Curran, Johnson: 'Stupid mistakes' cost Pats 'brutal' loss to Dolphins originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The New England Patriots' fourth straight loss may have been their most frustrating yet.

Jerod Mayo's side were whistled a whopping 12 times in Sunday's loss to the Miami Dolphins after committing just 16 total penalties in the first four games of the season. Miami took advantage of New England's mistakes and turned a seven-point deficit into a 15-10 victory.

The game ended in the final two minutes when the Patriots appeared to regain the lead on a touchdown pass from Jacoby Brissett to Ja'Lynn Polk. However, the TD was overturned because Polk's heel was out of bounds upon further review. You can watch the controversial piece here.

The Patriots narrowly fell short in their last outing and were 1-4 on the season. Our Patriots insider Tom E. Curran shared his immediate reaction to the “insane” performance Patriots Postgame Live.

“They applaud to some extent the performance of a team that has lost so many players. You applaud Jacoby Brissett's performance, but you also condemn them for the number of penalties, the number of stupid mistakes, the number of physical mistakes. “Mistakes by some of their better players,” Curran said. “Whether it's Keion White with penalties , DeMario Douglas a drop, Hunter Henry (had a penalty), Ja'Lynn Polk a series of drops And all of that is mitigated somewhat by the plays at the end that almost clinched the win.” .

“This game for me is a little more crazy than Seattle, where they played really flawlessly except for two mistakes. That was full of mistakes and was very winnable, so this is one of those games where I look at it like I don't get used to losing. Don't be a losing team that outsmarts itself with stupid 15-yard penalties that end in field goal drives or stupid sideline plays or freaks out after a play goes against you and then isn't ready for the next play.

The Dolphins had 24 first downs, while the Patriots had 15. They dominated time of possession and held the ball for almost nine minutes longer (34:20) than New England (25:40).

For former Pats linebacker Ted Johnson, the way New England lost to Miami speaks volumes about the state of the team.

“I just think it’s a brutal loss,” Johnson said. “If you lose, you can’t lose like that. You can't lose like that. The Patriots defense was a papier-mâché defense. They couldn't stop the pass last week, this week they couldn't stop the run. Miami had almost ten more first downs than the Patriots.

“The thing is, the Patriots won the turnover battle and still lost this game. This shows how bad the operation was for the New England Patriots. I'm just a little disheartened by the performance and performance of this team today considering how bad Miami is. That puts what the Patriots are like in perspective.

Once again, the Patriots couldn't get anything going on offense. Brissett finished 18 of 34 for 160 yards and no touchdowns. He didn't turn the ball over, but his inability to force the ball down remained a glaring problem.

New England will need to play a much cleaner game if it wants to have a chance against the 4-1 Houston Texans next Sunday. Kickoff for the Week 6 game is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET at Gillette Stadium.