Perry describes the mood in the Patriots locker room after the loss to Dolphins originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Jerod Mayo era in New England began with a thrilling win over the Cincinnati Bengals. It all went downhill from there.
The Patriots’ 15-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins at Gillette Stadium on Sunday marked their fourth straight loss and dropped them to 1-4 on the season. It was a maddening performance against a very beatable Dolphins team that was on its own three-game losing streak after losing starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in Week 2.
What was the atmosphere like in the New England locker room after Sunday’s loss? Is this team trending toward a “mutiny,” a word that team reporter Evan Lazar brought up last week (and later backtracked)?
Our Patriots Insider Phil Perry offered his perspective on a new one Patriots talk podcast with Tom E. Curran after talking to players at Gillette Stadium after the loss.
🔊 Patriots Talk Podcast: The Aftermath: Patriots pick the worst time for sloppy performance | Listen and subscribe | Check out YouTube
‘Frustrated. Frustrated (and) a little tired, I would say,” Perry said. “Losing is starting to take its toll – now four games in a row – and I think players feel that way too, because they can’t give a lot of good answers to someone like me.”
The Patriots committed a whopping 12 penalties for 105 yards on Sunday after starting the game with 16 penalties. combined in their previous four games (fewest in the NFL through Week 4). Perry noted that players were well aware that those penalties proved costly on Sunday.
“When you have 12 penalties and you start talking about discipline, I mean it’s obvious that’s a problem,” Perry said. “Now it wasn’t really an issue through the first four games of the season, but (Sunday) 12 penalties and 105 yards blows them away in terms of their chances of actually winning this game.
“I know they were one step away from scoring a touchdown and the outcome might have been a little bit different, but you can’t do that – even against the Dolphins, the Tyler Huntley-led Dolphins – you can’t do that They are sloppy and hope to win. They are so bad offensively that they cannot survive these kinds of mistakes.”
The Patriots nearly scored a touchdown to take the lead with 1:08 to go, but wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk was ejected after his heel hit the turf out of play. But the reality is that New England had several other chances to win Sunday’s game and squandered them with a combination of poor execution and indiscipline.
A win would go a long way toward improving morale in Foxboro, but it could be tough to come by next Sunday when the Patriots play the 4-1 Houston Texans at home.
Also in this episode:
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Tom explains why the officials made the right call and overturned Ja’Lynn Polk’s TD catch, and reacts to the team’s completely undisciplined play in the loss
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Are Jerod Mayo and Alex Van Pelt on the same page?
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Is it time for Drake Maye?
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Tom and Phil share their ‘Stock Watch’ picks for week 5: who’s better and who’s worse?
