Getty DeVante Parker of the Patriots dropping a critical pass against the Raiders.
For all the faults and disappointments to come out of Sunday’s Week 6 loss in Las Vegas, which dropped the Patriots to 1-5 on the season, the DeVante Parker dropped pass stands out as the biggest. Parker is a veteran, and his ninth season as an NFL receiver. He is also, on paper, the Patriots’ best receiver and would-be leader.
He was targeted three times on Sunday by quarterback Mac Jones and made just one catch for seven yards. That should have been two catches for a lot more yards.
With Jones backed up in his own end zone and the Patriots down two points with 1:57 to go, Parker got behind the Raiders defense and Jones threw a pass out near midfield. It was a perfect ball. Parker got both hands on it, but bungled the grab and, rather being within 10 yards of field-goal range, the Patriots went to third down and wound up yielding a safety that sealed the loss.
Parker’s explanation was … less than satisfactory. Rather than accepting blame, he was combative when asked about it.
“I don’t know, he said when asked what happened on the play. “What you see?”
Told it looked like the ball was there, Parker said, “It’s just what happened. I was behind the coverage. Next?”
Asked if he got his fingers on the ball, Parker said, “It was on my fingertips, I think. I didn’t get to get a full grasp on it. … Fingertips. I don’t know, but …”
Here are DeVante Parker’s full answers:
DeVante Parker Dropped Pass Symbolic of Patriots
Parker fits in well with the Patriots receiving unit because he has been an enormous disappointment this season. He missed Week 1 with an injury, but came back with six catches and 57 yards in a solid Week 2. In his four games since then, he has gradually faded away, with just seven total catches and 59 yards in those four games.
The DeVante Parker dropped pass would not have been a touchdown. But then, he has not scored any of those this year, either.
No one was all that happy with his lack of accountability. Certainly not former Patriots tight end Christian Fauria.
Or former Boston radio host Nick Cattles.
Or Boston Globe columnist Chris Gasper.
Nothing defines what’s wrong with this edition of the Patriots more than giving DeVante Parker, who took little responsibility for not making a deep-ball catch he could’ve come up with on the final drive, a contract extension and not paying enough to keep Jakobi Meyers.
Parker has averaged 50.8 yards per game in his career, but is averaging only 27.2 this year. He had two stellar years in Miami, in 2019 and 2020, breaking the 100-catch barrier each season and tallying 1,995 yards in those two years. But has been unable to stay healthy since, in his final season in Miami or in his last two seasons in New England.
Rough Day for Mac Jones
The DeVante Parker dropped pass also was symbolic of another difficult day in the passing game, where Jones threw for 200 yards on 24-for-33 passing. He threw an ill-timed interception late in the first half with the Patriots driving (they were at the Raiders 30-yard line) and a chance to tie the game at 10 in the offing.
Jones deserves plenty of blame for where the Pats are after Week 6. But the Parker play was another example of the receivers letting Jones down.
“He’s a great deep ball threat and we kind of agreed that we wanted that route,” Jones said of the Parker play. “So, just tough play. If it goes one way, we might go down there and win. If it goes the other way, we didn’t. It’s just tough, it’s football.
“But at the end of the day, I have a lot of trust in the receivers and I felt like their energy this week was really good and they’ve been very confident that they can get open and catch the ball and they’ve shown that at times, for sure.”