The New England Patriots came out flat in the first quarter, and things didn’t get much better in Sunday’s 45-27 loss at home to the Green Bay Packers.
Quarterback Drake Maye finished the day going 21 of 38 passing for 299 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Running back Rhamondre Stevenson lost one fumble. Those four turnovers didn’t help the defense, as Packers quarterback Jordan Love diced the Patriots up for 372 yards and three touchdowns and another score on the ground.
Per Next Gen Stats, Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez allowed Matthew Golden to have seven receptions for 105 yards and Christian Watson to catch three passes for 82 yards. Gonzalez became the only defender since at least 2018 to allow two different players to earn 80+ receiving yards in the same contest.
During his postgame news conference, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel spoke candidly about the play of Gonzalez and Maye. He said it was hard for the Patriots to win games when their best players had off games.
“When your best players don’t play good, you don’t have much of a chance in this league,” Vrabel said, via the Patriots’ website. So, we expect a lot more. He (Gonzalez) expects a lot more. We need more from him and everybody else. It wasn’t just him.
“Again, we got to be able to coach and be prepared, and then we have to execute. Just like it is every single week when we don’t win, it’s all of us, and it starts with me.”
Vrabel said the four turnovers were disappointing because the Patriots knew coming into the game that the Packers defense was good at creating takeaways. He believes Maye can rebound.
“Again, sometimes in this league these things happen, and it’s unfortunate, and we certainly didn’t prepare for it,” Vrabel said. “I’m sure he’ll rebound, and we’ll get him ready to go. We got a tough challenge looking ahead of us, but certainly can’t win playing that way, turning the ball over, not creating turnovers defensively, and giving up X plays.”
With the loss, the Patriots fell to 5-4. They’ll next travel to Munich, Germany, to play the Detroit Lions in Week 10.
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