The New England Patriots’ Week 4 performance was nothing short of an embarrassment. A lifeless offense coupled with a shorthanded defense equaled disaster against the Dallas Cowboys, who kept their foot on the gas to hand Bill Belichick’s squad an embarrassing 38-3 loss.
A few players in particular should be ashamed of their efforts in Week 4.
Patriots to Blame for Week 4 Loss
1. Mac Jones
We can’t talk about the Patriots’ struggles without beginning at the top.
Mac Jones was absolutely abysmal against Dallas. Aside from a couple of nice chunk plays and a field goal on the first drive, Jones couldn’t lead his team to any other points on the day and was primarily at fault for the lack of scoring.
First, he wasn’t able to get an important first down on a 4th-and-1 sneak to begin the second quarter. Then, he somehow didn’t feel 255-pound Dante Fowler crashing down on him, which led to a strip sack that the Cowboys returned for a touchdown on the very next drive.
That’s not to mention his inexcusable mistakes as a passer. With the team driving just before halftime, Jones committed a QB cardinal sin: throwing back across the field. He (and the Pats) paid for it, as Daron Bland perfectly read the play and returned it for another Dallas defensive TD.
That, somehow, wasn’t even the end of Jones’ terrible day. He then tossed another INT, to Bland again no less, on a big fourth down in the early part of the third quarter. That did end his day, as he was yanked in favor of backup Bailey Zappe.
Jones being responsible for another New England loss once again puts the quarterback position right in the spotlight. Some have viewed this year as his last chance, and judging by his Week 4 benching, he’s not making a strong case that he is QB1 material for the long haul.
2. Ezekiel Elliott
So much for an Ezekiel Elliott revenge game, huh?
There were reports ahead of this matchup that Zeke would get a bigger workload against Dallas, setting him up to continue his positive momentum after a nice 80-yard performance in Week 3. However, back in Jerry World, the vet reverted back to a running back who looks over the hill.
Elliott saw just 6 carries on Sunday and did nothing with them, tallying just 16 yards. Remove his 9-yard scamper, and he picked up just 7 yards on his other 5 attempts combined.
This is much more like the Elliott we saw to begin the year, and it’s fair to wonder if his Week 3 outing was a bit of fool’s gold. He’s posted only 29, 13 and 16 rushing yards over his other three games with the team so far, providing the complete opposite of a spark.
It’s getting tougher to make excuses for Elliott at this point. A sluggish first two weeks is understandable since he was out of a job since March, but now we’re a month in and he still looks this bad?
Right now, it appears the fears other teams around the league had about Elliott are proving true. He doesn’t have that next gear and relies on plodding his way to pick up yards. That renders him a goal-line threat, and those opportunities aren’t exactly frequent with how New England’s offense is playing, so he seems destined to keep making a minimal impact at this point.
3. Mike Owenu
Elliott wasn’t the only Patriots running back who struggled, as Rhamondre Stevenson did too. And that’s because the offensive line was horrid.
The O-line failed to protect Jones, who had Cowboys pass-rushers in his face every drive when he was in at QB. It couldn’t create rushing lanes, either, leading to a lackluster outing on the ground.
Perhaps the biggest offender on the O-line? Right guard Mike Owenu.
The RG’s disappointing start to the 2023 season culminated in a disaster on Sunday. He committed 3 costly penalties in the second quarter that helped turn the game in Dallas’ favor for good.
First, he was called for a false start on 3rd-and-10 early in the second quarter that backed New England up. JuJu Smith-Schuster’s 14-yard reception on the next play should’ve been a first down, but instead resulted in a 4th-and-1 that wasn’t converted.
When the Pats got the ball back, they were only down 10-3 and still firmly in the contest. However, Owenu then made another false start gaffe, taking New England from its own 10 to its own 5-yard line.
That dangerous territory gave the Cowboys the perfect opportunity to create a scoring opportunity on defense, and they did just that on Jones’ strip-sack. The QB shouldn’t have been operating just outside of his own end zone, but Owenu’s penalty gave him no other choice.
And to cap off his unbelievably bad quarter, Owenu’s third flag — a holding call — negated a 12-yard pickup from Stevenson just before halftime that made things even more difficult for the offense, which turned the ball over again later on.
In one quarter, Owenu eclipsed or tied his penalty totals from 2021 (3) and 2022 (2). He’s already up to a career-high 4 flags on the year, which just speaks to the disappointment that has been New England’s offensive line in 2023.
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