Nothing has gone right for the New England Patriots as rookie kicker Chad Ryland misses the game-tying 35-yard field goal attempt to force overtime as they lose to the New York Giants 10-7 on Sunday afternoon.

Overall, the game was poor from both sides, as both these teams are in the bottom five for the worst run offenses in the league. However, this loss speaks more about the Patriots than the Giants. The Giants were without their starting quarterback Daniel Jones and backup Tyrod Taylor to injuries. Enter hometown hero Tommy Devito who now has two wins as a starting quarterback, the same number of wins as the Patriots have on the season.

“Lot of lessons to be learned. Try to correct it… Keep swinging. Keep fighting. We’ll see who wants to do that.” Patriots center David Andrews said. 

Many Patriots fans wanted them to lose the game on Sunday, but for the Patriots to lose to the Giants, who have many key players injured and have to rely on a quarterback who still lives with his parents, is absolutely demoralizing. Especially for head coach Bill Belichick who is notorious for making it tough on quarterbacks who do not have a lot of experience.

Both the Patriots and Giants defenses looked great on Sunday, but when you have two of the worst offenses in the league, it does not take much to look good on defense. Where the Patriots lost the game was turnovers, a common theme for the majority of the losses the Patriots have suffered this year. 

At kickoff, Patriots quarterback Mac Jones came trotting out for the first drive, and he looked the same as he was in Germany against the Indianapolis Colts. He’s still making the same poor decisions, trying to make plays out of nothing and still looks broken. Jones threw two horrendous interceptions, with one setting up the Giants in a good position to score a touchdown. Jones was only sacked once, but the damages of having a poor offensive line this season have made him frantic and look unsure in the pocket. His poor performance saw him get benched for backup quarterback Bailey Zappe for the second half.

“Just was not on the same page as the offense today,” Jones said. “I’m definitely prepared, I just have not put a good product on the field.”

Zappe gave the Patriots offense a spark as they scored a touchdown thanks to running back Rhamondre Stevenson on a 7-yard run to tie the game at 7-7 to open the second half. However, two drives later Zappe was baited into making a pass to the left by Giants safety Xavier McKinney who intercepted the pass, setting up the Giants for the game-winning field goal in the fourth quarter. That was all the offense could give, as they only entered the red zone one more time in the second half, which set up the Patriots to attempt the game-tying kick. Overall, Zappe was good when he only had to throw check downs or screen passes, but when he had to throw in the open field he was dreadful.

Whether it was Jones or Zappe the Patriots’ offense still could not get anything going. You have to question the coaching staff about how awful the offense has gotten. Could they not have schemed up or planned better against the lowlife Giants? On top of that, the Patriots had a bye with two weeks to prepare for this game, and they still could not win. They have completely given up, which is unfair to some players on the team who are fighting for contracts and still giving their all even in a losing effort. 

The fact that Belichick could not name a starting quarterback until Sunday is ludicrous. While Belichick has been known to keep teams guessing on who’s in or out, did he have to keep the Giants guessing who the starting quarterback will be for two weeks? Let alone sending out the broken quarterback he ruined to start the game and make more of a fool of himself. Belichick does not deserve all the blame for the offenses’ troubles. Offensive line coach Adrian Klemm was brought in to fix the offensive line, but they are still as terrible as last year. While injuries have derailed them, Klemm should do better in coaching up the offensive line to be better. Wide receivers coach Troy Brown should come under heat as well because young players such as Tyquon Thornton still look raw and have not developed at all. Additionally, receivers are running the wrong routes, can’t create separation and can’t catch the ball. Sunday’s game displayed frustration with receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster as he exchanged some words with Brown. 

The same can be said for offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien as the offense has taken more steps backward since Jones’ rookie season. Once again the Patriots suffer for a lack of talent on offense, but O’Brien should make players such as Demario Douglas the center of the offense, as he’s been the only X-factor the Patriots have now. Regardless, of scheme and gameplans this entire offense needs to be revamped next season because the offense now is unrepairable. 

“Look, that’s my head coach, I believe in him. [Belichick] brought me into this league. I’ll go down fighting with him,” Andrews said.

Two years ago, the Patriots defeated the Tennessee Titans and stood at the top of the AFC with the number one seed. Now they are in the running for a top-five pick in the draft. For the younger generation of Patriots, this is the first time they have seen this team hit rock bottom. The once prestigious and powerful dynasty has officially fallen. While many expected this to happen, no one expected it to happen like this.

The Patriots now sit at 2-9 and are fully embracing tank mode. With four out of their six remaining games against teams who have winning records, it’s all about how the Patriots find ways to lose, as the path to pick is on.