Sunday was the type of game a veteran team with a culture of winning wins.
The Patriots entered Week 11 coming off their most dominant win of the season, beating the Bears in Chicago 19-3 in Week 10 and making Caleb Williams look like mince meat with their nine sacks on the day.
The Rams entered Sunday with a 4-5 record coming off a bad loss to the Dolphins, and carried some of that sloppiness into Week 11, playing an undisciplined brand of football (7 penalties for a loss of 66 yards).
Los Angeles left the door open for New England, but the young team wasn’t able to take advantage.
The Patriots lost on Sunday at Gillette Stadium, 28-22, falling to 3-8 on the season.
Here are your “Ups & Downs” for Week 11. Let’s start positive:
Ups:
- Drake Maye: Wire to wire, this was Maye’s best game as a pro.
The rookie quarterback was 30 of 40 for 282 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.
Sure there was a sack-fumble in the second quarter that led to a Rams touchdown one play later, but we’re not dinging Maye for that one. You’ll read more about that play in “Downs.”
More importantly, the 22-year-old didn’t put himself in harm’s way with questionable (non-existent) slides.
In fact, the mobile Maye opted not to flash the legs much at all - a massive change from what we saw throughout his first five starts this season. Outside of a couple scrambles in the second half, Maye was all arm on Sunday.
Maye trusted that arm to make plays all day, routinely taking what the defense gave him, finding pass catchers in space allowing them to pick-up yards after the catch.
On his team’s first touchdown drive of the game, coming in the first quarter on the offense’s second possession, Maye sliced and diced the defense on a seven-play, 77-yard drive that ate up three and a half minutes of clock.
After a few nice plays from DeMario Douglas (more on that next), the capper was a 10-yard touchdown pass to veteran receiver Kendrick Bourne on a perfectly executed slant route to the middle of the field.
The first half was chock-full of drives where Maye was making the right decisions, yet the offense kept making untimely mistakes that ended drives before touchdowns could be scored. Just look at that stat line - it’s clear the kid was looking comfortable throughout the day. But unless you play a complete game across the board, Maye’s arm is never going to be enough.
This continued into the second half - Maye and his pass catchers moved the ball down the field, yet the Patriots were unable to get into the end zone with the regularity needed to keep pace with the Rams.
These two drive in particular stand out as ones that New England needed six on but instead got three:
- 13 plays, 63 yards, 7:08 time of possession, 25-yard field goal for Joey Slye
- 13 plays, 66 yards, 6:09 time of possession, 42-yard field goal for Joey Slye
Maye threw his lone interception on their final drive of the game, but we’ll cover that more next.
This kid is the real deal, and it’s a shame that his win-loss record hasn’t reflected that through six career starts.
Some Ups, Some Downs:
- DeMario Douglas: Week after week, we’re seeing “Pop” continue to live up to that nickname, as the second-year receiver is becoming a true go-to for his rookie quarterback.
On the second possession of the game for New England’s offense, Douglas made the two key plays that inevitably led to Bourne’s trip to the end zone.
The first came on play No. 1 of the drive, as Maye found Douglas for 14 yards, with all those yards coming after the catch. Three plays later on 3rd and 7, Maye hung tough in the pocket on a safety blitz and found Douglas as a safety valve, allowing “Pop” plenty of space to pick up the first down and some. The Liberty product picked up 28, bringing New England from their own 40 all the way to Los Angeles’ 32.
Three plays later, it was Bourne for 6.
A great nugget from Adam Amin on the FOX broadcast - as of his first catch on the second possession of the game for New England, 64% of Douglas’ receiving yards are coming after the catch.
Ergo, the little guy is a YAC beast.
On the day, Douglas had 5 catches for 59 yards on 7 targets.
It turns out Douglas may have been on to something earlier this season when he was barking for more touches.
But if we’re going to be fair, it was a gaffe he made on his final target of the game that led to the return of this special section for a third consecutive week.
On 3rd and 13 from the New England 25 with 1:55 remaining in the ballgame, Maye was trying to make a play to keep his team alive down 28-22.
