, 22-0, at halftime.

After the New England Patriots' dismal first-half performance Sunday in Foxboro, it's difficult to find much Christmas cheer. But ...

It could be worse?

The Pats need to win their three remaining games to have any shot at the AFC playoffs. But last week's devastating loss to the Las Vegas Raiders is clearly providing a hangover thwarting any joy on Christmas Eve at Gillette Stadium.

New England's usually reliable defense was shredded by Bengals' quarterback Joe Burrow and the its offense - per usual - was punch-less in an ugly first half. Burrow completed his first 11 passes and threw two touchdowns as Cincinnati built a 22-0 halftime lead.

How dominant were the Bengals? Burrow completed 28 of 36 passes for 284 yards and three touchdowns ... in the first half. Cincinnati ran 48 plays to New England's 15.

Mac Jones completed only four passes for 23 yards. New England's only highlight was a sack by Matthew Judon - giving the Pats' lone Pro Bowl player 15.5 for the season.

Bad as it is, the margin could have been bigger as the Bengals had a touchdown negated by a penalty, missed two extra points and suffered a Red-Zone turnover when Devin McCourty intercepted Burrow.

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