The New England Patriots hosted the Miami Dolphins on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium and were handed their fourth loss in as many weeks.
While the players on the field didn't look great, New England's coaching staff deserves a lot of the blame for the team's 15-10 defeat.
The biggest second guess of this game will be the team's commitment to the passing game. New England was never down in this one by more than five points, yet Jacoby Brissett threw the ball 34 times for just 160 yards (46, of which, came on the final drive) and was sacked on two more dropbacks.
At the same time, the running game was working. Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson combined for 141 yards on 7.83 yards per attempt and a score. Even if you removed Stevenson's 33-yard touchdown run, they rushed for 6.4 yards per attempt.
This point wasn't more clear than on New England's second-to-last possession of the game. They passed the ball on their last seven plays. They had first-and-10 at Miami's 12-yard line and they threw the ball three times with a minute left to go.
It may have chewed up clock, but at least it was something they were doing successfully.
On top of the issues with the play-calling, the Patriots appear to be one of the most undisciplined teams in the league, as they had 12 penalties for 105 yards accepted against them. Most of these were unforced errors that continued to push them back.
New England isn't good enough to overcome dumb mistakes like that, and they seem to keep happening.
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