‘Terrible 20 minutes’ seals last place for Patriots

Mike Reiss, ESPN Staff WriterDec 31, 2023, 07:16 PM ET

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Mike Reiss is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the New England Patriots. Reiss has covered the Patriots since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2009. In 2019, he was named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. You can follow Reiss on Twitter at @MikeReiss.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The New England Patriots’ turnover-filled 27-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday clinched a last-place finish in the AFC East — the first for the franchise since 2000, which was Bill Belichick’s first year as head coach.

Entering this season, the only team that had a longer active streak without a last-place division finish was the Pittsburgh Steelers (1988).

The Patriots (4-12) host the New York Jets (6-10) in the season finale next weekend, and after that, some major questions hovering over the organization should soon be answered.

Speculation has swirled on whether Belichick will return in 2024, in part because owner Robert Kraft, who attended Sunday’s game at Highmark Stadium, said in March how important it was to him to qualify for the playoffs.

Instead, the Patriots have endured their worst season under Belichick, with Sunday’s result a reflection of season-long offensive issues. The team had four first-half turnovers and now has a minus-10 turnover differential on the season, as the Patriots are primed to finish the year with a negative turnover differential for the first time since 2005.

The team’s 17 straight seasons with a positive turnover differential is the longest streak in the NFL since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.

“Just a terrible first 20 minutes,” Belichick said. “Turnovers are obviously a big story in the game. Can’t make those kind of mistakes against Buffalo.”

The four turnovers were the most the Patriots have had in a first half in Belichick’s tenure.

“There’s an old saying around here ‘you can’t win until you keep from losing’ and that first half — you can’t do that,” captain and starting center David Andrews said. “We put our defense in an impossible position.”

The Patriots’ 27 giveaways this season have primarily been a result of wildly inconsistent play from their young quarterbacks — first with Mac Jones (third NFL season), then his replacement Bailey Zappe (second NFL season) once he became Jones’ replacement in early December. The team entered Sunday ranked last in the NFL in points scored per game with an average of 14.1.

On Sunday, the Patriots took a 7-0 lead on Jalen Reagor’s 98-yard kickoff return on the game’s first play before things went off track quickly.

Zappe was picked off on the Patriots’ first offensive play when he felt he might have been a tick late to deliver a short pass to tight end Mike Gesicki, which allowed cornerback Rasul Douglas to deflect it into the hands of defensive lineman Ed Oliver. The Bills turned that into a field goal to cut the deficit to 7-3.

After a three-and-out, Zappe was intercepted on the first play of the team’s third drive when he was looking for receiver DeVante Parker on a slant and Douglas undercut it for the pick. The Bills turned that into a touchdown to go up 10-7, and they never trailed again.

“The corner was inside and he drove on the slant and I have to do what I’m coached to do and throw the swing pass [instead]. If I do that, who knows what happens?” said Zappe, who finished 16-of-26 for 209 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions, while adding five rushes for 37 yards and a touchdown. “Those are things I have to fix. Over the course of my career, trust me, I’ll get better at that.”

Tight end Pharaoh Brown lost a fumble late in the first quarter that the Bills turned into a field goal, and early in the second quarter, Zappe was looking toward Reagor when he fired a pass that Douglas intercepted and returned 40 yards for a touchdown to put the Patriots in a 20-7 hole. Zappe described it as a “miscommunication” between him and Reagor.

Patriots players lamented the miscues, which has been a common theme in their last-place season.

“It’s more about us, and I think that’s been most of the case this year,” Andrews said. “That’s NFL football — more games are lost than won.”

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