For the second straight week, the New England Patriots' offense made a costly error in the final moments of the game. After roaring from a 22-0 deficit to make it 22-18 against the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday, the Patriots were on the doorstep of taking the lead and possibly winning the game. They had the ball at the Bengals' 5-yard line with just a minute remaining, but Rhamondre Stevenson fumbled the ball and the Bengals recovered, essentially ending the game.

The Patriots' stud running back took immediate responsibility for the play after the game.

“I got the ball and was trying to make something happen,” Stevenson said. “I was probably doing something more than I was supposed to. I probably should've just went down. Ultimately, he took the ball from me and went down.”

Stevenson's fumble was a bit of an unusual play. He ran into a crowd of defenders at the line of scrimmage, using his left arm to try and break tackles, but it looked like his forward progress was close to being stopped. He didn't want to debate whether or not his forward progress was stopped or not.

“It don't really matter what I think,” Stevenson said of the refs' decision to let the play continue. “They called a fumble. They recovered the ball. Whatever they called, [they called].”

Following the game, ESPN's Mike Reiss asked referee Craig Wrolstad if there was any consideration to blow the play dead due to Stevenson's forward progress being stopped.

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“In order to have forward progress, the runner has to be controlled by the defense,” Wrolstad said. “He has to be held and controlled, and basically have his feet taken away. We felt that he still had his feet. So, we did not feel that he was held and controlled by the defense. He was still free to gain yardage and then also, obviously, there was still a chance that he could fumble.”

Stevenson's fumble feels especially tough for a pair of reasons. First, he was the player who initially lateraled the ball back to Jakobi Meyers on the play that led to the game-winning touchdown for the Las Vegas Raiders last week. Second, he's usually been dependable, fumbling just once prior to Saturday's game in his two-year career. He's also been know to be a bruising type of running back who breaks tackles, which might have cost him on Saturday.

Either way you spin it, Stevenson still lost the ball and the Patriots lost the game–and that's something that he's accepted.

“I was playing through the whistle,” Stevenson added. “I didn't know if the whistle was blown yet or not. Regardless, I dropped the ball and turned the ball over.”

Stevenson finished the game with just 30 yards on 13 carries as the Patriots fell to 7-8.