FOXBORO – The Patriots won the turnover battle and benefited from three special teams blunders by Miami, an undermanned Dolphins team that was starting Tyler Huntley (Tyler Huntley!) at quarterback.

And yet, New England still managed to stumble its way into a mind-numbingly ugly 15-10 loss on Sunday at Gillette Stadium – the fourth straight defeat for a squad that’s looked like one of the NFL’s worst for close to a month now.

How? A lack of blue-chip roster talent didn’t help, as the Patriots added co-captains David Andrews, Kyle Dugger and Jabrill Peppers to their long list of injured standouts before this game. Poor game management from the coaching staff burned them, too, especially at the end of both halves.

But the biggest problem for Jerod Mayo’s club on Sunday was one all coaches loathe: penalties.

The Pats were flagged a season-high 12 times for 105 yards in the loss; a 13th penalty was declined. They surpassed their total of accepted penalties from the previous three weeks combined (11) and finished the game with more penalties than points.

Until a last-gasp drive that featured a couple of ultimately inconsequential chunk-play completions, New England had lost more yards from penalties than it had gained on passing plays.

Quarterback Jacoby Brissett stated the obvious after the game: The Patriots, as currently constructed, are not talented enough to overcome this many self-inflicted mistakes.

“We’re making plays. We’re just shooting ourselves in the foot,” Brissett lamented. “We’re going one step forward to go 20 steps back. It’s like we can’t do that. Until we get to that point, we’re going to continue to be frustrated at the small things. You can’t leave the game in the refs’ hands. That’s not what football is about. You’ve got to go out there, play with good fundamentals, technique, do the little things right.

“This league is so hard already. The margin of error is so slim, and to not be able to do that because of lack of focus and a lack of things that we all have control over, we’re not good enough for that yet.”

Brissett’s offense was responsible for eight penalties, including two pre-snap penalties on veteran tight end and newly promoted co-captain Hunter Henry. One of those turned a fourth-and-10 into a fourth-and-15 in the Dolphins’ red zone with one minute remaining.

Center Nick Leverett also was whistled for a false start when he moved the ball forward before snapping it, and five different Patriots players were popped for offensive holding: Leverett, left tackle Vederian Lowe, right tackle Demontrey Jacobs, running back Rhamondre Stevenson and wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk.

The Patriots’ defense committed just three penalties, but all were killers. Defensive end Keion White had two personal fouls in a four-play span during the third quarter, including a third-down roughing the passer call that extended a Dolphins drive. Later, a defensive pass interference penalty on Christian Elliss – who typically only plays on special teams when the Patriots’ defense is fully healthy – moved the chains for Miami on third-and-13.

The Dolphins wound up getting 10 points out of those two possessions and won by five.

“The pre-snap stuff definitely bothers me,” Mayo said. “Look, we have guys, they’re out there, they’re trying their butts off, but at the same time, going back, not to sound like a broken record, it’s about execution, especially in critical situations.”

New England’s special teams weren’t immune, either. Miami was gifted a fresh set of downs when the Patriots had 12 men on the field on a first-quarter punt, though a subsequent interception by Christian Gonzalez limited the damage. The Patriots’ punt team also was called for delay of game.

The last time the Patriots racked up 12 or more accepted penalties in a game was Week 6 of the 2022 season. They’ve hit that mark just four times in the last decade.

The lack of discipline prevented them from exploiting a similarly sloppy performance from the Dolphins, who had nine total penalties (six accepted, three declined), including three on consecutive plays early in the second quarter.

“It was frustrating,” Brissett said. “Honestly, nothing was good. Penalties taking us backwards. We just – honestly, we’ve just got to play better. It’s getting to that point where you’ve just got to play better. Penalties in the wrong situations, in bad situations.

“We’re not good enough to do that and to go backwards to try to score points. We need to continue to go forward. We’ve got to change that, fix that.”