If Sunday's loss to the Dallas Cowboys felt like one of the worst New England Patriots losses in recent memory, that's because it was.
With a 38-3 final score, it marked Bill Belichick's largest margin of defeat in his 29 years as an NFL head coach. It also was the worst performance of third-year quarterback Mac Jones' career as he committed three costly turnovers -- two resulting in Cowboys touchdowns -- before being replaced by Bailey Zappe late in the third quarter.
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As Michael Holley explained on Patriots Postgame Live, it was the kind of game that should force New England to reevaluate every part of the organization.
"This was one of those games that the Patriots didn't do anything right from the start," Holley said. "I don't think they had the right mentality from their penalties in the beginning of the game to their play-calling. In a critical moment, very early in the first quarter, passing up a great third-and-1 opportunity which I thought was two-down territory, resulting in a field goal. To Mac Jones just throwing the ball in places he just knows better. He knows he doesn't have the physical ability to make throws like that.
"I think this is the kind of game where if you're the Patriots, you look at it and you question every aspect of the operation. Every aspect of the operation. Your coaching approach, who you've got at quarterback, your philosophy, everything. It was that bad. A 35-point deficit and it was even worse than that."
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Our Patriots insider Tom E. Curran echoed Holley's take, admitting the optimism he felt after earlier Pats losses has diminished.
"To look for the black box and try and figure out why the plane crashed on this particular day is fruitless. It's irrelevant," Curran said. "To try and figure out where this team is now, after such a decisive loss, gives you actual clarity to where the Patriots really are. You've got people like me who have been insisting if you stop with the penalties and you stop with the silly turnovers, and don't dig yourself a hole, you're a pretty good team. Matthew Judon's told us that. I've believed that.
"I went through a litany of Patriots deficits over the last 10 games and nine of them they've been down by at least seven points. Some much more than that. That really speaks to an inherent problem with the team being prepared when it gets to the field. It also speaks to an inherent problem with the personnel on the team when it falls behind that much. ... I don't think the interrogation should stop with Mac Jones. It has to look at the direction of the team and whether it has become stale and rotten. The decisiveness of this loss allows people like me to stop pretending that it's not as bad as it seems and it's just a tick away."
Former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson piled on with an equally pessimistic take on the state of the team as it enters Week 5 with a 1-3 record.
"The way this game was lost, the way the game looked, the whole approach, the play-calling, the players, the roster, the in-game management, all of the philosophies, everything is going to be analyzed and dissected now more than it ever has," Johnson said.
"It was an embarrassing loss, and the flight home is gonna be a long one. This is one of those games -- I mean, they kind of caught a little momentum by beating the Jets and they gave it all away and then some in this game."
New England will look to get its season back on track next Sunday when it hosts the New Orleans Saints.
You can watch the Patriots Postgame Live crew's full instant reaction to the loss below: