Mac Jones and the offense comes up flat again as Patriots lose to ...

BOSTON -- Home or away, stateside or in Europe, it doesn't matter where the Patriots play. The offense simply cannot put up points in a NFL game.

The Patriots' defense did its job against the Indianapolis Colts in Germany on Sunday, but the offense once again came up flat. Mac Jones threw another back-breaking interception late, and New England dropped to a dismal 2-8 on the season with a 10-6 loss to the Colts at Deutsche Bank Park.

Trailing 10-6  with just over four minutes in the game, Jones went looking for Mike Gesicki in the back of the end zone. Instead, his pass came up well short and was picked off by Julian Blackmon to end the New England threat. The Patriots have failed to score a touchdown in three of their 10 games this season.

Julian Blackmon intercepts Mac Jones at the goal line!

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— NFL (@NFL) November 12, 2023

When the Patriots got one final possession, it was Bailey Zappe who took the field to try and quarterback the team to victory with 1:52 left. The drive started at the New England 14 and the Pats got the ball to their own 40-yard line, but Zappe was picked off to end the game.

"I have to play better and not even be in that situation," Jones said of his benching. "It's peaks and valleys. I'm in a valley right now and I have to bounce back."

Jones is now up to 10 interceptions on the season, leading the NFL. He was sacked five times in Sunday's loss, as the Patriots mustered just 173 passing yards in the defeat. 

"Not good enough in any aspect," tight end Hunter Henry said after the loss. "Going into the bye here with a lot to improve on. It's just not good enough in any aspect."

New England had its longest opening drive of the season after receiving the kick and easily moved the ball into Indianapolis territory, but it only resulted on three points on the board. Jones hit Gesicki for 11 yards on New England's first third down of the day, keeping the Pats from suffering yet another game-opening three-and-out. Ezekiel Elliott had 38 yards off three carries and one reception on the drive to give the team a scoring chance.

The Pats were in the red zone after 11 plays, but Jones was sacked on a third-and-6 from the Indy 14-yard line. That was a preview of what was to come throughout the rest of the first half.

After a 13-play drive to start the game, New England settled for a 37-yard field goal by Chad Ryland to take a 3-0 lead. 

As much as Elliott gashed the Indy defense on New England's first possession, Jonathan Taylor gashed the Patriots' defense on the Colts first offensive possession. And while the Patriots settled for a field goal, the Colts did not.

After Isaiah McKenzie hauled in a 30-yard reception from Gardner Minshew on a third-and-6, Taylor picked up 31 yards on nine carries, including a one-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal. The Patriots stuffed Minshew on third-and-goal, but Taylor took a pitch to the right on fourth-and-goal and made something out of nothing to get into the end zone and put the Colts on top 7-3. 

Taylor picked up three first downs for Indianapolis on that opening drive, as the Colts were 3-for-4 on third down. 

Both teams punted away their second possession, with the New England defense forcing a three-and-out against the Colts. But after that stop, Belichick elected to not have a return man and went all-in for a punt block, which backfired when they didn't block the kick and Colts punter Rigoberto Sanchez booted the ball 69 yards. The ball was downed at the New England 18, putting a lot of field between the New England offense and the end zone.

Jones was promptly sacked on first down for a six-yard loss, the third time that he was sacked on his first nine drop-backs of the game. The Pats punted the ball away three plays later after Jones and Gesicki connected for just 11 yards on a third-and-14. Odeyingbo, who had just three sacks entering the game, sacked Jones three times in the first half.

Jones was sacked five times in the first half, a new record for the Patriots' quarterback. New England trailed just 7-3 at the break, as Indy's Matt Gay came up short on his 57-yard attempt in the final seconds of the half. 

The Patriots got one final play in the first half after Gay's miss, but there was no Hail Mary chuck from Jones. The quarterback instead went short to Demario Douglas, who padded his stats with 30 yards before being brought down at the Indy 23-yard line.

The New England defense continued to make plays out of halftime. The Colts got the ball to start the half, but Myles Bryant took it away when he picked off Minshew and set up the Patriots' offense at the 50-yard line.

But after six straight running plays by the New England offense, Jones was nearly sacked again on third-and-3. He was able to get an ill-advised pass off before being brought down, and was lucky his fruitless shovel toss to Stevenson in the flat didn't lead to disaster.

The Patriots were still in position to kick a field goal, but they didn't even add those three points to the scoreboard, as Ryland was just a bit outside on his 35-yard field goal attempt. It was the rookie's first miss inside 40 yards this season, and the Patriots got nothing out of the free possession off Bryant's interception.

The defense forced another punt and got the ball back to the New England offense, but they once again failed to get into the end zone. The Patriots got down to the Indy 5-yard line thanks to a powerful rush attack by Stevenson and Elliott, plus a 15-yard scramble by Jones. (Stevenson suffered a back injury during the drive through and had to leave the game.) But the quarterback's third-and-goal pass to Hunter Henry in the corner of the end zone was way off the mark and nearly picked off by Julian Blackmon. 

Third-down pass that probably should’ve been an end-zone interception from Mac Jones; owner Robert Kraft’s reaction. pic.twitter.com/chyckFw2oi

— Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) November 12, 2023

Ryland was able to put his 24-yard kick through the uprights to make it a 7-6, but then New England's special teams faltered on the ensuring kickoff. Isaiah McKenzie took Ryland's kickoff 41 yards to set the Colts' offense up near midfield. The defense had the Colts facing a third-and-2 and a potential three-and-out, but Minshew danced around to buy some time and eventually found Michael Pittman over the middle of the field for a fresh set of downs. It was Indy's first third-down conversion since the first quarter. 

When the Colts faced another third down a few plays later, the New England defense stood tall. Josh Uche chased Minshew out of the pocket, and Deatrich Wise batted down the QB's third-and-11 attempt to Pittman. Indianapolis settled for a field goal and took a 10-6 lead.

The Patriots' offense actually moved the ball when they got it back. They got down to the Indy 15-yard line thanks to a 21-yard hookup by Jones and Douglas and some nifty running by Stevenson and Elliott. But then Jones was picked off by Blackmon on second-and-12, and that was the end of that.

The Patriots got the ball back and Zappe and company picked up a few first downs, but the backup was picked off by Rodney Thomas (right after Zappe pulled off a fake spike) with 31 seconds left to seal the win for Indianapolis. 

The Patriots will now return home and hit their bye week at 2-8, a record they haven't seen since Belichick's first season as head coach in 2020. There will be a lot of questions facing the team over these next two weeks, with Mac Jones' future at quarterback at the top of the list.

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