Patriots
-
One big thing: Drake Maye showed flashes up and down in his first start
-
Drake Maye showed off his talent and three other lessons learned within the Patriots' loss to the Texans
The Texan became the primary team for the reason that 2021 Buffalo Bills to attain 40 points or more against the Patriots, and Jerod Mayo expressed frustration with the performance after the sport.
The Patriots committed nine penalties, including six in the primary half. That number is simply too high, Mayo said, and it's a part of the “same old story” about what the Patriots are doing incorrect week in and week out.
He also mentioned that the Patriots turned the ball over 4 times, in comparison with only one turnover for the Texans.
Mayo, who coached linebackers for several years with the Patriots before being promoted to go coach, was harshly critical of his defense.
“Defensively, I would say we just need to improve the fundamentals of tackling, our running pass,” Mayo said. “You have to improve. I told all these people, 'Today you should feel like crap.' You should feel like crap.' They take away those two long runs from us [allowed] two runs of 50 yards. You just don’t win football like that.”
The Patriots showed some encouraging things on offense, with rookie quarterback Drake Maye starting under center for the primary time, Mayo said, nevertheless it wasn't enough.
“I thought he showed a lot of poise,” Mayo said. “I thought he went out there and controlled the group, got the guys out of the group and made some more plays.”
“It’s definitely encouraging. From a team-wide perspective, we have let him down right now. It was his first game and I feel like I let him down. I'm sure all the coaches feel like we've let everyone down. We just have to get better.”
Houston averaged 6.9 yards per run on the bottom and gathered the identical variety of rushing yards as passing yards (192).
Running back Joe Mixon bounced off one in every of his own blockers and hit a scoring corner, while Jonathan Jones tried to throw off a block from Stefon Diggs for his only touchdown of the sport. Jones turned to pursue Mixon, however the running back had enough distance to run into the top zone.
Mixon also broke off a 59-yard run right up the center, slipped past a leaping Jahlani Tavai and raced down the sideline before being tripped by Jaylinn Hawkins.
Houston's Dameon Pierce missed three Patriots defenders on his 54-yard run within the fourth quarter. Anfernee Jennings lunged at him and missed. Jaquelin Roy gave Pierce a shove, however the running back managed to remain on his feet. Safety Kyle Dugger made an unlucky attempt at an arm tackle as Pierce sprinted past.
“Yes, it’s very disappointing,” Mayo said. “I would say that we have some ups and downs at the moment in terms of getting off to a quick start. We have to start fast, whether we’re on defense or attack, and we just didn’t do that today.”
“I thought they had settled down. But again, it comes down to every single play being important, and you can stop them, stop them, stop them, and then all of a sudden it's a 50-yard run. We can’t live in this world.”
The Patriots fell behind 14-0 in the primary quarter and the Texans led the remaining of the best way. Maye reduced the deficit to seven just before halftime, however the game spiraled uncontrolled within the second half.
“Guys just have to take responsibility,” defensive end Godchaux said of the mistakes, in keeping with ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “Even if you think the game is over in, say, the third quarter, it's really just about being proud. It doesn't look like there was any pride out there. I just don't know how to win, that's what matters. Just frustrating, man.”
Texas quarterback CJ Stroud didn't miss a moment without top goal Nico Collins, who missed the sport after being placed on injured reserve.
Stroud accomplished 20-for-31 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns against one interception. Stefon Diggs led the Texans with 6 catches on 7 targets for 77 yards and a touchdown.
“He’s a great receiver. He’s been doing this for a long time,” cornerback Christian Gonzalez said. “He ran a good route for the touchdown. Such is the life of a corner. You’re going to get beat, so congratulations to him, he ran a great route and CJ did it to him and the other play just trusted my technique and went out and did that.”
Cornerback Marcus Jones had the one takeaway for the Patriots, an interception by Stroud that got here after a pass tipped by Marte Mapu.
“Even though the game didn’t go the way we wanted it to, there were some great things that happened in the game that needed to be implemented on a regular basis,” Jones said. “The margin for error within the National Football League may be very small and we have now to ensure we come back. Anything we haven't mastered, we’d like to practice and ensure we get it right for next week.”
image credit : www.boston.com