Red-zone woes, failure to stop Colts on 4th down on final drive doom Patriots to 3rd straight loss

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots made six trips inside the Indianapolis 20 and came away with two touchdowns, two field goals, an interception at the goal line and a missed field goal that was shorter than an extra point.

When they think about how close they came to beating the Colts, those missed opportunities will hurt the most.

"I left some plays out there,” rookie quarterback Drake Maye said after watching Indianapolis drive 80 yards to win 25-24 on Sunday, sending the Patriots (3-10) to their third straight loss and eliminating them from playoff contention.

“I just hate it,” said Maye, who completed 24 of 30 passes for 238 yards, a touchdown and an interception. “I pride myself on trying to lead this team to wins, and we didn’t accomplish that. That’s probably the biggest thing.”

The Patriots scored on their first four possessions — and missed a 25-yard field goal on the fifth — and had their only punt of the game with 5:34 left. They had two touchdowns negated by penalties — one that only delayed the TD by one play, but another that left them settling for a field goal.

Their inability to convert inside the red zone left them with just a 16-14 lead at halftime and ahead 24-17 when the Colts (6-7) got the ball back with 5:34 left.

Anthony Richardson led Indianapolis on a 19-play drive — converting three times on fourth down, including a touchdown pass to Alec Pierce on fourth-and goal from the 3 with 12 seconds left. The Colts went for the 2-point conversion and the win, and Richardson ran it in to make it 25-24.

That’s four times the Patriots could have clinched the victory with a stop.

“It just wasn’t good enough,” cornerback Christian Gonzalez said. “We made plays; they made more plays. We’ve got to hold it down for the offense. When we get it on our back, we’ve got to be better.”

The Patriots got the ball back with 12 seconds left and Maye connected with Hunter Henry for two short passes over the middle to get to midfield. Rather than a Hail Mary, coach Jerod Mayo opted for a 68-yard field goal attempt that would have been the longest in NFL history.

Joey Slye kicked it straight, but the ball landed short, hitting the base of the goalpost.

“Not sure what the numbers are on Hail Marys versus the field goal there, but that’s what I felt was right,” Mayo said.

Here are the numbers: Since 2006, there gave been 45 passes thrown 30 or more yards downfield from near midfield in the last 5 seconds of the fourth quarter, and four of them ended in touchdowns. (No one has ever kicked a field goal of 68 yards, so that technically has a 0% success rate.)

It was New England’s fifth one-score loss of the season.

“It’s too late in the season to be saying, ‘We’re close,’” Gonzalez said. “We’ve got to make those plays and finish out the game.”