If they can’t beat the lowly Jaguars, when will the Patriots win again?
New England suffered their sixth straight loss with Sunday’s 32-16 thumping.
Welcome to the Unconventional Review, an instant reaction to standouts, stats, and story lines from the Patriots’ most recent game . . .
Here’s a sobering thought to stack up on top of all of the other sobering thoughts about the New England Patriots right now:
They have a long, long way to go to match the talent — and more damningly, the toughness — of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Patriots suffered their sixth straight loss with Sunday’s 32-16 thumping at the hands of the Jaguars, who came in with the same miserable record as the Patriots (1-5) but soon proved — after falling behind 10-0 — that the Patriots’ current brand of lousy is far more hopeless than their own.
The Jaguars outscored the Patriots by 26 points over the final three quarters, outgaining them in total yards 339-177 after those deceptive first 15 minutes. Jacksonville became the third consecutive team to surpass 170 rushing yards against New England, rumbling through the Patriots defense for 171 yards while holding them to just 38 on the ground.
Get this: Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence did not throw a pass between 3:28 left in the third quarter until 4:09 remained in the game. In between, the Jaguars ran 17 straight times.
The guts of the Patriots’ defense (Christian Barmore, Ja’Whaun Bentley, Jabril Peppers) are absent, but some of the guys replacing them look like they’re auditioning for the waiver wire. The best tackler on this team might be its head coach. Jerod Mayo called this “a soft football team” after the game, which we’d call a candid confession if it wasn’t so obvious.
The Patriots have not lost six straight games since 1993. This streak might get a heck of a lot longer, with their lack of talent and lacking effort. It’s wild to think that this team should have started 2-0, because right now it’s tough to figure where and when that second win might come. Does having the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft count as a win?
The only enjoyable thing about the Patriots right now — the only thing — is rookie quarterback Drake Maye’s bursts of individual excellence, such as a stretch in the fourth quarter when he hit Hunter Henry for a 32-yard gain, lofted a gorgeous ball down the left sideline for 33 yards to Kayshon Boutte, then hit K.J. Osborn for a 22-yard touchdown on third and 15.
Count me as a total believer in Maye, whose poise under pressure has also been a pleasant surprise. I just hope they don’t the break his body and/or his spirit before he has some legitimate help, because the Carolina Kid is on his own right now.
Some further thoughts, upon immediate review . . .
Three players who were worth watching
Players suggested in the Unconventional Preview: Marte Mapu, Brian Thomas Jr., Tank Bigsby.
Tank Bigsby: For the record, the Jaguars’ second-year running back’s real first name is Cartavious. But the reason he is nicknamed Tank should be obvious to anyone who watched Sunday’s game — or for that matter, those who participated in it, given that Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones’s torso is probably still reverberating from a collision with Bigsby in the second quarter. Bigsby 26 times for 118 yards and a pair of touchdowns — all career highs. His first TD, a 1-yarder, gave the Jaguars a 14-10 lead late in the second quarter. His second, a 4-yard burst in the final two minutes, punctuated the victory. And he was also the workhorse during that insulting stretch of 17 straight runs, carrying 11 times for 51 yards in the span.
Hunter Henry: All right, Maye did have occasional help. He does seem to be developing genuine chemistry with Henry, who caught 8 passes for 92 yards, including the aforementioned 32-yarder during the Patriots’ final scoring drive. Four of his catches came in that hopeful first quarter, when he had 48 yards.
The veteran tight end now has 11 catches on 14 targets for 133 yards and a touchdown in Maye’s two starts. In Jacoby Brissett’s five starts, Henry totaled 16 catches on 25 targets for 180 yards and no touchdowns.
For the second time in three weeks, however, he picked up a critical false start penalty, this one coming on third and 5 from the Patriots’ 35-yard line in the dismal second quarter. Unacceptable for a captain.
Brian Thomas Jr.: I’m sure I wasn’t alone during the draft in hoping this well-rounded receiver from Louisiana State would fall to the Patriots in the second round. The Jaguars wisely snapped him up at No. 23 overall, 14 picks before the Patriots took . . . uh, more on him a few sentences from now.
Thomas already looked like a fully-formed No. 1 receiver against the Patriots, particularly in the second quarter, when the Jaguars outscored the Patriots, 21-3. Thomas caught a 6-yard touchdown pass for the Jaguars’ first points, then beat Christian Gonzalez for a 58-yard completion on their go-ahead scoring drive on the next possession. He also added the 2-point conversion after Parker Washington’s 96-yard punt return for the Jags’ third TD of the quarter.
Grievance of the game
The scope and humiliation of the Patriots’ defensive performance should win the dubious prize here. But I’ve got to go with Ja’Lynn Polk, who had zero catches on three targets (none easy, but all catchable) and fell down on a 2-point conversion, which was an inventive way to prevent the football from inevitably deflecting off of his facemask, shoulder pads, hands, or various other appendages.
Three notes scribbled in the margins
Predicted final score: Patriots 34, Jaguars 27
Final score: Jaguars 32, Patriots 16
Gotta tell you, I was feeling pretty good about that score prediction two Patriots possessions and 10 points into the game. Pretty, pretty good . . . It’ll be overlooked because of the assorted Patriots messes of the final three quarters, but backup running back Ja’Mycal Hasty made a couple of very nifty cuts on his 16-yard catch-and-run for the Patriots’ first touchdown. He caught all five of his targets for 49 yards . . . Chris Rose and Joe Thomas may have set a single-broadcast record for butchered names, which doesn’t exactly speak well of their game prep, but I’ll take Rose over Rich Eisen every single time.
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