The New England Patriots suffered a 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

New England fell to 3-12 while Arizona, which snapped a three-game losing streak, improved to 8-7.

Here are four takeaways from the dreadful day in the desert:

Brutal response after bye week
What changed? Jerod Mayo’s team came out flat and looked underprepared. New England’s first offensive drive was halted by a holding penalty and capped by a missed 53-yard field goal. Sound familiar? Vederian Lowe allowed a sack on the second possession, which was a sign of things to come for the offensive line.

The Patriots were forced to burn a timeout after a 29-yard run by Antonio Gibson because the offense couldn’t get set up — an operational issue that shouldn’t surface in Week 15. The defense was gashed on the ground (163 rushing yards allowed, 5.1 per carry), no play worse than an overrun assignment by Jabrill Peppers. Arizona converted 10 of its 15 third-down conversions. The Patriots lost the turnover battle (1-0) and failed to convert either third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 in the red area. It was much more of the same.

It’s going to be a long three weeks
The trip to State Farm Stadium felt like the most winnable of the four remaining games for the Patriots. New England now gets to travel to the Buffalo Bills, who had 45 points against the Detroit Lions with eight-plus minutes left. The defense, which just allowed 6.2 yards per play to Kyler Murray and company, get to face Josh Allen twice in the next three weeks. Justin Herbert is sandwiched in the middle. There’s a very good chance the Patriots finish the season with three wins.

Drake Maye was ready to go
Maye returned from the first bye week of his career and again looked like the best part of the Patriots. He went 10-for-10 for 71 yards in first half before he concluded 19-for-23 for 202 yards passing with one touchdown. Maye added a rushing touchdown, too. Sure, he missed a few throws, but also delivered a beautiful deep ball to Kendrick Bourne in the fourth quarter. It set up a Patrick Mahomes-like shovel pass touchdown from Maye to Pop Douglas. Maye did turn the ball over for a sixth consecutive game, but Kayshon Boutte was fully responsible for it as he dropped a ball that hit his hands and practically pitched it to Cardinals cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting.

So much for evaluation of young players
Mayo said the Patriots expect to get an evaluation of their young players over the last four games. Layden Robinson performed better in pass protection in his second start at left guard, but did have a drive-altering holding penalty in the first quarter. He also seemed to take a step back in run blocking after moving bodies in previous outings. In regards to rookie wideout Ja’Lynn Polk, he saw just one target and finished without a catch. Javon Baker (concussion) and Caedan Wallace did not play.

Bonus: Christian Gonzalez another highlight
The 2023 first-round pick had another stellar performance. New England’s top cornerback allowed three catches on seven targets for 31 yards. Gonzalez saw plenty of Marvin Harrison Jr., and easily took that matchup as he allowed the 2024 first-round wideout to catch just one of his five targets for 23 yards, per Pro Football Focus. Gonzalez was not only impressive in coverage, though, as he performed admirably against the run.