Douglas was open in the middle of the field, but he wasn’t looking for the ball. His head was completely turned upfield, clearly not expecting the ball to be thrown his way. With Maye expecting Douglas to have the field awareness to turn his head and be a viable pass catcher in space, he threw the ball up for him. Douglas had no idea, kept running upfield, and Rams safety Kamren Kinchens caught the game-clinching interception.
Some ups, one big down for Douglas on Sunday.
Downs:
- Jerod Mayo: A few questionable decisions by Mayo are going to land the first-year head coach in this section in Week 11.
During the team’s third possession of the game, Jerod Mayo opted to punt from the Rams 37 yard line instead of giving kicker Joey Slye a chance to flash his big leg for a field goal of 54 yards (remember, the dude hit from 63 earlier this year).
A delay of game penalty to give punter Bryce Baringer some more room to work with was no help, as the second-year player booted the ball into the end zone for a touchback.
The Rams’ ensuing drive went 80 yards for a touchdown, giving Los Angeles their first touchdown of the game. Had Mayo opted to attempt a field goal instead, who knows how that impacts the Rams’ offense on their next possession.
Skipping ahead to the end of the first half, with the clock running and the Rams running to the ball on a 4th and 1 from the New England 39 yard line. Instead of using one of their two timeouts to get things set and possibly set the offense up for one more shot at points before the half, the defense looked lost and unsettled as running back Kyren Williams picked up 6 yards to keep the drive moving.
Lucky for Mayo, this drive ended with a missed chip-shot field goal. Even still, this type of in-game flub is something a veteran head coach handles with ease.
On the Patriots’ first drive of the second half, Maye looked great again, bringing his team all the way down to the Rams 5 yard line for a 1st and goal. After three plays only managed three yards, the Patriots were faced with a 4th and goal from the 2-yard line trailing L.A. 21-10. Instead of being aggressive and leaning on the momentum of an offense that had moved the ball with ease for the first 63 yards, Mayo opted to kick a field goal with Slye to make it a 21-13 game.
With New England scoring a touchdown on their next possession but missing the extra point, Mayo almost certainly wishes he had those points from the previous drive.
- Undisciplined: On the first possession of the game, the Patriots offense looked to be in sync, picking up a first down on 3rd and 5 with Maye connecting with tight end Hunter Henry for 9.
One play later, running back Rhamondre Stevenson was called for an illegal chop block, pushing his team back 15 yards, which moved the ball from the Rams 41 to the New England 43. What could have been a promising start with the ball in L.A. territory turned into a punt for the Patriots three plays after the Stevenson penalty.
On New England’s third possession, the Patriots offense was once again moving the ball, getting all the way to the Los Angeles 15 yard line after Maye found Henry for a 17-yard gain on 3rd and 8.
Turns out this great play was all for naught, as left tackle Vederian Lowe was called for an illegal formation penalty. Big play negated, and two plays later the Patriots were punting to L.A. (more on that coming up next).
In the fourth quarter with New England’s offense driving down 28-19, Mayo opted to go for it on 4th and 1. Pre-snap, it looked like Maye was attempting to set-up some sort of trick play where the ball would’ve been snapped directly to one of the ball carriers in the backfield while he walked towards the sideline with planned confusion. Instead, embattled rookie Ja’Lynn Polk jumped early, and was called for a false start. This forced a 4th and 5, leading to a field goal for Slye instead of a much-needed touchdown drive for the offense.
A hallmark of the “Patriots Way” was limiting penalties and mistakes on the way to two decades of winning. They’ll need to get back to that if the organization wants to reach those heights again.
- Bryce Baringer: It’s another disappointing week for one of New England’s best players, as the punter blew an early opportunity to have a big impact on the game.
As we mentioned while talking about Mayo - during the team’s third possession of the game, the head coach opted to punt from the Rams 37 yard line instead of giving Slye a chance to flash his big leg for a field goal of 54 yards.
In fact, Mayo chose to take a delay of game penalty to give their 2023 All-Rookie Team punter more space to cook, hoping he’d be able to pin the Rams from inside their own 10-yard line.
