Most football fans are old enough to remember an inspirational scene in the movie "Varsity Blues" where fictional quarterback Jonathan Moxon tells his team, "We can't be afraid to lose; there's no room for fear in this game."
Unfortunately for Patriots' fans, Jerod Mayo, Alex Van Pel,t and company are coaching like Jon Voight's character is going to emerge from the Gillette Stadium bowels and yell at them.
While timid coaching was not the only reason New England fell 25-24 to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday afternoon, it was certainly at the forefront. And it's a wonder Drake Maye isn't leading a Moxon-like war on his coaches at this point.
The pathetic coaching is where our list of Week 13 villains begins.
Biggest villains of the Patriots Week 13 loss to the Colts
1. Jerod Mayo and Alex Van Pelt
Mayo has certainly been coaching scared throughout the season, whether punting in his opponents' territory or settling for chip-shot field goals inside the 10-yard line. But the glaring example of Mayo seeing ghosts came after Christian Gonzalez made a fourth-quarter interception with the Patriots up a touchdown and under six minutes to play.
Set up at midfield, the Patriots went run, run, sack, and didn't see the ball again until 12 seconds left, and the Colts were in the lead. I know analytics say to work the clock, but Mayo again took the ball out of his quarterback's hands when a first down or two would've easily had New England set up for a field goal that would've put the game away.
But the Colts drove down the field and Shane Steichen didn't hesitate to go for the winning 2-point conversion.
2. Joey Slye
On a day where the Patriots had their best offensive output of the season (422 yards), a missed chip-shot from Slye on New England's final drive of the first half turned out to be a difference in the game.
Yes, the Patriots' red zone woes forced New England to settle for that 25-yard field goal attempt, but Slye channeled his inner Phil Mickelson in shanking his kick. That's the type of situational football that 3-10 teams often fail to execute.