Pats can't gain 1 yard against Cards when they need it. Rest of season looks even tougher

Drake Maye ran for nine touchdowns in his final year at North Carolina — five of them from 1 yard out.

And when the New England Patriots twice needed a single yard for a first down inside the Arizona 5 on Sunday, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt twice called for handoffs. First Antonio Gibson, then Rhamondre Stevenson was stopped for no gain, and the Patriots turned it over on downs.

“I was a good quarterback sneaker in college,” Maye told reporters on Sunday after the 30-17 loss to the Cardinals. “I’m a big dude. I’m heavier than people think, so I think there may be a conversation for that. I think it’s tough to stop a 6- 5 dude for 1 yard.”

Asked if the team should consider letting Maye keep it in those situations, coach Jerod Mayo said on Sunday, “You said it. I didn’t.”

The response led to speculation that he was second-guessing his offensive coordinator, but Mayo later walked back his comment.

“I didn’t mean anything by that,” he said on Monday, a day after the Cardinals extended New England’s losing streak to four games. “All of those decisions are mine.”

Mayo said he was on the same page as his offensive play-caller.

“We have quarterback-designed runs, just haven’t pulled them out yet, so there’s no disagreement,” he said. “I think Alex and the offensive staff do a good job putting together the game plan. I go in there, I offer my 2 cents, and we come out of the room as a unit.”

The Patriots lost another chance at a short field in the third quarter when Jonathan Jones picked off Kyler Murray at the Arizona 18, but the interception was negated by a questionable roughing the passer penalty against linebacker Anfernee Jennings.

Maye continues to develop as the quarterback of the future. The No. 3 overall draft pick completed 19 of 23 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown, and he also ran for a score. Maye was 10 for 10 for 71 yards in the first half.

But more than half of Maye’s production came in garbage time, when the game was essentially out of reach. After completing 2 of 6 passes for 11 yards and an interception in the third quarter, Maye was 7 for 7 for 120 yards and a touchdown in the fourth, after the Patriots trailed 23-3.

His 5-yard TD run made it 30-17 with 1:55 left.

The Patriots' failure — twice — to gain 1 yard from inside the Arizona 5 left them 29th in the NFL at converting in the red zone, scoring touchdowns on 46% of their opportunities.

“There comes a point in time as a football team where everyone in the stadium knows what the play is and we just have to move bodies,” Mayo said. "We weren’t able to do that.”

Defensive back Christian Gonzalez was matched up against first-round draft pick Marvin Harrison Jr. for most of the game on Sunday and limited him to one catch for 23 yards on five targets. (Harrison caught one other pass in the game). Gonzalez was credited with New England’s only three pass breakups of the day.

“He’s our best player on defense, and he proved that,” Mayo said. “Just a guy that goes out there and competes on a down-after-down basis, and he did a good job for us.”

K Joey Slye missed a 53-yard field-goal attempt at the end of New England’s first possession. Slye missed two kicks the previous week (though one was a 68-yard attempt at the end of the game that would have been the longest kick in NFL history), and his only try the week before that.

LB Christian Ellis left in the fourth quarter with a head injury and did not return.

4 — Maye is the fourth Patriots quarterback to complete every pass in the first half with at least 10 attempts. Tom Brady did it twice (once in the playoffs), and Hugh Millen went 13 for 13 in the first half against the Bills in 1992.

The Patriots have two games against Buffalo sandwiched around one against the Los Angeles Chargers.

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New England Patriots running back Antonio Gibson (4) eludes the reach of Arizona Cardinals linebacker Victor Dimukeje during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) throws against the Arizona Cardinals during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

New England Patriots wide receiver DeMario Douglas (3) celebrates his touchdown with quarterback Drake Maye (10) during the second half of an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo watches during the second half of an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) runs for a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. swept onto Capitol Hill late Monday as the anti-vaccine health guru from the famous political family reintroduced himself to senators, this time as President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the nation's Health and Human Services Department.

It was a soft-opening debut for Kennedy, whose wide-ranging views — yes to raw milk, no to fluoride, Ozempic and America's favorite processed foods — are raising alarms in the scientific community and beyond. In the Senate he's facing a mix of support, curiosity, skepticism and downright rejection among the senators who will be asked to confirm him to Trump's Cabinet.

Kennedy's first stop Monday was on potentially friendly terrain, to the offices of a few GOP senators allied with Trump, the start of a robust, weeks-long process.

One Republican, Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, said Kennedy told him, “I 100% support the polio vaccination.” But Mullin added that their conversation also turned to other childhood vaccinations. He predicts Kennedy will be confirmed.

“The more you talk to him, the more he explains it, the more you like him,” Mullin said.

The man known simply as RFK, Jr., 70, is the latest in the Trump rival-turned-partner orbit, a former Democratic presidential hopeful now in line to run the world's largest public health agency, with its whopping $1.7 trillion budget, and some of the U.S. most important public services.

HHS has a broad reach across the lives of Americans — inspecting the nation's food, regulating medicines and overseeing research of diseases and cures. It provides health insurance for nearly half of the country — poor, disabled and older Americans, including via Medicare.

Richard Besser, CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called Kennedy “a truly dangerous” choice.

Besser, in an op-ed in U.S. News and World Report, said Kennedy stands out as a “single potential Cabinet member who could do the most damage to the American people’s lives.”

Ahead of Kennedy's arrival he was given a word of advice from one important voice: outgoing Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, a childhood polio survivor, who cautioned the nominee against views opposing the vaccine.

“Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming Administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts,” McConnell said recently.

Trump said Monday during his own press conference he’s a “big believer” in polio vaccines and sought to tamp down fears about Kennedy, saying he will be “much less radical” than people think.

The incoming GOP leader, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, said Kennedy will have to address questions about his views on the polio vaccine and other issues.

“Well, I think he’ll have to address that,” Thune said. “We’ll find out.”

But hardline Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a House member who has no vote in the confirmation process, has been influential in supporting and amplifying Kennedy’s views on vaccines.

In the Capitol on Monday, Republican senators said they want to hear more about Kennedy’s views.

“I’m open," said GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. But “if you come in and say I won’t consider myself successful unless I eliminate these vaccines, that could be problematic.”

Kennedy’s nomination will test the nation’s emerging political realignment, as Trump expands his base of supporters to include former Democratic voters shifting elsewhere. Kennedy’s views find favor but also opposition from both sides of the political aisle.

In particular, Kennedy's ideas about ridding the nation’s food of additives has drawn interest if not support from some Democrats, but his criticism of major farm interests have also raised concerns from the agricultural industry.

Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley says he’s interested in what Kennedy says about pigs “because Iowa is the number one pig producer.”

Other Trump nominees are also expected back on Capitol Hill this week. The president-elect's choice of Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary, Tulsi Gabbard for Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Kash Patel for FBI director and others are all running into turbulence from wary senators.

With Republicans taking control of the Senate in the new year, Trump's nominees have a pathway to confirmation. But with just a 53-47 majority, any nominee can only lose a handful of GOP supporters, in the face of Democratic opposition.

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Associated Press writers Amanda Seitz and Stephen Groves contributed to this report

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, arrives at the Hart Building to meet with Senators at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, arrives at the Hart Building to meet with senators at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)