They are clearly not ready for prime time.

Don’t count on that New England Patriots-Las Vegas Raiders game staying in the Sunday night time slot on Dec. 18.

ESPN can’t do anything about the Patriots Monday night game at Arizona on Dec. 12, as those aren’t subect to flexing. But right now, these Patriots just don’t look anything close to an NFL playoff team, even if they do manage to sneak in down the stretch.

Thursday night’s 24-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium clearly showed that.

The Patriots are a mess, especially offensively. Their quarterback, Mac Jones,seemingly has had enough with the direction the coaching staff is taking that unit, as he was caught later in the game having a sideline tirade, and good lipreaders could tell you he wasn’t giving the game plan compliments.

“”Obviously I kind of let my emotions get to me,” Jones said. “I felt we needed chunk plays, it wasn’t directed at anybody, emotion coming out. We kind of needed a spark.”

It sounds as though the Patriot players have simply had enough. Wide receiver Kendrick Bourne, who has been in the doghouse much of the season, was targeted twice with one catch for 15 yards. He basically said what was on every Patriot fan’s mind as the Bills certainly had injuries on defense that should have opened the door for the Patriots.

“No Von Miller, we’ve got to take advantage of that,” Bourne said. “No Micah Hyde. … they’re (the Bills) more soft in what they’re doing (defensively), they’re more conservative. We’ve gotta take advantage and not just have 5-yard throws. We need to be able to attack and put pressure on the defense.”

Bourne correctly added the Patriots have the talent to do that, “but we’ve just got to play harder.”

And Jones added, “Let’s be aggressive, let’s take some shots, let’s go down fighting.”

It’s a mess. Now the coaches, including even Bill Belichick are losing the locker room, because the players feel a cast that is basically the same as last year and produced 10 wins are being coached the wrong way by seemingly offensive novices Matt Patricia and Joe Judge.

Sure, the Patriots lost their offensive guru, Josh McDaniels, who they’ll see on the 18th in Vegas. The Bills lost theirs, too, in Brian Dabol, but gee, they still are a machine, aren’t they? They put up 355 yards of total offense, and dominated the time of possession, 38:08 to 21:52. Yikes. They rushed for 132 yards, went 9 of 15 on third down (compared to 3 for 12 for the Patriots), and Josh Allen was 22 of 33 for 223 yards and two TDs. Not spectacular, but efficient. Up 17-7 in the third quarter, they put together a 15-play, 94 yard drive that ended early in the fourth with a 1-yard TD run by Devin Singletary to help make it 24-7.

“When you do it that way and it’s a long, sustaining drive, those ones feel really good,” Allen said. “…When we did have third downs, we were putting our noses down and going and getting it.”

Yes, the Patriots defense deserves a big piece of the blame pie, too, but they were constantly on the field with the offense struggling save for Marcus Jones’ surprise 48-yard TD catch and run to briefly give the Patriots a 7-3 lead in the first quarter.

“Tough game,” Patriots safety Devin Mcourty said. “Obviously did some things well but not enough things well. We’ve got some time to regroup, reset, figure some things out and see how the rest of our season is going to be.”

Remember the days when December used to be the launching pad for the Patriots’ Super Bowl run? They have many more games like last night and it will be the runway to their flights to the Carribean in mid-January when the regular season ends.

“We’ve got to get out of the mindset of what we used to do in December,” McCourty said, “and focus on what we are now.”

What they are is a 6-6 mediocre football team. They may revive their season with wins at Arizona and Vegas, but then they have to face Cincinnati, Miami and egads, Buffalo (again).

“We want to win,” Patriots center David Andrews, who played on an offensive line that has been ravaged by injuries, missing not only starters but backups. “We want to win. We’re not doing that. We’ve got to find ways to win.”

How bad is it? The Patriots are 6 for 22 on third down in their last two games. Their quarterback doesn’t have the cache to go nuts on the sideline like he did, a receiver is questioning the game plan and, oh, he said “I think Mac needs more time. He’s obviously running around. It’s hard to get the ball downfield when you can’t really have time for him to throw.”

That, kids, is basically calling out the offensive line. This is clearly a team divided, with one side of the ball ready for a palace revolt.

“It’s not over yet,” Pats linebacker Matt Judon said.

Yeah? Sure sounds like it.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.

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