New England Patriots: 3 issues that caused the Pats season opening loss

The New England Patriots opened their 2021 regular season campaign with a heartbreaking loss at the hands of their divisional rival, the Miami Dolphins. With a final score of 17-16 in favor of Miami, the Mac Jones era in New England has started off with a tough loss, pushing the Pats record to 0-1 early on.

Not all was bad in this one; in fact, the Patriots dominated the proceedings for most of the afternoon. The offense was able to move the ball up and down the field for the majority of the game, and the defense did a good job at limiting the Dolphins offense for the most part.

That begs the question; how on earth did the Patriots manage to lose this contest? The Pats outgained the Phins in total yards (393 to 259), picked up more first downs, and had a better third down percentage. If you missed the game and quickly checked the stats, you’d be surprised to find out New England actually lost this game.

What the stats won’t tell you however, is that this was an incredibly sloppy performance from the Patriots. They may have outplayed Miami in most aspects of the game, but they also beat themselves in the process. Here are the three biggest issues that popped up in the Patriots season opening loss to the Dolphins, and they will need to be fixed quickly if they want to avoid losing two games in a row.