There were many peculiar decisions in the New England Patriots' 30-24 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.

Of course, there were none bigger than Rhamondre Stevenson and Jakobi Meyers's decision to lateral the ball on the final play of a tied game. But there were some head-scratching coaching decisions prior to that. Even on that same play, why didn't the Patriots attempt a Hail Mary as they had the ball from their own 45-yard line?

Well, Patriots coach Bill Belichick said following the game on Sunday that Mac Jones “couldn't throw it that far.”

Belichick clarified his comment in an interview with WEEI's “The Greg Hill Show” on Monday, seemingly implying it wasn't based on Jones' arm ability.

“I said it was too far,” Belichick said. “It's too far to throw that play in that situation.”

While the Patriots' offense gave up points on that play, they left some points on the field in the second quarter. They drove down to the Raiders' 2-yard line, but the red zone woes continued despite going up against a team that allowed a touchdown the previous 14 times a team got within the 5-yard line.

Stevenson was stuffed on first down, gaining just a yard. On second down, Jones overthrew a wide-open Jonnu Smith in the back corner of the end zone. Jones hit an open Meyers in the end zone following that, however, Belichick called timeout right before the snap. So, the third-down play had to be run again and Jones threw an incomplete pass to Nelson Agholor.

On fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line, the Patriots again had to call a timeout as the play clock was about to expire. Jones got into the end zone again after the timeout when he ran a quarterback sneak, but that was negated because Smith wasn't set prior to the snap. The Patriots settled for three points there instead of scoring seven, which obviously proved to be costly.

Belichick was asked why he took two timeouts in that situation during a Zoom press conference on Monday

“It's a combination of things that we obviously need to do better,” Belichick said.

What was also strange about that situation was that the Patriots ran out of shotgun on first, second, and third down despite needing just one or two yards to get into the end zone. Belichick said that there's “benefits to both” running out of shotgun and under center in that situation.

“It's really a longer conversation than that,” Belichick said. “But without Hunter [Henry] there, that wasn't where we had normally would've been. But that's what it was. We did what we thought was best at the time, given the circumstances, and maybe there's other options that we'll have in the future. We'll see.”

That sequence in the second quarter set the tone for a largely uninspiring performance from the Patriots' offense on Sunday. Jones, in particular, was off. He had one of the worst games of his career (maybe even the worst), completing just 13-of-31 passes for 112 yards against the team that ranked last in passing defensive DVOA.

Belichick knows the Patriots have to play better in the passing game.

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“We just have to do a better job,” Belichick said. “We’ve thrown the ball well. In other games, our completion percentage has been different than that. That’s not the standard, but just in general, we just have to do a better job.”

Belichick's common word following Sunday's game was “mistake,” saying the Patriots had too many of them in their loss to the Raiders. However, when he was asked where in particular he felt the mistakes were coming from, Belichick said mistakes are just part of the game.

“I've never coached in a game where you weren't coaching, making corrections and mistakes after the game on all levels, playing, coaching, everything, decision-making, overall strategy, everything,” Belichick said. “That's a part of every game, every review. I've never coached in a game where you didn't have that.

“Then, there are also things that you are positive that you look at that you want to try to build on. I think those elements occur in every game. I've never been in one that didn't have both.”

Obviously, the Patriots still committed too many mistakes on Sunday as they fell to 7-7 on the season, knocking them out of the final spot in the AFC playoff picture. They can't make many mistakes going forward as they'll likely need to win at least two of their final three games — which are all against teams currently in the playoffs — in order to reach the postseason.