What we learned in Pats-Dolphins: ‘Total system failure’ raises concerns

What we learned in Pats-Dolphins: ‘Total system failure’ raises concerns originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

MIAMI GARDENS — Drake Maye was, for all intents and purposes, being held up by a stack of containers right outside the visitor’s postgame interview room at Hard Rock Stadium. He leaned on a bin, his head resting atop his arms, looking like he had to strain to stand.

The Patriots rookie quarterback was sacked four times and hit eight times total during a 34-15 beatdown by the Dolphins on Sunday. The hardest shot he took on the afternoon may have come one play ahead a scramble-drill, rabbit-out-of-the-hat, 38-yard, on-the-run heave to Austin Hooper for New England’s lone offensive touchdown of the game.

Dolphins rookie pass-rusher Chop Robinson did his best to cut Maye in half on third down before the fourth-down prayer, surely contributing to whatever discomfort Maye felt in the locker room after the game.

Those kinds of shots haven’t been foreign to Maye since he became the starter in Week 6. But after four straight competitive games against the Jets, Titans, Bears and Rams, the nature of the loss to Miami is what seemed to linger with the 22-year-old passer.

“It’s tough,” Maye said. “Like I’ve always said, I hate losing more than I really like to win. Losing sucks. I told some guys, just remember this feeling. Remember this feeling of really getting our butts whooped today, and it’s only up from here. We have a bright future and bright players in there that are going to make some plays for the Patriots.”

Maye’s future certainly carries promise. But the way in which Sunday’s game transpired leads to organization-wide questions that cast doubt over just how the near-term future will be handled. In a season when progress is a more realistic and attainable goal than wins, the most recent Patriots loss represented a definitive step back.

It was game was characterized by total system failure. From the coaching, to the execution by players, to the obvious talent deficiencies on display, it was as ugly a performance as the Patriots have had all season.

“It’s kinda embarrassing — 24-0 at halftime,” defensive tackle Davon Godchaux said. “We all played a part in it. Coaches. Players. Scouts. Everybody. We all played a part in this.”

Here’s was we learned from from a bludgeoning in South Florida…

You’re either coaching it…

…Or you’re allowing it to happen. That old football cliche rang true following this latest defeat, because penalties ruined New England’s day before it could really get started. They picked up six pre-snap penalties before halftime, 10 penalties for 75 yards in all, and were flagged 13 times total.

The offensive line was particularly sloppy, combining for three holding calls and four false starts. Starting left tackle Vederian Lowe had three false starts and a hold on his own, and he also allowed Dolphins defensive tackle Zach Sieler to beat him for a strip sack. Yet it was starting right tackle Demontrey Jacobs — who had a false start, a hold, and allowed multiple quarterback hits to Robinson — who was benched in the fourth quarter in favor of Sidy Sow.

”Terrible, terrible fundamentals on our part as an o-line,” Lowe said.

The Patriots had three separate first-and-20 situations in this game, they gifted Miami a fresh set of downs with an Anfernee Jennings neutral zone infraction. Kayshon Boutte had two offensive pass interference penalties (one accepted), and Hooper picked up an offside penalty simply for aligning over the line of scrimmage that was ultimately declined.

It was an alarming lack of attention to detail that — especially on offense — killed any chance the Patriots had of making the game competitive.

“Sometimes I don’t blame those guys up front, they’ve got a tough job,” Maye said of his linemen. “They have to get off on the snap count and get back there and block some good guys on the edge. I don’t blame them for getting off and trying to get a good set. Sometimes those things happen.

“I just think we had too many holds. I think some of them, especially on first down — first down, you’re getting first-and-20s and second-and-16s, it’s just hard. It’s hard to pick up first downs to move the ball.”

Mayo said his team’s lack of focus that led to those momentum-killing flags fell on his shoulders.

“Look, it starts with me,” Mayo said. “It starts with me. We’ve had these hiccups of games where the penalties really affected us, and it did today.”

Defense exhibits lack of control

In the stoic world of pro football, weekly performances are often chalked up to teams zeroing in on controlling the things they can control. For the Patriots on Sunday, they fell short in a number of categories that would fall under that umbrella, including focus, communication and discipline.

Marcus Jones mentioned discipline as being a factor on some of the penalty yardage the Patriots accumulated defensively, helping Miami when it didn’t need much; Tua Tagovailoa threw for 308 yards and four touchdowns while competing 29 of his 40 attempts.

Kyle Dugger chalked up New England’s red-zone breakdowns — Miami went 3-for-4 inside the 20 — to issues with focus and communication.

“I would say we just weren’t communicating the right way,” Dugger said. “That’s basically just beating ourselves, it doesn’t have anything to do with them. They are who they are and they are talented, but a lot of the issues in the first half was us beating ourselves and miscommunicating, things like that.”

Godchaux explained that an adjustment in the second half — more big bodies two-gapping up front, one linebacker on the field, more help for the secondary — helped. But he was unsure as to why the change wasn’t made sooner.

“I thought we made some good adjustments,” Godchaux said. “DeMarcus (Covington) made some good adjustments in the second half. … I wish we would’ve went to that more. I don’t know the reason why. But I trust my coaches, I trust my players.”

The Patriots were able to hold Miami to 2.7 yards per rush but got gashed in the passing game, allowing 10.9 yards per completion.

Identity still lacking

Twelve weeks into the season, the Patriots are still struggling to embody the identity they’ve hoped to forge for themselves since training camp. The goal has been to show they’re a smart, tough, dependable, versatile and complementary football team.

But games like Sunday’s are evidence that they have a long way to go before they can say confidently they are who they want to be.

“I think we’re kinda trying to find it,” Dugger said. “Yeah. I think we’re trying to find ourselves a little bit. Obviously there’s been a lot of changes. I think we’re still trying to find our identity.

“I think we have had it. I think we just haven’t stood in it, if that makes sense. We haven’t been consistent. We know what we want to be, but we haven’t shown it consistently… We haven’t put all those things together consistently as a team yet.”

Mayo was asked Monday if establishing a culture in his first season as head coach had been even more difficult than he anticipated.

“I never thought that we would be able to reestablish a culture in Year 1,” he said. “It’s hard to change a culture, and we’re trying to put those pieces together.”

“There’s gonna be ups and downs,” Godchaux said. “Nobody got it in a day. Rome wasn’t built in a day. The Patriots organization under Jerod Mayo is not gonna be built in a day. It’s gonna take adversity. It’s gonna take bumps and bruises.

“This is what he’s gotta go through as a head coach… Nobody’s pointing fingers. Nobody’s blaming anybody. Jerod is gonna take the blame. I just heard somebody say he took the blame. But we know when we get to the film tomorrow we go take accountability as men and as players.

“I look forward to it, getting positive criticism, coaching. Just gotta get better from it. No excuse. Jerod is gonna take blame for it automatically. He hasn’t even watched the film. He’s just being a leader, which he is. Just gotta get better.”