The New England Patriots may not have come out of their bye feeling particularly confident. And, perhaps, that’s a part of the reason why they suffered a 27-17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
The Patriots committed one mental mistake after another — from a blocked punt allowed, a handful of false start penalties, a delay of game penalty, and a red-zone interception from quarterback Mac Jones — and New England could not dig themselves out of an early deficit.
Following the game, Jones pointed to practice as one of the reasons why the team wasn’t ready for the game in Week 15 — not even after their bye.
“I just don’t think it was our best effort,” Jones said on Saturday after the game. “It starts with me, just throughout the week, we didn’t have a great practice every day. So, it is what it is. You just have to move on and keep your head high.”
Coach Bill Belichick confirmed what Jones said.
“Just execution, concentration, things that we just didn’t do well enough,” Belichick said Monday during his weekly interview on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.” “I mean, it wasn’t one thing, or one person, or whatever, just general level of execution in practice.”
There’s no doubt the Patriots will have to play sharper when they face the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at 1 p.m. They will be playing in a game that will have massive consequences in the AFC East. It’s easy to imagine Jones will try to push the urgency and execution to a higher level in Week 16.
