Fan Notes from the Patriots’ loss to the Rams

Notes, musings, and observations from the New England Patriots’ 28-22 defeat to the Los Angeles Rams.

As Week 11 in the NFL draws to a close, we saw a few streaks broken. Buffalo beat Kansas City, which means New England’s record of 21 straight wins remains intact. The Steelers managed to win another game scoring only field goals. But at least the New England Patriots’ streak of not stringing together back-to-back wins since November of 2022 is alive and well.

1. Last week I wrote that of the four or five games I had the Patriots winning in 2024, they’d all look like that Bears game. A stifling defense, an efficient offense, and strong special teams play. It was a great team win and the kind of thing you’d really hope they build off of.
2. And that leaves the 12 or 13 games they’d lose this year. Of those, I thought that the defense would keep them in it for much of the game, but a young and struggling offense just wouldn’t be able to stay on the field and the opponent would pull away late.
3. What seems to be happening instead is that this defense is either getting outmuscled at the line or they can’t seem to find ways to adjust. This Rams team hasn’t been fully healthy all year, and while I don’t think they’re as potent as they came off yesterday, the Patriots certainly did them plenty of favors in their decision not to do any adjusting.
4. To be fair, I’ve never coached a single snap of football at any level. Hell, I’ve never even played football at any level unless you want to count playgrounds and backyards - which I don’t, because I don’t think I ever completed a full game without it devolving into some deranged version of Kill the Carrier. So there’s absolutely nothing that qualifies me to sit here this morning and question some of the coaching decisions we all saw yesterday. So perhaps someone with more knowledge and experience than me can speak to the following issues that had me raising my eyebrows:
5. The decision to put Gonzo on Demarcus Robinson. Unless Gonzalez is just utterly useless out of the slot and we all have no idea. But as both Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua combined to rack up a combined 230 yards and three touchdowns, I found myself wondering if maybe putting New England’s best cover corner on one of them might prove useful.
6. The decision to run what looked like a trick play on 4th and inches, only to have it blown up by a Ja’Lynn Polk false start. A sneak or a pounding run up the middle seemed like a safer play there.
7. The decision to punt instead of go for a 54-yard FG attempt, which ended up netting about 17 yards of field position. Not a gimme by any stretch, but given the situational football, a FG attempt seemed like a worthy...