New England Patriots head coach yells towards officials during the first half of Sunday's loss to the Bills at Gillette Stadium. (AP photo)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – What’s wrong with the New England Patriots?

A few things, suddenly. First, the Patriots aren’t a prolific offensive team, so they don’t do well playing from behind.

Second, their defense is not getting the pass rush it was during the team’s seven-game win streak; if you’re wondering where sack leader Matt Judon has been the last couple of weeks, well, right now he’s on the COVID list, placed there on Monday.

“We have to do a better job,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Monday of the sudden non existant pass rush . “We have to coach it better and maybe scheme it a little bit differently and obviously win one-on-one rushes. They (the Bills) did a good job. (Josh) Allen did a good job at times, when we had some rushes, he did a good job of escaping out of the pocket or getting rid of the ball, getting the ball out. … Overall, it wasn’t obviously good enough (on Sunday).”

And that’s not all that’s wrong. With no pass rush, it puts more pressure on the Patriot corners.

“Between the pass rush and the coverage, it’s just not good enough,” Belichick said, “and great execution on (the Bills’) end.”

Have the Patriots been exposed? Perhaps. They tried to physically dominate the Bills on Sunday the way they did back on Dec. 6; the problem was, they couldn’t catch them. Buffalo receivers were elusive and so was their quarterback.

That will all change on Sunday. New England will regain the swagger it has lost when they take out their frustrations on the Jacksonville Jaguars at Gillette, where they have a losing record while owning the AFC’s best road mark (6-1).

“We’ve just got to execute better,” Patriots offensive lineman Isaiah Wynn said. “Everybody doing their job.”

Losing streaks early are hard but there is recovery time. Not at the end of the season, which means internally the Patriots have to have the right frame of mind.

“I would say at this point in time, what we have to do is first and foremost is stick together,” Patriots special teamer and captain Matt Slater said on Monday.

“You want to make sure there’s no splinter in the locker room, no splinter between the players and the coaches.”

There won’t be, this is a good group. Much attention has been focused on rookie quarterback Mac Jones; the ridiculous Tom Brady comparisons, etc..

Jones has had perhaps two good quarters out of the last eight, and Sunday was perhaps his worst game. The Patriots have no downfield game, but what they need to do is get three of Jones’ favorite targets involved more: Jakobi Meyers, Hunter Henry, and Kendrick Bourne. OK, Meyers had six catches Sunday, but Henry and Bourne just combined for three. The guess here is that will change vs. Jacksonville.

But remember this, the Patriots need to be a run first team. That’s where the bulk of the talent lies, as Damien Harris proves over and over; same for rookie Rhamondre Stevenson. Establish the run and that could change the slow starts.

And let that physical nature bubble to the surface.

“We have choices here, let this spiral out of control … or fight,” Slater said. “I believe in the character in this locker room. I believe that (the latter) is the choice we’re going to make.”

But to do that the Patriots will have to get back to that physical play.

“It’s going to require a lot of tough decisions,” Slater said, “and a lot of tough football. It’s going to be hard.”

Tough will make it easier.

POWER RANKINGS

AFC

1. Kansas City (11-4). 2.Tennessee (10-. 3. Buffalo (8-6). 4. Indianapolis (9-6).5.New England (9-6).

NFC

1.Green Bay (12-3). 3. Tampa Bay (11-4). 3. Dallas (11-4). 4.L.A. Rams (11-4). 5.Arizona (10-5).