New England Patriots

Likes and dislikes from New England Patriots Week 4 loss

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:43 p.m. ET

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Bill Belichick scowls during the Patriots loss to the Bills in Week 4. Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Here are your weekly likes and dislikes from the New England Patriots game; fair warning, there are way more dislikes than likes this week.

Like: Martellus Bennett’s stat line

The one bright spot from yesterday afternoon was the strong stat line of Martellus Bennett, who hauled in five receptions for 109 yards. Bennett was Jacoby Brissett’s favorite target all game long, continuing to rise in the ranks of the Patriots’ aerial attack.

Of course, the highlight of the afternoon for Bennett was his 58-yard catch and run on a beautiful pass from Brissett. Bennett possesses a rare blend of size, speed and overall catching ability. The Patriots like to line him up out wide as a wideout, and he looks like one out there; when he’s on the line as a blocker, he can handle that job, too.

Luckily, the Patriots survived an injury scare involving Bennett’s shoulder on a drive in which LeGarrette Blount and Brandon Bolden got nicked up (Bolden more severely so). The Pats would be in hot water if Bennett got hurt, because Rob Gronkowski clearly isn’t ready for his usual role in the offense.

Cyrus Jones (24) struggled returning for the Patriots on Sunday. Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Dislike: Cyrus Jones’ shaky returning

Even at the time, Jones’ indecision on the opening kickoff seemed like a sign of bad things to come for the Patriots. And sure enough, the Patriots never recovered from Jones nearly kneeling down on the one-yard line; surely, special teams ace Matthew Slater will be ripping into the rookie this week. Forcing Brissett to start inside his own 10-yard line was brutal.

Jones didn’t do much better on his next kick return, running into his blocker and not making it past the 10-yard line once again. It was a pretty ugly return, to say the least.

At the tail end of the game, Jones muffed a fair catch, nearly causing a turnover that would have caused even more frustration on the Patriots’ sideline.

From an outsider’s perspective, it looked like Jones was nervous every time he went back to receive a kick or punt. Nerves are understandable as a rookie, but come on, it’s Week 4; Jones has a job to do, and he didn’t fulfill his role on Sunday.

Jacoby Brissett (7) and the Patriots offense struggled on third downs in Week 4. Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Dislike: Third down inefficiency on both sides of the ball

The Patriots were a terrible zero for five on third down attempts in the first half. They managed to get one first down in the second half to give them a success rate of eight percent on the afternoon. Awesome.

On the other side of the ball, the defense surrendered first down successes on seven of 15 total attempts.

With those two factoids in mind, it’s not hard to wrap your brain around why the Patriots got thoroughly shellacked in this divisional affair. The Patriots simply didn’t get the job done on third in each phase of the game.

Hopefully, the Patriots can right these offensive third down wrongs with Tom Brady back in the fold next week against the Cleveland Browns. As for the defense, it would be pretty surprising to see a Bill Belichick-coached defense put forth two consecutive performances like this, especially against a porous Cleveland offense.

Speaking of the rough effort on defense…

LeSean McCoy (25) danced by the Patriots on Sunday. Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Dislike: Poor tackling

You couldn’t count on two hands how many tackles the Patriots missed yesterday. It was embarrassing, honestly.

Linebackers Jamie Collins and Dont’a Hightower each had down games to say the least; both Collins and Hightower were juked out of their cleats by Tyrod Taylor on several occasions. As Collins and Hightower go, so does the rest of the defense, so hopefully they get their act together next week.

Cornerback Logan Ryan led the team with 17 tackles, which is amazing because he missed his share of tackles as well (more on Ryan in a few slides; we’re not done talking about his Week 4 performance).

Again, a Bill Belichick-coached defense doesn’t play like this in back-to-back weeks, so look for an improved tackling effort from this defense next week.

Jacoby Brissett (7) and the Patriots offense couldn’t do anything in Bills territory on Sunday. Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Dislike: Poor offensive play in Bills’ half

The anatomy of a shutout is simple: prevent the opponent from reaching your end zone. Well, it’s pretty difficult to do that considering a football game is 60 minutes long, and the opposing team is bound to enter your half at some point. With that in mind, the key to earning a shutout is forcing the opponent to mess up when the inevitably penetrate your end of the field.

In Week 4, the Bills did just that. On the rare occasions in which the Patriots’ offense managed to drag themselves into Buffalo territory, the Bills stopped the Patriots in their tracks. Or rather, the Patriots shot themselves in the foot by committing multiple miscues.

Brissett fumbled on what could have been a field goal attempt. Speaking of field goal attempts, Stephen Gostkowski pushed what would have been an automatic make wide right, instilling further doubt into the Patriots’ fan base about the veteran kicker’s efficiency as of late. And then there was Bolden’s drop near the goal line. Merp.

Last but not least…

Logan Ryan (26) Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Dislike: Logan Ryan’s coverage

Ryan embodied the struggle of the Patriots’ defense on Sunday. He couldn’t stick with Robert Woods, who paced the Bills with 89 yards on seven receptions. This writer lost track of how many times Woods snagged a slant pass for a first down right in front of Ryan.

As a byproduct of his struggles in coverage, Ryan led the Patriots with 17 combined tackles. That may pop out on the stat sheet, but in actuality, you do not want your No. 2 cornerback racking up the most tackles out of your entire defense, as it means the ball is getting to the second level far too often.

So while it is good that Ryan made those tackles, it’s not good that he was letting receivers get open so frequently in the first place. Additionally, it’s not good that Ryan was forced to tackle McCoy on repeated occasions.

Alright, time to put Week 4 behind us. After all, the Patriots are 3-1 with Brady back with the team, and that’s not so bad given the circumstances handed to them thanks to the league office’s boneheaded leadership this offseason. We’re on to Cleveland.