Patriots Postgame Comments: “Remember This Feeling”

The New England Patriots fell to 3-9 in 2024 with a Week 12 loss to the Miami Dolphins. The final score saw the Dolphins ahead 34-15, but the game felt more out of reach than even that 19-point margin. The Patriots trailed 31-0 after three quarters.

Penalties, turnovers, and a lack of pass protection or pass coverage ruined any hope New England had of a road victory. The defense forced Miami to punt on their first possession. The Dolphins then scored on three straight drives to take a 21-0 lead and never look back.

Head coach Jerod Mayo and several of the Patriots players spoke to the media after the game. Here’s what they had to say in the aftermath of their latest loss:

Also Read – Ten Takeaways From the Patriots 34-15 Loss in Miami

Jerod Mayo

Before taking any questions, Mayo pointed to a few obvious contributors to the losing effort. “We gave up too many big plays,” noted the head coach. He pointed to losing the turnover battle and the need for improvement on special teams as well. Mayo was asked directly if the penalty problems New England had in the game (six presnap penalties in the first half) were a reflection on the coaching.

“Look, it starts with me,” said Mayo. “And we’ve had these hiccups of games where the penalties really affected us, and they did today.”

Mayo responded to a question on his level of concern for his team having come out so flat.

“Yeah, we came out flat,” acknowledged Mayo. “And it is a long season, and the guys recognize that. When you get the schedule early on, you got to see where the bye week is. And saying that, no excuses from me and hopefully no excuses from the players. We just have to be better.”

Jerod Mayo was asked about pulling right tackle Demontrey Jacobs from the lineup in the fourth quarter, replacing him with Sidy Sow.

“He [Jacobs] was having a tough game. Whether it’s penalties or blocking the edge, he was having a tough game. And we’ve got to protect the quarterback.”

Mayo concluded his availability by being asked, even though Mayo says it starts with him, when the players need to start looking at themselves.

“I mean look, once those guys cross the white lines there’s nothing I can do for them,” responded Mayo. “There’s nothing any coach can do for them once they cross the white line. It’s my job to continue to prepare not only them but our coaches to go out here and play better football.”

Drake Maye

The rookie quarterback acknowledged the obvious, saying that penalties hurt the offense. “We just can’t do that in this league,” Maye said of the backward movement. But the QB would not cast blame on the men tasked to protect him.

“I don’t blame those guys up front,” said Maye. “They got a tough job. They got to get off on the snap count and get back there and block some pretty good guys on the edge. So, I don’t blame them for getting off and trying to get a good set. I think sometimes those happen. I just think we had too many.”

As usual, Maye was much more willing to point the finger at himself. On one missed connection to DeMario Douglas, Maye said, “That’s an easy throw and [I] just missed it.”

Maye also took responsibility for his two turnovers in the game. Of his lost fumble he stated, “Just find a way to protect the football and go down or find a way to get it out.”

“It’s just bad,” admitted Maye. “Protect the football. We preached it all week and I didn’t do that out there.”

Maye was asked how he is dealing with the struggles of losing and he acknowledged it was tough.

“I hate losing more than I really like to win,” said Maye. “So losing sucks”

But the rookie said he shared advice with some teammates in the locker room.

“Remember this feeling of really getting our butts whooped today,” said Maye. “And I think, you know, it’s only up from here.”

Christian Gonzalez

Gonzalez was questionable for the game with a hip injury and looked hobbled arriving at the stadium on Sunday morning. He did not address what caused the hip injury. Gonzalez said, “Next question,” when asked if it happened during Friday’s Patriots practice.

Christian Gonzalez confirmed he was given the job of shadowing Tyreek Hill for much of the game. This came a week after the Patriots’ defensive scheme was criticized for keeping Gonzalez near the sideline while the Rams dictated where the ball went.

The cornerback opted to give the Dolphins credit for their performance.

“I mean, props to them,” said Gonzalez. “They came out and, you know, hit their goals, do what they had to do.”

But Gonzalez did not think the team taking a step back on Sunday would carry to the rest of the season for the New England Patriots.

“It’s not going to affect how we finish out the season,” Gonzalez said of the team’s failure to compete in Miami. “We still got five more games that we’re able to go out there and complete, and do what we got to do as a defense.”

Gonzalez also made it clear he will make himself available whenever possible, hip injury or not.

“Not being able to be out there with the team last year hurt a lot mentally,” said Gonzalez. “From that point, you know, I always want to be on the field to help the team as much as I can.”

Kendrick Bourne

Bourne is the veteran voice of the Patriots wide receivers room. He caught three passes for 30 yards in the game. Bourne also attempted a pass on a trick play, which fell incomplete. He pointed to a slow start as the cause for the poor performance.

