New England Patriots links 9/27/21 - Mac Jones, Patriots, fans all take a beating in ugly loss at home

TEAM TALK

• Post Game Notes: Patriots vs. Saints. Nick Folk extends streak to 35 straight field goals; More.
• Gamebook: Full Patriots-Saints stats.
• Mike Dussault picks out five keys from the loss to the Saints. 1. Slow start, finish for third-down D.
• Erik Scalavino’s Game Observations: Tough day in all three phases.
• Post Game Quotes: Patriots and Saints. Nick Folk extends streak to 35 straight field goals; More.
• Angelique Fiske hears Patriots fans explain what Julian Edelman means to New England: Grit, loyal, for the fans.
• Post Game Pressers: Bill Belichick - Mac Jones - Devin McCourty - Matt Judon - Kendrick Bourne - David Andrews.
• What Went Wrong: Patriots turnovers end up costly in loss to the Saints. (1.20 min. video)

LOCAL LINKS

• Mike D’Abate (PatriotMaven) Faltering in Foxboro: Patriots fall to Saints 28-13. The Pats are inconsistent in all three phases as they drop to 1-2 on the 2021 season.
• Alex Barth has a good recap of a bad game by the Patriots in all three phases.
• Steve Atkinson (NutsandBoltsSports) Patriots lose to Saints; Fall to 1-2 on the season.
• Ian Glendon (FullPressCoverage) Patriots by the numbers: Offense sputters in loss to Saints.
• Steve Balestrieri (PatsFans) Saints run over lackluster Patriots 28-13.
• Bob George (PatsFans) Patriots crumble amidst a hail of mistakes.
• Tom E. Curran details the Patriots’ demolition last night by the Saints, and the bad timing of the circus on its way to cover Tom Brady’s return to Foxborough.
• Michael Hurley says if you think this is ugly, it looks like it will get worse.
• Matt Dolloff points out that the Patriots had only 10 players on field for Saints’ game-sealing touchdown. /Woof.
• Ryan Hannable offers 10 quick thoughts from that ugly Patriots loss. 2. Jonnu Smith has been a massive disappointment through two games. 3. Hunter Henry hasn’t been much better, as he hasn’t made much of an impact to start the season.
• Clare Cooper (PatsPropaganda) The Saints came marching into Foxborough and stamped out a win.
• Zack Cox shares seven thoughts on Mac Jones’ performance Sunday. 1. The Patriots struggled mightily to keep their rookie QB upright in the first half. In the opening 30 minutes, Jones was sacked once and hit seven times by seven different Saints defenders; More.
• Karen Guregian spotlights Mac Jones’ rough day at the office.
• Matt Vautour looks at how Mac Jones’ first 3 games compares to Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields and other NFL rookies
• Andy Hart somehow thinks that we’ve been focusing too much on Mac Jones and distracted from the many other Patriots problems. /A quick skim through social media would show otherwise.
• Ricky Doyle highlights Mac Jones describing how he feels physically after being pummeled by the Saints. New England’s offensive line has been a weak link this season.
• Ryan Hannable highlights WEEI guest Bill Belichick praising Mac Jones’ mental approach through 3 weeks.
• Zack Cox’ Patriots Notes: Why yesterday was a day to forget for Jonnu Smith; Plus: How James White’s injury hamstrung New England’s offense.
• Matt Vautour’s Patriots Notebook: Mac Jones continues to face pressure as offensive line struggles without Trent Brown; More.
• Justin Leger relays what Mac Jones had to say about Jonnu Smith’s rough day. “Me and him, we’re not always going to have perfect days. Nobody is. I think it’s more about just getting that connection in practice and the timing. That comes with reps. We’ve kind of been together for a few weeks now, and we’ve just got to keep growing and turn the page on some of the bad things we did but also learn from them.”
• Logan Mullen notes Brandon Bolden was more involved in the offense than usual, but that didn’t surprise him, “When one of our guys goes down, it’s all hands on deck, so I was there ready to do whatever they asked me to do.”
• Jake Levin notes Devin McCourty offers a dose of reality for the Patriots ahead of Brady’s return. “We’re not good enough to get lost in headlines. Can’t worry about anything else.”
• Ricky Doyle mentions a “weird” Bill Belichick-Mac Jones postgame interaction where Belichick appeared to grab Jones by the wrist after the loss.
• Dakota Randall wasn’t pleased with Bill Belichick’s ‘particularly snarky’ response to a question about what he saw on Mac Jones’ three interceptions: “Probably same thing you saw.”
• Andrew Callahan observes Dont’a Hightower was replaced with practice-squad LB Jahlani Tavai for two second-half defensive series.
• CBS Boston explains Bill Belichick pulling an artful chess move, helping to influence Saints’ missed field goal.
• Michael Hurley picks four ups, four downs from Sunday’s loss.
• Dakota Randall picks three studs & three duds from the ugly Week 3 loss. Kendrick Bourne’s best game as a Patriot
• Chris Mason picks three up, seven down: Mac Jones takes a beating as the Patriots get shellacked by the Saints.
• Michael Hurley points out that after Tom Brady and the Bucs were soundly beaten in Los Angeles, he’ll have the added motivation of desperately not wanting to lose two in a row.
• Chris Mason looks at Tom Brady and Julian Edelman as reminders that the Patriots need to forge a new identity.
• Justin Leger posts a clip of the Patriots’ halftime ceremony honoring Julian Edelman.
• CBS Boston hears from James White’s teammates expressing a major level of concern after the game regarding his hip injury.

NATIONAL NEWS

• NFL Game Center (NFL.com) Saints at Patriots: Drives, stats, highlights.
• Seth Galina (PFF) NFL Week 3 Game Recap: New Orleans Saints 28, New England Patriots 13.
• Tyler Sullivan (CBS Sports) Patriots vs. Saints takeaways: New Orleans fends off late comeback attempt, upsets New England on road.
• Albert Breer (SI) Monday Morning QB: Los Angeles’s Rams and Chargers knock off last year’s Super Bowl teams; Plus, the Saints are finally headed home (with a win), Justin Tucker sets a record, a Packers statement and more from Week 3.
• Peter King (ProFootballTalk) FMIA Week 3: Sean McVay has killer headache. Plus 50 hours in heart of New England as Tom Brady returns. /Hello from the other side...
• Gary Gramling (SI) Week 3 Takeaways: Stafford still looks the Part, Justin Tucker is the ultimate weapon, Herbert outduels Mahomes; Plus, the Bears bomb in Justin Fields’s first start, Big Ben waves the white flag against the Bengals, the officials fall asleep in Detroit, Raiders show resolve, revenge for Raheem Morris, Brissett makes his case, Joe Judge’s Giants lose on their own terms, Jaguars’ afternoon of highlights and lowlights, and much more!
• NFL Nation (ESPN) NFL Week 3 takeaways: What we learned, big reaction questions and stat leaders for every game.
• Around the NFL (NFL.com) Week 3: What we learned from Sunday’s games. 2. Mac Jones is a microcosm of the Pats. ... Jones struggled with accuracy (and was the victim of drops) in a three-INT performance. While he pushed the ball downfield a bit more, he wasn’t on the same page with his receivers. It’s a bit of a surprise given how in sync they all seemed to be in August and that his protection has been fairly good in the regular season. More often than not, he’s just missing guys. More.
• Judy Battista (NFL.com) Broncos, Raiders atop rudderless AFC through first three weeks of 2021 NFL season.
• Frank Schwab (Yahoo! Sports) NFL Winners and losers: It will be hard, but Steelers need to consider benching Ben Roethlisberger; Loser: Mac Jones.
• Rodger Sherman (The Ringer) The winners and losers of NFL Week 3. Loser: Rookie QBs.
• Jeff Nowak (WWL Radio Sports) What’d Jameis Winston see on wild TD throw: ‘It was all God.’
• Frank Schwab (Yahoo! Sports) Rams stamp themselves as true Super Bowl contenders by blowing out Buccaneeers.
• Charean Williams (ProFootballTalk) Andy Reid in stable condition at Kansas City hospital.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) NFL overtime rules and procedures.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Former Super Bowl media day spectacle has a major legal problem.