How Patriots Slump Dragged Bill Belichick To Another Low
The Patriots, and more specifically New England head coach Bill Belichick, lowered the standard even further.
After getting their doors blown off in consecutive games, outscored 72-3 by the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints, nothing was going well for the Patriots. The trend continued into the first quarter of their Week 6 game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Taking the road to face a few old friends — Jimmy Garoppolo, Jakobi Meyers and Josh McDaniels — in Las Vegas, the Patriots couldn’t get anything going against a struggling Raiders team. In fact, the first quarter added more fuel to the fire regarding the looming questions surrounding Belichick’s future with the organization.
In the mostly uneventful first quarter, New England came up scoreless. That non-existent offensive trend remained in place for the entirety of the first frame, marking the first time in Belichick’s NFL career in which his team recorded zero or fewer total yards in the first quarter, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN.
For further context, the Raiders held possession for 12:06 in the opening quarter while the Patriots did for a measly 2:54 — doing nothing.
The same issues — Mac Jones, the offensive line, etc. — continue to haunt a Patriots team that was outscored (6-3) by the Boston Red Sox in October. But unlike the Patriots, the Red Sox played just one game during the month.
The blemishes have yet to be wiped off a very faulty Patriots offense that’s dragging New England’s season to rock bottom, not even halfway in.