Patriots Talk: Were we duped by this Pats team's potential?

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Did the New England Patriots have us fooled?

Sunday's loss to the Miami Dolphins in the regular-season finale marked a new low point for the Patriots as they limp into the postseason. Since riding a seven-game win streak into the bye week, New England has lost three of its last four with its only win coming against the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars.

Perry's Report Card: Mac Jones was a pass fail in worst outing of season

Our Phil Perry admits he may have bought into the hype and given the Patriots a pass for their mental miscues. He discussed with Tom E. Curran in a brand new episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast.

Patriots Talk Podcast:Ā How the Patriots train got derailed in Miami | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube

"I feel as though I was duped," Perry said. "I was duped. ... Every time they have a bad game, I say, 'it feels like these are easy things for them to clean up.' And you say, 'yeah, but they haven't done it yet!' And I still, up until this game, I felt like they would be able to clean things up. Because against the Colts, to me, that was more a Patriots loss than a Colts win. Buffalo, I thought really talented team, maybe they don't win that game even if they play better, but I thought they didn't play the way they were capable of especially early in that game.

"So I said 'Those are exceptions, that's not the rule. This is a team that can be dependable, that can play cleanly, and if they just do the right things they can beat anybody.' I'm feeling like I was off on that."

The Patriots, who finished 10-7 on the campaign, will look to regain their midseason form when they visit the Buffalo Bills on Saturday night. The AFC Wild Card game is set for an 8:15 p.m. ET kickoff.

Also discussed in this episode:Ā Assessing Mac Jones' recent struggles. What was the deal with the fourth-and-1 at the 50?! How much blame does the defense deserve? And is there a mental toughness problem with this team?

Check out the latestĀ episode of theĀ Patriots Talk PodcastĀ on the NBC Sports Boston Podcast Network, orĀ watch on YouTube.

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