Instead, Baringer booted the ball into the end zone, allowing Los Angeles to start from their own 20.
Nine plays and 80 yards later, Stafford found receiver Cooper Kupp on his patented out-route at the goal line for 6. An extra point from Joshua Karty later, and it was a 7-7 game midway through the second quarter.
When a punter is given the chance to be that big a part of the game plan, they need to nail that punt placement.
- Secondary: The Rams offense wasn’t exactly explosive, but they were able to move the ball with ease through the air all day against a Patriots secondary that has been up-and-down all season long.
Star second-year receiver Puka Nacua had a monster day with 7 catches for 123 yards and a touchdown, with 6 of those catches and 117 of those yards coming in the first half alone.
Future Hall of Fame receiver Cooper Kupp had 6 catches for 106 yards and 2 touchdowns, with most of his production coming on the first play of the second half.
On an all-out blitz by the Patriots defense, Kupp was left in single coverage with veteran cornerback Jonathan Jones. Stafford saw Kupp beat his man right away, hitting his man in stride en route to a 69-yard score for Los Angeles. Jones lunged for a tackle right as Kupp caught the ball, but the last-ditch effort only ended up leading to Kupp going untouched for the last 50 yards of the play.
Stafford’s chemistry with his speedy top two receivers is about as high-level as it gets in the NFL. New England’s secondary did little to quell that chemistry on Sunday.
- Offensive Line: Even though Maye was only sacked three times in the contest, this unit struggled to find their footing on Sunday.
It’s another week where this O-line was far from their worst version, but still gave us enough dings in the “Downs” column to feature them in this section.
And, sure, Lowe caught a “thicc six” touchdown in the third quarter to make it a 28-19 game. We’ll give them a check mark in the “Ups” column for that. Fat guy touchdowns rule.
But when it comes to the stuff that’s included on their unit’s job description, they weren’t as crisp as they needed to be on Sunday.
On the first possession of the game, Stevenson was called for an illegal chop block that set the Patriots offense back 15 yards. Had the offensive line been able to contain the Rams’ defender who read the snap count perfectly, Stevenson wouldn’t have been in position to have to make that poor snap decision.
On the team’s second possession, on Douglas’ second great play of that drive, Maye hung in tough on a safety blitz to make the throw that went for 28. It was a great play by Maye, but you never want your rookie QB taking that type of hit or facing that type of pressure. O-line needs to do a better job chipping on that DB blitz to negate that pressure.
On the team’s third possession, an illegal formation penalty from Lowe negated a big play from Henry that would have brought the ball to the Rams 15 yard line. Instead of a trip to the red zone, the Patriots were punting two plays later. That punt ended up leading to the Rams’ first touchdown drive of the game.
On the team’s fourth possession, Maye fumbled after taking a blind sack from Rams defensive tackle Braden Fiske on his own 20-yard line. D-lineman Kobie Turner fell on the football, giving the Rams the ball on the Patriots 12-yard line. On the very next play, Stafford found Nacua in the end zone for 6. The extra point was good, and the Rams were up 14-7 in the second quarter.
On the team’s sixth possession, the passing game helped slice and dice their way all the way to a 1st and goal from the Rams 5-yard line. On first down, Maye faced pressure leading to a bad throw to Henry towards the pylon. On second and third down, New England ran Stevenson on consecutive plays for a combined 3 yards. This forced a fourth down for the Patriots, and Mayo opted to kick a field goal. Another opportunity for 6 stifled by a bad sequence by the O-line.
A rare entry from the extra point unit, as Demontrey Jacobs and Lecitus Smith allowed Rams linebacker Michael Hoecht to split the gap and block Slye’s extra point attempt in the fourth quarter, keeping it a two-score game in the final quarter and sucking the air out of the stadium after their fellow offensive lineman caught a rare tackle-eligible touchdown catch.
The Patriots play their third road game in four weeks in Week 12, as they head down to Miami to take on the Dolphins.
This divisional game is a rematch from Week 5, where Miami came into Foxborough and beat New England 15-10 in what would be Jacoby Brissett’s final game as the starting quarterback for the Patriots.