“Just a bad start, a slow start,” said Bourne. “Let them jump on top of us. Just got to start faster, compete out of the gate.”

He pointed to a lack of energy individuals brought to the game, which affected the collective unit. Bourne suggested things like celebrating plays more would help generate some energy, but there wasn’t enough of it.

“I feel like we fought better at the end,” said Bourne of the team’s fourth-quarter performance. “Gonzo [Christian Gonzalez] made a great play, Brought some energy in. Big plays bring energy so you go to make more plays.”

Kendrick Bourne did have praise for his quarterback when asked if Drake Maye is the guy to make those big plays.

“Yeah, absolutely,” stated Bourne. “Drake completes, and that’s what you love to see. We all make mistakes. We all are not going to be perfect. And his resiliency to keep going, that [touchdown pass to Austin Hooper] was just another impressive play by him.”

Hunter Henry

The Patriots captain was blunt in his assessment of the game, stating, “What we put out there was not good enough at all. And I felt like we were turning in the right way the last few weeks. Obviously, the wins aren’t there, but like, it just felt like we were playing better football. And we just didn’t do that in the first half at all.”

Henry was also asked about the team’s penalty problems and stated everyone just needs to “lock in” a bit better.

As for Drake Maye, Hunter Henry had praise for how the rookie quarterback is performing. He was asked how he believed Maye was dealing with struggles and losses.

“He doing great,” said Henry. “I mean, this is a humbling league. It really is. And you learn a lot from it each year, each game, each practice, each week. You learn a lot about yourself.”

Henry finished by acknowledging, “We just didn’t play good enough today, and you’ve got to give credit to the Dolphins as well.”

Marcus Jones

Jones was one of the Patriots cornerbacks who struggled to defend Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (eight receptions, 144 yards, and one touchdown) in the game. He pointed to the defense needing to communicate better.

“It’s one of those situations to where we got to know what’s going on and just communicate,” said Jones of defending the opposition’s passing attack. “Communication helps with everything. So, if we communicate we should be able to handle it.”

Marcus Jones indicated the Patriots were not surprised by what they saw on the field.

“Almost everything that they’ve done today ended up on film,” said Jones. “So, it’s just one of those situations of execution. And we didn’t execute as much as we needed to.”

Like his teammates, Jones also praises Miami for their performance.

“It was great throws and great catches at the end of the day,” said Jones about the combination of Tua Tagovailoa and Jaylen Waddle. “And then also what they do is make sure to get their players the ball as quick as possible.”

Marcus Jones also praised Jerod Mayo for making halftime adjustments and telling the team to keep playing one play at a time in the second half.

Kyle Dugger

New England listed Dugger as questionable with an ankle injury. He appeared to injure himself again during the game, though he stayed in. The safety struggled during the game however. It appeared he was in coverage on three of the Dolphins touchdowns. But Dugger did not blame preparation for the team’s shortcomings on Sunday.

“We come out and more times than not they [opposing teams] do exactly what we practiced,” said Dugger “So we just got to take it to the field.”

Dugger also pointed to communication in coverage as an issue for the Patriots.

“We just weren’t communicating the right way,” Dugger said of the first half coverage issues. “And it’s basically just beating outrselves. It doesn’t really have anything to do with them.”

Where does Dugger believe the defense goes from here?

“We got to go forward,” said Dugger. “We got to get better. we got to be honest with ourselves, each individual, and then have that accountability.”

Kyle Dugger made sure to mention that includes him. “I have to be responsible for myself,” said the safety. “I have to do that as well.”

Davon Godchaux

Stopping the run is Davon Godchaux’s forte, and the Patriots’ run defense did a solid job on Sunday. But Godchaux made sure to include everyone in a performance he acknowledged was, “kind of embarrassing.”

“We all play a part in it,” said Godchaux. “The coaches, players, it’s got to be everybody. We all play a part in this. We all go to take this one.”

Godchaux believes a full team effort is needed to get things turned around for the Patriots.

“I trust all my players. I believe in all of them to do their job,” said Godchaux. “We just got to do it as 11 on all three phases at a time. We won’t have results like this.”

The New England Patriots defensive tackle stressed that everybody needed to keep their head high and fight through adversity. Nobody can blame others or point fingers, just keep fighting.

“Fighting for pride,” said Godchaux. “We know we’re probably not going to the playoffs. So, it’s all about fighting for the name on the back of your jersey and fighting for this organization that you play for.”

“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” pointed out Godchaux. “The Patriots organization under Jerod Mayo is not going to be built in a day.”