The Patriots Beat Themselves On Thanksgiving

The Patriots played the Vikings on Thanksgiving night. It was a close game and at the end of the night, the Vikings would win. The Patriots looked like a football team but they made mistakes in two areas and that is why they lost.

The Patriots failed to execute. That had chances to stop the Vikings but allowed the Vikings to go eight of 15 on third downs and three of five in the red zone. The Patriots offense would go three of 10 on third down and fail on their only fourth down attempt while going zero for three in the red zone.

On top of that they gave up a touchdown on special teams and had several critical mental errors including roughing the kicker and failing to get seven after getting an interception. The Patriots had six penalties for 55 yards but their performance on the field penalized them on their own.

This was a good game for Matt Patricia as the offensive coordinator. The players just didn't seem to be completely aware of what was going on and that's just one more example of mental errors. 

Execution and mental errors were also visible in the pass defense. There were too many catches that shouldn't of been had. The biggest one is the touchdown play in the end zone that Dugger fell on. Then there was a naked boot that Tavai didn't do enough to try and knock down, and of course the hit on the defenseless receiver.

Overall they showed up but showed they still are not ready for January football. The Patriots need some help from the Lions, Texans, Titans, Bears, Cardinals and Steelers as they currently dropped to eighth in the AFC. The Patriots are in a must win situation at home against Buffalo next week and still control their own destiny.