Earlier this season, the Patriots lost at home to the Dolphins 15-10 in what was one of the uglier efforts we’ve seen from New England in a very long time.
It was their fourth straight loss, and led to rookie Drake Maye taking over the starting quarterback job from veteran Jacoby Brissett.
Since then, both teams have changed a ton.
Maye has given the Patriots offense a lift they desperately needed, and Miami saw the return of Tua Tagovailoa under center, reinvigorating a once vaunted offense to a level that has Dolphins fans thinking their team could make a late-season push for the postseason.
While both teams entered Sunday with different arms, the outcome was the same.
Tagovailoa moved to 7-0 in his career against the Patriots, as New England got blown out at Hard Rock Stadium 34-15.
Here are your “Ups & Downs” for Week 12. Let’s start positive:
Ups:
- Jonnu Smith: Yeah, that Jonnu Smith.
I’d normally reserve this section for players in Patriots uniforms, but it would feel disingenuous to not include this former New England tight end playing in his first season for Miami.
Smith has been emerging as one of Miami’s most consistent weapons in recent weeks, and it was more of the same in Week 12 as the 29-year-old caught 9 balls for 87 yards and a touchdown.
With Smith’s two-year tenure in New England being one of the most disappointing runs for a free agent in recent Patriots history, seeing him have this type of success so soon after his departure is definitely salt in the wound.
- Linebackers in Pass Coverage: In one of the worst games of the season for the Patriots, these three plays from linebackers in pass coverage made their way into the “Ups” column:
- On the Dolphins first possession of the game, Patriots linebacker Marte Mapu (that’s pronounced MAH-POO, Adam Archuleta) had a nice pass breakup on 3rd and 2 while covering Smith that would have moved the chains for Miami.
- On Miami’s third possession, Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss saved a touchdown, as he stuck with running back De’Von Achane all the way up the sideline into the end zone and broke up a pass from Tagovailoa. It delayed the inevitable, but it was a nice play for the 25-year-old.
- On Miami’s final possession of the half, Mapu was at it again, as he had a pass breakup with his back completely turned while guarding Smith in the end zone. That came on a 2nd and goal from the New England 3, and Miami was eventually forced into a field goal.
Whether it flipped the game or not, we’re always going to give credit where credit is due!
Downs:
- Undisciplined: When your team is bad, you sort of just accept the fact that they’re going to get outplayed by better teams.
But when your team kills itself with penalties, you want to rip your hair out.
On the Patriots’ first possession of the game, left tackle Vederian Lowe was called for a false start. This turned a 3rd and 3 into a 3rd and 8. That meant the nice bubble screen to Ja’Lynn Polk for 7 yards would keep the Patriots 2 yards short of the sticks instead of moving the chains to get positive momentum out of the gate.
On their second possession of the game, despite moving the ball all the way to the Miami 20 yard line, we saw three flags thrown on the offensive line. First was right tackle Demontrey Jacobs being called for a false start. Two plays later, it was Lowe being called for his second false start penalty of the game. Seven plays later, it was Jacobs again - this time for holding, pushing the Patriots back to the Miami 30 yard line. That turned a 2nd and 6 into a 2nd and 16, and three plays later kicker Joey Slye was missing a field goal from 45 yards out (more on that coming up).
On the Dolphins second possession with the first quarter clock winding down, Miami lined up and went with a hard count to see if they could get New England to jump for a cheap flag. They did just that, with linebacker Anfernee Jennings falling for Tagovailoa’s harsh cadence, as the veteran was called for a neutral zone infraction on 3rd and 3 that gave Miami a fresh set of downs to open the second quarter. Three plays later, it was Tagovailoa finding his tight end for the first points of the game.
On the first play of New England’s fourth possession, the Patriots picked up 19 yards on a screen pass to Rhamondre Stevenson. A great way to set the tone!
…not so much, as that was wiped away with Lowe being called for holding, and a play that went to the New England 49 was pushed back to a 1st and 20 from the Patriots 20. Three plays later, New England was forced to punt.
And if you thought we were done with Lowe flags in the first half, I have bad news for you.
As a part of one of the worst sequences of football the O-line has played all season (more on that next), Lowe was called for an unbelievable third false start penalty in the first half. Third!
We’re now into the second half, and the Patriots best lineman Mike Onwenu got in on the holding party, as the guard drew a flag on their opening drive of the third quarter. Lucky for Onwenu, the offense kept the ball moving, almost negating the mistake.
But that would be too good to be true, as six plays later wide receiver Kayshon Boutte was called for offensive pass interference on what would have been a 7-yard gain for fellow receiver DeMario Douglas.
This penalty helped set-up a 3rd and 17 double pass attempt from receiver Kendrick Bourne that looked like the veteran was throwing with his off-hand.
It’s not enough to give Bourne his own entry in this section, but it’s about as close as you can get for one atrocious play.
With Miami getting the ball back, safety Kyle Dugger was called for a defensive pass interference penalty on Smith that moved the ball up to the Miami 40 yard line. That drive did not result in points for Miami, but you never want one of your best players adding to the laundry pile when the hamper is already overflowing.
This has been a massive problem for this team all season long, and it doesn’t appear to be getting any better.
- Offensive Line: Are we surprised?
No need to rehash what was just laid out as it relates to Lowe and Jacobs from a flag perspective. We’ve covered it.
But it was the offense’s third possession of the game that was a reaffirmation of just how bad this offensive line has been in 2024.
On first down, Stevenson was immediately met in the backfield for a loss of 6 yards. On the ensuing play, Maye was forced into an incompletion to Boutte up the sideline, taking a good stick under pressure from multiple Miami pass rushers as he just got rid of the ball to avoid a sack. One play later, the sack was unavoidable, as Maye was taken down by fellow rookie Chop Robinson for a loss of 9.
