The New England Patriots lost to the Las Vegas Raiders in a heartbreaking, unexpected way.
As time expired, Rhamondre Stevenson lateralled the ball to Patriots wideout Jakobi Meyers, who attempted a backwards pass to Mac Jones. The underthrow by Meyers was picked off by Chandler Jones and left Mac Jones as the only Patriot close enough to potentially save the game.
Chandler Jones, being much bigger and faster, was able to stiff arm Mac and take it to the house, defeating the Patriots 30-24 and keeping the game from going into overtime.
The Patriots looked as undisciplined as we have ever seen them in the Bill Belichick era, and things don’t look to be getting any better with the team sitting at 7-7 with a final three-game stretch against all playoff contenders.
Games against the Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills could leave this underperforming team in a hole they cannot climb out of this year.
The Patriots should spend the rest of this year repairing the locker room, which is clearly in disarray, and start to set the 2023 season in their sights.
There is no tanking in New England, but the Patriots need to start developing their young draft picks, while resting veterans they view as part of the plan for 2023. This season, honestly, feels as hopeless as 2020 at this point.
It isn’t too hard to see why, either. Let’s get into the leftover notes from last night’s gut punch of a loss.