The New England Patriots' defense put up a performance worthy enough to upset the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, but their offense held them back again in a major way, leading David Andrews to make a blunt assessment.

Speaking to reporters following New England's 27-21 loss, the Patriots center simply explained that four turnovers by the offense were far too many to handle.

“We’re putting them in an impossible position,” Andrews said. “Obviously, last week, started the game [with a fumble], and then they made a great stand and to make it stands they did this week … they can’t do anything about the pick 6, but when we put them out there, I mean, you know, how many points did we allow … off the turnovers.

“They were playing their tails off, and that’s more on us than it is on them, and they kept us in the game.”

Why David Andrews thinks the Patriots lost the game more than the Bills won it

The Patriots' four turnovers all came early in Sunday's game, committing them over their first six possessions. They all happened on the Patriots' side of the field too, giving the Bills strong field position in three of them as they returned one of Bailey Zappe's three interceptions for a touchdown.

New England's defense was able to withstand some of those mistakes from the offense, keeping the team within distance of Buffalo as it only trailed, 20-7, after its fourth turnover. Andrews believes that the Patriots' mistakes were the story of the game.

“It was more about us than it was about them. I mean, hats off to them, that’s a good football team,” Andrews said. “But there’s an old saying, ‘you can’t win to keep from losing,’ around here, and the first half … you can’t do that. You can’t turn the ball over four times. Obviously when we got it going we were able to have success, need to finish some drives better, but [even] the best team in the world, it’s hard to win when you turn the ball over four times.”

The Patriots were able to turn things around offensively later in the game, going on a 75-yard touchdown drive later in the first half following the slew of turnovers to make it a 20-14 game before the break. They also found the end zone again in the fourth quarter to make it a 27-21 game.

Andrews believes that the team didn't magically fix anything offensively to stop the turnovers. Rather, they just settled in and got more comfortable.

“It wasn’t like, ‘Oh my God, got to throw out the whole game plan,'” Andrews said. ”Settle down, make some plays, and we were able to do that. Get on track, get [in] a rhythm. Just weren’t able to do that enough, and then weren’t able to finish some drives. But like I said, you dig yourself that hole, you know, whatever points we gave up, four turnovers, a pick 6 and then three [turnovers] in their territory. I mean, that’s, that’s some really tough sledding.”

The Patriots fell to 4-12 with the loss on Sunday, giving them just one more game this season. Andrews gave his younger teammates some advice on how to treat the upcoming week.

“We got one more opportunity with this football team,” Andrews said. “I think as a young guy that’s hard to realize that it’s not going to be the same. In college, yeah, you know seniors are leaving, but it’s going to be the same football team for the most part. The NFL is not like that. Guys retire, guys get cut, guys get traded, guys leave in free agency.

“So is the last opportunity for this football team to play together and I think you know, you get an older guy, you value that because you know. I’ve seen the turnover … So, just want to take advantage of every opportunity you get. Because, you know, you never know when it’s going to be the last.”