FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New England Patriots' talent pool is a parking lot puddle under a Cape summer sun, shrinking with each passing day, shallow and unwanted.

Injuries or no injuries, the talent stinks. The team stinks. No NFL general manager would swap rosters with the Patriots before four martinis. Maybe five.

That talent, more than anything else, explains the state of the franchise, and the fact the Pats are not only rebuilding and red-faced frustrated, but 1-4 for a second straight year.

Next up in the blame game: coaching.

A general rule: the less talent you have, the more coaching matters. Jerod Mayo's staff plays an out-sized role in the outcome of Patriots' games, and it has already robbed players of at least one win, maybe two. Sunday's loss was a masterclass in self-sabotage.

Start at the end.

After averaging a franchise record 7.9 yards per carry -- let's repeat that: a franchise record 7.9 yards per carry -- offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt called four straight red-zone passes starting at Miami's 12-yard line with three timeouts and 1:13 remaining. All four passes fell incomplete, which, if you had been paying attention, was no surprise.

To that point, the Pats had averaged 3.1 yards per dropback. Jacoby Brissett was spraying incompletions like the team's Gatorade jug had been filled with jungle juice. Simultaneously, the offensive line let him get pummeled for nine more quarterback hits and a couple sacks.

But, sure. With the game on the line, bombs away.

The Patriots turned the ball over on downs, and unofficially lost right then and there. The game officially ended with Hunter Henry catching a Brissett pass in the only place he couldn't afford to get tackled with five seconds left: inbounds. A fitting, mindless end to a game rife with mental mistakes.

How many mental mistakes? Dozens, to be sure. But let's start with this number: 14.

The Patriots were flagged 14 times, including two penalties Miami mercifully declined. Among those flags was the defensive pass interference linebacker Christian Elliss committed on the Dolphins' last touchdown drive, a 17-march in the fourth quarter that sucked the soul out of Gillette Stadium and breathed life into Miami's sideline.

Elliss yanked running back Raheem Mostert prematurely on a third-and-13 pass at midfield because he had been late finding Mostert in the first place. Miami quarterback Tyler Huntley spotted Elliss' head spinning and preyed on him.

Flag down, first down, all because the Patriots simply couldn't get lined up.

So the Dolphins kept marching, and bowled them over. The team whose battle cry had been "Take 'em to the hill!" after Week 1 got taken for a ride.

"Yeah, we were going straight downhill at the defense, and it showed that they couldn't hold up," Huntley said.

"I know for a fact fatigue played a part in this game," Mayo admitted.

Speaking of penalties, defensive lineman Keion White headbutted Huntley to extend another Miami scoring drive. He actually did that.

White's headbutt drew a roughing the passer penalty just three plays after getting whistled for a horse collar tackle. He single-handedly gifted the Dolphins more than half their yards on a 56-yard field goal drive in the third quarter.

Mayo's staff punished White by sidelining him for all of one play after the headbutt; a Charmin soft consequence much like the four-snap benching Rhamondre Stevenson saw Sunday after fumbling four times in the Patriots' first four games.

Oh, and like Stevenson, Mayo is an error-repeater now, too; the most dreaded label in New England.

At the end of the first half, the Patriots repeated the same clock measurement mistake that cost them three points versus Seattle in Week 2. Instead of opting to kill the clock or try for a score, the Pats again tried to split the difference and it backfired in bad field position.

Backed up inside their own 10-yard line with less than two minutes left before halftime, the Pats called a run and two passes. Both passes fell incomplete, which stopped the clock and allowed Miami to get the ball back without burning a single timeout.

Three weeks ago, the Seahawks used all three timeouts and successfully drove to a field goal that helped decide the game. Were it not for a botched hold on their 50-yard attempt moments before halftime, the Dolphins likely make the same kick. How could that happen again?

"Look, there are definitely things that I have to do better as a head coach," Mayo said. "The staff, they're still - they're getting on the same page."

No kidding.

Of course, had Ja'Lynn Polk simply dragged his second foot inside the end zone on his overturned touchdown, the Patriots probably win. And a win is a win, no matter how ugly. The game coverage, including this column, reads differently.

But not as much as you'd think.

Because no result could excuse such coaching that yielded a dozen penalties, a near 2-to-1 pass-to-run ratio for the NFL's worst passing team and terrible clock management all in one afternoon. Mayo is presiding over an untalented, undisciplined team that increasingly reflects on him and his assistants, and less and less the talent available to them.

Case in point: do you know where Polk was after his touchdown got overturned?

Not inside the huddle. Not lining up. He was standing 25 yards behind his teammates, gesturing at the crowd to boo louder, raising his arms again and again, as if any of that mattered compared to the next play that could again decide the game.

The play clock ran. Teammates beckoned him back to the huddle. Polk returned.

Brissett fired two more incompletions, and the Patriots fell to 1-4. Mayo took responsibility for that play-calling post-game, effectively saying blame me.

Well, here you go.

You blew it.

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