Patriots' penalty problems vs. Dolphins get stern Jerod Mayo message

11/25/2024 12:49 AM

The New England Patriots played some pretty poor football in their 34-15 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, and Jerod Mayo knows it.

Miami dominated in the first half, taking a 24-0 lead into halftime before making it 31-0 in the third quarter. New England was outgained (373 to 268), picked up fewer first downs (23 to 14) and went just 3-for-14 on third-down opportunities in the all-around drubbing.

Arguably the most damning stat of Sunday’s game, though, was the number of penalties the Patriots were called for. They were whistled for 13 penalties, with the Dolphins only accepting 10 of them for 75 yards. Six of those penalties were pre-snap penalties.

The loss was arguably the low point in Mayo’s first season as head coach, dropping to 3-9 after some promising performances of the last month. As the Patriots still have struggled to break through and play well consistently, Mayo recognized that while he could coach better, the players still have to execute.

"Look, once those guys cross the white lines, there's nothing I can do for them," Mayo said (h/t Carlos Talks Pats). "There's nothing any coach can do for them once they cross the white line. It's my job to continue to prepare not only them, but our coaches to go out here and play better football."

#Patriots HC Jerod Mayo on the constant errors committed by players:

"Once those guys cross the [sideline] there's nothing I can do for them. There's nothing any coach can do for them once they cross the [sideline]. It's my job to continue to prepare… them." pic.twitter.com/nhGjOF1KO1

— Carlos Talks Pats (@LosTalksPats) November 24, 2024

One could argue that the Patriots were just overmatched in terms of talent. Even though the Dolphins are just 5-6, Miami’s likely better than its record indicates as Tua Tagovailoa appears to have regained the form that made him one of the game’s top passers over the last couple of seasons.

Tagovailoa (317 passing yards, four passing touchdowns) and Jaylen Waddle (144 receiving yards, one receiving touchdown) each had a strong day. But Mayo didn’t want to use the Dolphins’ perceived edge in talent as an excuse for the loss.

"The last thing I told the guys, 'It's all about us,' and this is before the game," Mayo said. "I said, 'It's about us. It's not about anybody else. It's about us and making a commitment to one another.' That's what the game really came down to.

"It's us going out there, kicking ourselves in the butt or stomping our toe against the wall because of penalties. … I don't think any team wants to go backward in any [case], but we did that today."

Jerod Mayo takes accountability for Patriots’ penalty issues vs. Dolphins

Of course, it’s hard to put yourself in a spot to win a game when you commit as many penalties as the Patriots did on Sunday. Mayo laid New England’s penalty woes on himself.

"Look, it starts with me. It starts with me," Mayo said. "We've had these hiccups of games where the penalties really affected us, and it did today."

As the offensive line was responsible for the vast majority of those infractions, the Patriots’ offense suffered. They reached the red zone on their second possession of the game, but a holding pushed them 10 yards back and they settled for a field goal attempt that Joey Slye missed.

Drake Maye pointed to penalties like that as a reason why the Patriots lost on Sunday.

“I think the penalties hurt us just the whole first half. Hurting ourselves,” Maye said. “Feel like we had a chance to move the ball on these guys, and they were pretty good up front. They’re a good defense that we faced. Nothing that they did, I think just penalties set us back and kind of put us behind the 8-ball. We just can’t do that in this league.”

The Patriots will look to be more disciplined and have better execution when they host the Indianapolis Colts in Week 13.

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