FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — The New England Patriots had been maybe a toe faucet away from beating the Miami Dolphins.
As a substitute, the Patriots misplaced 15-10 to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday after rookie extensive receiver Ja’Lynn Polk’s leaping bid at a game-winning landing catch with 1:02 remaining was overturned after replay.
The Patriots dedicated 12 penalties and allowed 193 dashing yards to a Miami crew that got here in averaging 97.8 yards on the bottom by the primary 4 video games. New England is tied for the worst document within the NFL at 1-4 and has dropped 4 straight since profitable at Cincinnati within the season opener.
“I feel there’s no query we’re robust, however we’ve got to be higher from an execution standpoint,” coach Jerod Mayo mentioned. “I might additionally say as the sport wore on, our fundamentals started to slide.”
So did New England’s judgment, which was questionable at greatest on the sport’s ultimate play. Out of timeouts with the ball on the Miami 36-yard line, quarterback Jacoby Brissett accomplished a 25-yard cross to tight finish Hunter Henry. The Patriots by no means obtained one other likelihood to run a play as the sport clock expired earlier than Brissett might get off one other play.
“We’ve obtained to play higher. There’s no magic factor that we have to do. We’ve simply obtained to play higher. We’ve obtained to execute higher. We’ve obtained to play with good fundamentals higher. We’ve obtained to do all of the little issues higher,” Brissett mentioned after failing to cross for 200 yards for the fifth straight sport. “Once we return and watch this movie, it’s not about this particular person, that particular person, this play, that play. We’ve simply obtained to play higher as a unit.”
Mayo mentioned the proper name was made on the choice to remove Polk’s landing. It was a tricky one for Patriots followers, who then needed to watch Henry get flagged for a false begin earlier than fourth down from the Miami 12.
“We preach on a regular basis about pre-snap and post-snap penalties. It simply wasn’t a very good day,” Mayo mentioned.
Of the dozen penalties, the one which proved probably the most vital got here on the drive that enabled the Dolphins to tug forward on Alec Ingold’s three-yard landing run with 4:27 remaining. Miami’s offense remained on the sphere after New England linebacker Christian Elliss was referred to as for cross interference on third-and-13.
“We’ve simply obtained to do a greater job as a complete with penalties typically, whether or not it’s holding or a cross interference or something,” Mayo mentioned. “Look, I don’t suppose the referees are simply out to get anybody particularly. I simply suppose we’ve obtained to play smarter.”
(Copyright (c) 2024 The Related Press. All Rights Reserved. This materials is probably not revealed, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
