Studs and duds from the New England Patriots tough loss to the Rams in Week 14.
The New England Patriots entered a new week in the 2020 NFL season in Week 14 looking to continue their winning ways while trying to climb back into the playoff picture in the AFC.
With just a few minutes remaining in the regular season, the Patriots hit the road to battle a tough NFC squad on their home field on Thursday Night Football in Week 14.
New England, having won four of the last five games going into Thursday, fell on the road to the Los Angeles Rams 24-3 on national television in a cross-conference contest that wasn’t much of a close game by any means.
In the game, the Patriots were taken out of things early on and couldn’t really get anything going at all throughout the course of the matchup, resulting in the Rams cruising to a victory on their home field.
To open up the game, Los Angeles jumped out to a 17-3 lead going into halftime while taking New England out early on while not letting up for the rest of the game. In the second half, the Rams went on cruise control and outscored the Patriots 7-0 over the final two quarters to take the game by 21 points.
In the loss, New England dropped below the .500 mark to 6-7 overall while being pushed out of the playoff picture in the conference with three games remaining in the year. And here a few studs and duds that appeared throughout the game for the Patriots.
Stud: Holding Goff, Rams passing game in check
The first thing that New England did manage to do well in Week 14 against Los Angeles was defending Rams quarterback Jared Goff and the passing game on the offensive side of Los Angeles.
When it comes to the Rams offense, the passing game has the ability to turn things on quickly and result in getting a large lead early on in the contest. On Thursday Night Football, the Patriots did a solid job of trying to hold that unit in check although it didn’t matter at the end of the game.
Goff finished with just 16 completions for 137 yards and one touchdown in the game, also committing one interception along the way. New England also held Los Angeles receivers Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods to a combined 10 catches for 65 yards and one touchdown.
Dud: Cam Newton
Perhaps the biggest dud was Patriots quarterback Cam Newton. Newton has continued to struggle in 2020 and in his first season with New England, and he was replaced after not performing well in Week 14 against Los Angeles.
Although Bill Belichick said after the game that Newton is the starting quarterback moving forward, the veteran was replaced by backup Jarrett Stidham in the second half after completing just nine passes for 119 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
Newton and the Patriots have a lot to figure out on offense, and those struggles were on full display in Week 14.