McDaniels takes the blame for offense: ‘I need to get better’

A measly 10 points? 133 passing yards? If you're looking to place blame for the 1-2 Patriots offensive struggles, the offensive coordinator says to start with him.

"I haven’t done a good enough job the last two weeks of putting us in the right positions to be successful, and I need to get better at that," Josh McDaniels told reporters on a conference call Monday in the aftermath of a 26-10 loss in Detroit. "I need to do a better job of helping them do that and we need to play better."

PHIL PERRY'S Report Card - Demerits across the board after this one

It's the first time the Patriots have lost back-to-back games by double-digits since 2002.

"We try to come up with the right things each week, in each situation – you know, practice them and then hopefully execute them properly in the game," said McDaniels, who had agreed to take the Indianapolis Colts head coaching job in the offseason before he was talked out of it and remained in New England for a new five-year deal reportedly worth more than $4 million a year.

Of failing to convert on third downs, McDaniels said: "We felt like those gave us an opportunity to do that, and certainly Detroit did a better job of executing and defending us on those plays than we did. So, again, I take responsibility for all those things, and they didn’t work out so we have to do a better job of finding a way to make those short-yardage conversions moving forward."