On the following possession, Maye opened it up with a toss out of bounds to avoid a sack. One play later, Maye was forced into an incompletion that was originally called a fumble as Jacobs got absolutely bull-rushed by Robinson. One play after that, Lowe was called for his third false start of the game. To cap it off, Robinson sacked Maye for a loss of 6 yards, with Miami only rushing four players while New England had seven of their own attempting to protect their QB.
For my money, that had to be one of the worst sequences we have seen from this unit the entire season. And that’s saying something.
Let’s skip ahead to the second possession of the second half for New England. With the Patriots offense putting together some positive plays for the first time since the first quarter, it was 3rd and 3 from the 50 yard line.
Maye dropped back to pass, and after only a few seconds was faced with a rushing Zach Sieler, who was looking for a sack, a turnover, or some combination of the two. He came away with the combo, as Maye was unable to hold onto the ball as he was being pulled to the ground by the Miami veteran. Linebacker Jordyn Brooks scooped the ball and brought it to the Patriots 25. Two plays later, standout wide receiver Jaylen Waddle caught his seventh ball of the day and brought it to the house from 23 yards out. It was a rookie mistake by Maye to fumble a ball he should’ve just tucked away, but it was yet another bad play from Lowe to get beat so easily by Sieler.
In the fourth quarter with the Patriots on life support, Maye was pressured by All-Pro corner Jalen Ramsey, forcing the rookie into a bad interception that we’ll get into more later in the column. It was an awful decision by Maye, but he’s not forced into that bad decision without the pressure being allowed by his blockers up front.
Flags, missed assignments, and another bad day for one of the worst units on any side of the ball in the NFL.
- Joey Slye: As we’ve repeated in this column a few times since it happened, the 28-year-old kicker hit the fourth longest field goal in NFL history early this season.
With that being the case, there’s no excuse for Slye to miss a 45 yarder in ideal weather. It just can’t happen. And it’s especially glaring when the rest of the team decides not to show up on a Sunday.
It’s far from why they lost, but it won’t be ignored in this week’s “Ups & Downs.”
Some Ups, Mostly Downs:
- Drake Maye: He didn’t have a lot of time back there, and he was pressing as his team played from behind most of the day. But if we’re going to be fair on a week-to-week basis in the “Ups & Downs” column, it needs to be said.
Maye was bad on Sunday.
He was 22 of 37 for 221 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. He was also sacked 4 times for a loss of 39 yards, with a passer rating of 74.3. He also added 26 yards on the ground on 5 carries.
At a few different spots in the game, we saw Maye throwing the ball behind his intended receivers. His timing was just slightly off on Sunday, and it hurt his team. He was flustered by the pressure, there’s no doubt about it. He wasn’t able to make enough plays under pressure to keep this game competitive.
…key word “enough.”
That’s because we did get a taste of the Maye magic at the top of the fourth quarter, as the Patriots went for it on 4th and 15 from the Dolphins 38 down 31-0.
Flushed out of the pocket, Maye squared up and heaved the ball down field to tight end Austin Hooper, who had gotten behind the defense on a somewhat broken play. Hooper went down to his knees to catch the ball, got up and scurried into the end zone for one of the more improbable touchdowns of the season for the rookie QB.
The extra point from Slye was good, and it was 31-7 Miami with 13:43 to go in the ballgame.
A play like this is going to give you enough to save you from “Downs,” but not enough to get you in “Ups” with all the other mishaps on the day. Thus, another special category for Maye.
Maye had two really bad plays on Sunday that were going to make an entry into “Ups” impossible in Week 12:
- First, the sack-fumble in the third quarter as described in the entry for his offensive line - while the pressure was on Lowe, Maye needed to just go down and take that sack. The rookie QB has talked about learning from mistakes on multiple occasions over the last month or so. Maye did not show that type of growth on this play.
- Late in the fourth quarter, Maye threw an interception after being pressured on a DB blitz by All-Pro Jalen Ramsey. Maye should have just thrown the ball away. Instead, he half-heartedly tossed the ball into a massive glare on the field, well-short of running back Antonio Gibson, who probably couldn’t have seen the ball if he tried. Linebacker Tyrel Dodson took advantage of the mishap, and took in the bad throw from Maye. It’ll be interesting to hear what Maye has to say postgame as to what he saw on that play.
While we’re not giving Maye the largest slice of blame pie for his team’s atrocious effort on Sunday, he’s definitely not leaving the dinner table without a piece.
- Secondary: Another day where the secondary got gashed up and down the field in a losing effort.
Eight pass catchers combined for 317 receiving yards to go along with 4 receiving touchdowns.
Along with Smith, Waddle had a massive day with 8 catches for 144 yards and a touchdown.
Tagovailoa did what he does against the Patriots, throwing all 4 of those touchdowns on 317 yards passing for a passer rating of 128.9. On top of the flash, the 26-year-old was 29 of 40 passing.
So you’re probably wondering, ‘Why the heck is this unit not in the Downs section?’
That’s because cornerback Christian Gonzalez had a 63-yard scoop-and-score touchdown in the 4th quarter to give the Patriots a little bit of life late in this blowout effort.
It’s a bit of a stretch, I’ll admit. But it was a nice play by the second-year defensive back, so I’ll allow it.
The Patriots head back home in Week 13 as they play host to the Indianapolis Colts.
New England last faced their former AFC East rival in 2023 in a game played in Germany. The Patriots lost that game 10-6, and it was heavily reported at the time that this was the loss that convinced Robert Kraft it was time for a change at head coach.
A little over a year later, first-year head coach Jerod Mayo has a 3-9 record with five games to go.