Patriots Country

Blame Game: Who's at Fault for New England Patriots' 1-5 Start?

The New England Patriots are on track for their worst start in 30 years and there are plenty of fingers to point in a variety of directions as to why.

Richie Whitt

In this story:

As Bill O'Brien maintained a week ago, the sun may still be rising. But for the reeling New England Patriots and their bewildered fans, there is also no denying that it's setting fast on their once-proud dynasty.

*Sunday's 21-17 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders - punctuated by a coach (Josh McDaniels), receiver (Jakobi Meyers) and two quarterbacks (Jimmy Garoppolo and Brian Hoyer) with New England ties - dropped the Pats to 1-5 for the first time since 1995. With the 4-2 Buffalo Bills and 5-1 Miami Dolphins next up on the schedule, they are staring down the barrel at 1-7 and their worst start in 30 years (1993).

*Since last Thanksgiving, the Pats are 3-10.

*They haven't topped 20 points this season, and have been held below 30 for 17 consecutive games (22 in a row started by quarterback Mac Jones).

Instead of winning games, Patriots' iconic coach Bill Belichick is breaking tablets.
Instead of winning games, Patriots' iconic coach Bill Belichick is breaking tablets

There isn't a lot of optimism in Foxboro these days, but there is plenty of blame:

Bill Belichick

The coach continues to tarnish his future Hall-of-Fame legacy with a stark, sad post-Tom Brady downslide.

He hasn't drafted an offensive star in a decade, and Sunday in Las Vegas his team was so ill-prepared that it committed penalties on its first two offensive snaps and wound up with 10 flags. The Pats ran six plays for minus-2 yards in the first quarter, marking the first time in Belichick's 29-year career that his team failed to gain a single yard in the opening 15 minutes.

One week Belichick is providing an iconic photo with his hand over his face during a blowout loss in Dallas. Two games later one of the greatest coaches in NFL history furiously flings his tablet to the turf in frustration.

Mac Jones

O'Brien and Matt Patricia as play-callers notwithstanding, at some point the common denominator in New England's anemic offensive has to shoulder some responsibility. The quarterback's current three-game stretch is hideous: 153 yards per game with no touchdowns, five interceptions and two lost fumbles.

Granted, he made probably his best throw of the season that could've put his team into position to kick a game-winning field goal, but receiver DeVante Parker dropped it at the 50-yard line in the final two minutes. But Jones also had another awful interception, woefully overthrowing a wide-open Hunter Henry in the Red Zone to negate at least a field goal and set up the Raiders for another three points heading into halftime.

Explained Jones, "Interceptions are part of the game, and I didn’t make a good throw. I was just trying to do too much and they got three points from it, and that sits on me.”

Offensive Line

In six games, the Patriots have started five different offensive lines. None of them have worked.

Injuries to Mike Onwenu and Cole Strange have forced overwhelmed rookies Atonio Mafi and Sidy Sow to start at guard. Veterans David Andrews (center) and left tackle (Trent Brown) have been sub-par. And free agent Riley Reiff hasn't been the answer at right tackle that Belichick had counted on.

The offensive line was alarmingly bad all during training camp. After allowing six sacks in the preseason finale, the Pats admitted their problem and scrambled to trade for two projects in Tyrone Wheatley Jr. and Vederian Lowe.

The latter was merely a blocking dummy Sunday for Raiders' Pro Bowl pass-rusher Maxx Crosby. Lowe isn't an NFL-caliber player, and it showed in him several times not even being able to lay a finger on Crosby on his pass rush into the backfield.

 With the Pats attempting a game-winning drive, Crosby beat both the chip-block of tight end Mike Gesicki and a lame attempt by Lowe before sacking Jones for the game-clinching safety.

Jones has been horrible, and some of it is to blame on him being harassed almost immediately when he drops back to pass.

Injuries to defensive stars Matthew Judon and Christian Gonzalez. Draft whiffs. Free-agent miscalculations like JuJu Smith-Schuster over Meyers. Dropped passes. Turnovers. Pre-snap penalties. 

Add it all up and - no matter who you blame - the proud Patriots are now pathetic. At this point, the only positive is that they own the No. 6 overall pick in next April's NFL Draft.

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Richie Whitt
RICHIE WHITT

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