After starting their season with a 2-5 record, the New England Patriots clawed back to an even win-loss record of 6-6, keeping their playoff hopes alive ahead of their matchup with the Rams. However, the New England Patriots playoff push seems to be over right after it started. 

Only a mere 4 days after crushing the lowly Chargers during a dominant 45-point blowout, New England lost to the Los Angeles Rams in embarrassing fashion by a score of 24-3. The loss drops New England to 6-7, good enough for 3rd in their division, the AFC East.

Head Coach Bill Belichick best describes the course of the game for New England: “Certainly, the Rams were the better team tonight. They deserve a lot of credit. We were out coached, outplayed, about everything, really. They did a good job in all the areas. We weren’t good enough to really be able to stay with them here. They’re a good football team that played well. They played and coached better than we did and deserve to win. We just have to all do a better job, starting with me, but it just wasn’t our night tonight.” 

The Rams completely dominated the Patriots from the first snap, gaining 323 yards of total offense and scoring 17 points while rookie running back Cam Akers gained 171 yards rushing. The Rams defense also chipped in, holding Cam Newton and the Patriots offense to 220 total yards and 3 total points while also scoring off of an interception from Newton. 

Following his poor performance, Newton was benched for the last three drives of the game. After Newton’s departure, backup QB Jarret Stidham took the field for the Patriots, going 5/7 for 27 yards. However, Bill Belichick stated that Newton would remain the starter going forward.  

Now sitting at a record of 6-7, the Patriots are all but entirely out of the playoff picture, needing to win out for the rest of the season while multiple teams suffer huge collapses to even have a chance of making it to the Wild Card Round. For that to happen, the Patriots 24th ranked offense needs to turn it around before the season’s end. 

The Patriots get a chance to turn their season around in a division matchup against the 8-5 Miami Dolphins on Sunday, December 20th.