The New England Patriots dropped an ugly 34-15 decision to the Miami Dolphins in Week 12.
The Patriots had the opportunity to take an early lead on their second drive of the game, but the offense stopped their own momentum with several miscues.
Demontrey Jacobs and Vederian Lowe were both called for false starts early in the drive. Then, with the Patriots on the Dolphins’ 20-yard line, Jacobs was called for offensive holding along with Austin Hooper for offsides.
To cap off what should have opened the scoring for New England, Joey Slye sent a 45-yard field goal off the upright.
Miami took advantage of the Patriots’ defense and marched down the field 65 yards for a touchdown.
“That was tough. But we love that we can play like that. Definitely want to finish on the drive,” Kendrick Bourne told reporters after the game. “… That definitely kills our energy, too. We’re working hard. It doesn’t pay off; we kind of get down on ourselves. Just gotta be resilient and finish the drive.”
Bourne caught three passes from quarterback Drake Maye for 30 yards in the loss. The eight-year veteran noted the Patriots not being able to get going early led to the embarrassing loss and what the team needs to do to fix it.
“Just a bad start. A slow start,” he said. “Let them jump on top of us and … just got to start faster. Compete at the gate.
“I think it starts with practice. Just practicing better, starting faster in practice. I did feel like we had a good week, but we just got to come out with more energy.”
