The New England Patriots weren't able to come away with a victory against the Indianapolis Colts despite arguably having their best offensive performance since Drake Maye took over at quarterback.
Maye played a near-flawless game on Sunday, completing 24 of 30 passes for 238 yards and a touchdown. He added 59 yards on the ground, including a 41-yard scramble in the first quarter. His one blemish came on an interception in the third quarter, but Maye's pass took an odd deflection of Hunter Henry at the goal line.
Maye's performance was the catalyst for the Patriots' putting up 422 yards of total offense. But it wasn't enough as the Colts scored a touchdown and converted on the ensuing two-point conversion with 12 seconds to win, 25-24.
Understandably, Maye was upset with the loss.
“It was heartbreaking. I think our guys fought hard, did a lot of good things,” Maye said. “That's what Coach [Jerod] Mayo preaches in the locker room. We did a lot of good things on film. Proud of the way the guys fought. I'm proud of the defense. I thought they played their butts off. Especially our guys up front on offense. They did a great job.
“I think we ran the football for a bunch of yards. I think we were efficient in the passing game, and just came up short. It's a bummer. I hate it for these guys, and I hate it for these coaches. We're practicing hard. We're fighting hard, and just came up short.”
However, Maye also felt a bit more optimistic about their process following Sunday's game, too.
“I think we're dynamic. I think we can hurt them in the pass game and the run game,” Maye said of the Patriots' offense. “We can do different things. We have play action. We have boot. We have running the football. We have throwing it down the field. We have guys making plays, run after catch. There's another layer to it of making more explosive plays, but we saw that a lot from our run after catch today.”
What Drake Maye said of Patriots' red zone woes in loss vs. Colts
In some ways, Sunday's loss might have been the most painful of the season for the Patriots in a year that they've gone 3-10. In many of their other losses, you could tell they lacked the talent their opponent had or they just had poor execution.
Sunday's game might have been the first loss this year where it felt like they truly let the game slip away. In addition to outgaining the Colts, the Patriots won the turnover battle as Anthony Richardson threw two interceptions.
What might have been the most frustrating element of the loss, though, was that the Patriots failed to capitalize on key opportunities. They spent a large portion of the game on the Cots' side of the field, making six red zone trips. But they only scored a touchdown on two of them. They mismanaged one of their red zone trips at the end of the first half which ended with Joey Slye missing a 25-yard field goal. There was also Maye's aforementioned turnover.
Both of Richardson's interceptions also gave the Patriots the ball in Colts territory. They didn't pick up a first down after either pick, only scoring three points off the two turnovers.
Maye lamented over the four failed red-zone trips, which saw the Patriots make it within the 10-yard line each time.
“I thought we ran the ball up until we got to the goal line pretty well,” Maye said. “I think in the passing game I think maybe get through my progression. It was tough down there. It was tight. Tight windows. Tight throws. I have to give our guys some chances. I think that's probably the biggest thing.
“And penalties – I think one of them was penalties. We got back into, like, a first and goal from the 20. Just can't settle for four field goals in the red zone and expect to win ball games.”
The Patriots will have a week off to fix their red zone woes as they're on the bye before taking on the Arizona Cardinals in Week 15.
