LAS VEGAS — In this land of elaborate illusions and one-upmanship wonders we saw behind the curtain of the greatest ring leader and magic maker stalking the sidelines in the NFL. Like the almighty Oz, it turns out Patriots coach Bill Belichick isn’t an omniscient, omnipotent wizard. He’s just a man pulling levers that don’t work anymore.
After suffering the two most lopsided losses of his career in back-to-back weeks, Belichick pronounced the Patriots would start over. Instead, they ended up right back where they started as self-inflicted losers in a 21-17 loss to old friends Josh McDaniels, Jakobi Meyers, and the Raiders on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium, dropping to an unthinkable 1-5.
With his team crapping out in this gambling mecca, the cries for Belichick and quarterback Mac Jones to relinquish their roles have reached the level of a cacophonous, thumping Vegas nightclub. Noise that can’t be ignored, especially when even Belichick’s former players like Tedy Bruschi are chiming in. Belichick spinning his greatest hits seems so yesterday with his record 26-31 since a certain quarterback’s departure.
This desert defeat was more damming than the 35- and 34-point washouts against the Cowboys and Saints because it came in the type of game the Patriots used to be a bet-your-mortgage lock to win. A backup quarterback forced into the game for the opponent (Brian Hoyer), a fundamentally shaky opponent stumbling to the finish line, favorable flags keeping the Patriots’ flame of hope lit.
Instead of carpe diem, these new Patriots drop the ball. Trailing 19-17 with 2 minutes, 23 seconds left at their own 9-yard line and needing just a field goal to escape with a win, their final drive was a slow-motion car crash unbecoming of Belichick. It ended with Jones taking a game-sealing safety sack in his end zone.
The three snaps preceding the safety defined this self-immolation overseen by Belichick and Jones — a delay of game penalty on third and 11 from the 8; a crushing dropped deep ball by DeVante Parker, who took little responsibility post-game; and a holding call on rookie guard Atonio Mafi that negated a first-down run by Rhamondre Stevenson on second and 4 from the 15.
That’s called How to Lose a Game in Four Plays.
The Patriots committed 10 penalties for 79 yards, bookending their first offensive drive and their final one with a pair of damaging flags. This is who they are now. We just have to accept it.
They dug themselves a double-digit hole (13-3 at the half) for the fifth time in six games.
Adding insult to indignity for Belichick, Meyers did what his Patriots receivers can’t — he dusted the defense to get wide open for the game’s first touchdown. Meyers caught his first five targets for 61 yards before being held catchless in the second half.
If you were feeling nostalgic for the glory days, the Patriots provided one callback.
Trailing 19-10 with 13:03 left in the fourth, they evoked visions of the infamous Drive to Nowhere from the 2010 season’s Divisional Round loss to the Jets. Sunday’s 17-play, 75-yard temporal tug-of-war took 9:30 and ended with a Stevenson 1-yard TD.
The Patriots displayed the urgency of the shopper pulling out their checkbook in a dozen-deep grocery line as time ticked away. The March of Time was twice extended by third-down penalty reprieves from the undisciplined Raiders.
The second penalty was a borderline roughing-the-passer call on third and goal from the 7 on Raiders sackmaster Maxx Crosby dipped in some Ray “Sugar Bear” Hamilton karma for older Patriots fans.
It never dawned on anyone on the New England sideline to pick up the pace, apparently.
“Not really talking about it, just trying to execute. But we do need to be faster,” said receiver Kendrick Bourne. “We do need to score faster.
“It’s a great drive. It says a lot about us and how much we fought, which I love. It just ate up too much time and then we get in a situation at the end where it feels like we put more pressure on ourselves when we can make it easier. So, just to be a little faster and more urgency for sure is needed.”
The Patriots used to be masters of situational football … sigh.
The team’s Declaration of Desperation was making preseason hero Malik Cunningham its No. 2 QB. Under-siege Jones played better. He didn’t throw a pick-6. He finished 24 of 33 for 200 yards, but he had another egregious turnover.
On his seventh turnover in three games, Jones rolled to his right and missed a wide-open Hunter Henry with an overthrow that landed in the arms of Tre’von Moehrig at the Raiders’ 12, killing a promising Patriots drive. It led to a Vegas field goal that made it 13-3.
Even quarterback apologist CBS analyst Tony Romo was forced to condemn another profligate Jones pass: “This is just a horrendous throw by Mac Jones. … That was on Mac Jones, nobody else. He knows that.”
Mac agreed.
“Just trying to do too much. They got three points off of it, and that’s on me,” he said.
It’s pretty clear that if the Patriots had a better option Jones would be out of a job. He doesn’t look like the short-term or long-term answer. He’s just good enough to not be good enough. He now has almost twice as many turnovers this season (9) as TD passes (5).
“I’m trying to win every game that I play in, and I’m not doing it. … It takes all 11,” said Jones. “That’s important to be the leader of that 11. It is a lot of stress, but that’s why I play this game. I really want to win. I’m doing a lot of things to do that during the week, but for whatever reason it’s just not happening on Sunday.”
If you’re into moral victories and pyrrhic progress, at least Jones and the Patriots found the end zone this time — twice.
The Patriots opened the second half by snapping their 12-quarter touchdown-less streak. Ezekiel Elliott took a wildcat snap and burrowed in for a 2-yard touchdown. That ended a biblical stretch for Belichick and Co. of 39 drives and 197 minutes, 42 seconds between entrances into the end zone.
Consolation prizes are all Belichick, still seeking that elusive 300th regular-season victory, and Jones can provide now because it doesn’t look like they have any answers.
In another brief, microphone-abusing press conference, Belichick was banal.
“We had our opportunities and just need to do a better job in really just about every area,” he said. “Any one of a number of things could’ve made a difference. We have to coach it better, play it better, execute a little bit better.”
It’s time to accept that the magic is gone for Belichick and that Jones doesn’t have it.
Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at christopher.gasper@globe.com. Follow him @cgasper.
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