LAS VEGAS – The visitor’s locker room inside Allegiant Stadium opened at 4:44 p.m. on Sunday. Shell-shocked Patriots slowly moved about the dressing area. They were quiet. Most dressed in a hurry before departing down a concrete walkway that led to several team buses.
As most players were in no hurry to stick around, Jakobi Meyers sat at his locker with his jersey still on. He stared blankly at the locker in front of him as his eyes welled with tears. As his teammates changed into their post game attire, one, Lynn Bowden, walked up and asked if he’d like him to get him a Gatorade from the back area.
Two minutes later, Meyers faced the music. He removed his Patriots jersey and rose from his chair donning a blue cutoff shirt with an NFL logo. The Patriots receiver was the face of the team’s misery on Sunday night.
With the game tied and three seconds left on the clock, the Patriots ran a draw play to Rhamondre Stevenson. Instead of going down, the running back lateralled the ball to Meyers. Instead of going down, Meyers tried to throw the ball to Mac Jones. He didn’t see Chandler Jones and tossed the ball right to the Las Vegas Raiders defensive end, who ran back 48 yards for a game-winning touchdown.
As the Raiders won, 30-24, the Patriots left Las Vegas devastated.
As his teammates walked off the field in disbelief, Meyers wept. A member of the Patriots public relations offered him a chance to get dressed before speaking to reporters, but at 4:46 p.m. Meyers talked for two minutes, fielding 10 questions.
“I thought I saw Mac open. I didn’t see Chandler Jones at the time,” said Meyers. “Thought he was open, tried to give it to him and let him try and make a play with it. But the score was tied, so like I’ve said, I should’ve went down.”
Meyers explained that the Patriots doomed final play wasn’t supposed to happen. The plan was for Stevenson to go down and for the Patriots and Raiders to go into overtime. But on this night, the Patriots’ sloppy play came to a head. This was a night where the offense was lifted up by the team’s defense and special teams unit.
It was a night where offensive mistakes ultimately cost the Patriots a win and likely a chance at the playoffs. It was fitting in a sad way. This 2022 Patriots season has felt doomed because of this offensive group.
On Sunday night, it came to a boiling point.
Mac Jones puts the blame on himself
After speaking to the media, Meyers returned to the chair in his locker. At 4:50 p.m., Mac Jones walked in, donning a gray Patriots sweatsuit. He briefly sat at his locker, wiping his face with a blue towel before walking to the press conference room where he field questions. The second-year quarterback has struggled this season. On Sunday, in front of his former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, he had one of his worst games as a professional, completing 13 of 31 passes for 112 yards.
That came against one of the worst defenses in the NFL.
Jones put the blame on himself. When Meyers threw the ball to Chandler Jones, the Patriots quarterback was the last line of defense. He attempted to make the tackle but realistically had no chance and was barreled over by the defensive end.
“I’ve got to tackle the guy. It’s on me. It’s my fault,” Mac Jones said. “We tackle him or I tackle him, we play for overtime. It’s on me. Got to make that. Not good enough by me. It is what it is. Got to tackle him and play for overtime. That’s on me.”
The truth is that it should’ve never got to that point in the fourth quarter. Jones knew it, and that’s why he admitted he didn’t play well. Sunday saw the Patriots offense score one touchdown, a Stevenson 34-yard run, with 3:43 left in the game. This group looked horrible for most of the evening. The worst moment, before that terrible moment, came in the second quarter.
The Patriots had a first and goal at the 2-yard line. Somehow, they found a way to settle for a field goal. After a 1-yard run by Stevenson, Jones sat back in the shotgun and threw an inaccurate pass out of bounds. He then hit Meyers for a touchdown, but it didn’t count as the Patriots called a timeout before the snap. His next pass, on third down, was deflected. The Patriots called another timeout before attempting to score on fourth down. Jones ran in for the touchdown, but Jonnu Smith was called for a false start. Nick Folk then hit a 24-yard field goal.
That everyone, summed up the Patriots offense in one shameful series. It hasn’t been good enough in 2022. It wasn’t good enough on Sunday.
“We’ve just got to score more points early,” Jones said when asked about not punching the ball in. “A play is a play and we didn’t, I didn’t execute enough good plays today. If you don’t do that, you’re not going to score. Just a tough situation. Definitely falls on me. Got to be better.”
Jakobi Meyers deserved better
At 4:59 p.m. back in the visitor’s locker room. Meyers was still at his locker. Most of his teammates were gone. Patriots receiver coach Troy Brown walked over and placed his right arm around Meyer’s back. The receiver looked down as Brown talked quietly in his ear.
As the coach left the locker room, Patriots special teams captain Matthew Slater started to talk as Meyers sat two lockers away.
“It’s not his fault. We wouldn’t be in the game without him,” Slater said of Meyers. “He’s one of the most dependable, smartest, toughest football players on this team. We’ll go down with him 10 out of 10 times.”
The series of mistakes on that final play were shocking. That’s not what’s supposed to happen to a Bill Belichick-coached team. Players should know better – at least they used to.
At 5:08 p.m., the Patriots coach spoke at the podium. Asked about that final snap, he said, “We made a mistake on that play.”
Stevenson was the last player to speak, in the post-game press conference room at 5:11 p.m. He too took the blame, saying it was his decision to pitch the ball to Meyers.
“The coaches gave us a play to run the time out, just get down,” said Stevenson. “I felt like I should’ve done just that and just got down.”
By the time Stevenson finished speaking, the visitor’s locker room inside Allegiant Stadium was empty. It wasn’t long before the Patriots team buses departed for the team’s plane, which had players back in New England by morning.
On a night where little went right for the Patriots offense, their two best players tried to make magic happen. Instead, they shouldered the blame for a woeful offensive that never looked right in the first place. Not in training camp. Not this season. Not on Sunday. That’s not on Meyers or Stevenson.
“Just trying to do too much,” Meyers said. “Trying to be a hero, I guess.”
There’s no saving this Patriots offense. Not this season.
