Who was wearing Patriots uniforms?

After loss to Jags Sunday, Pats certainly aren't the team that beat back a strong push from the Jaguars last January to win the AFC Championship.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Who were those guys?

That’s the question New England football fans have to be asking themselves after watching their heroes get knocked in the mouth by the loose-lipped Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday at TIAA Bank Field.

The Patriots were so out-classed in a 31-20 defeat that it’s easy to wonder if this is really the group that Bill Belichick can lead back to the Promised Land again this season. Between an offense without enough play-makers to a defense that must have reminded the faithful of the group that was torched by Nick Foles and the Eagles in Super Bowl LII, there simply wasn’t very much to like in this one.

Predictably, Belichick had little to say after the loss. If you haven’t noticed by now, the coach is not very verbose when things don’t go his way.

“We didn’t do anything we needed to do to give us a chance to win,” he said. “There’s a lot of things we could’ve done better. There’s a long list.”

So who were these Patriots? You just might have to get used to watching this group work through some troubling issues as the season progresses. What’s clear is this team certainly isn’t the one that beat back a strong push from the Jaguars last January to win the AFC Championship.

Go right down the line.

Dion Lewis is replaced by a rookie, Sony Michel. He played like a rookie in his first NFL game.

Danny Amendola is enjoying life in South Beach while Tom Brady tries to get something going with Phillip Dorsett.

Malcolm Butler cashed in big in Nashville and now we’re left to see if Eric Rowe really is an every down corner.

It’s only two games but the quick returns say the Patriots have a ways to go in fortifying many holes on the roster. That's certainly the case if they hope to beat a team like the Jaguars again come playoff time.

On offense, Brady is certainly counting the days until Julian Edelman returns. While Chris Hogan shook free for two touchdowns and Dorsett caught five balls on seven targets, the team’s receiving corps is basically a two-man show. That’s inexcusable. This group is crying out for an Amendola-type, to say nothing of the deep speed of Brandin Cooks.

The Jags pushed aggressive safeties into Rob Gronkowski’s grill all day and the big man rarely could shake free (two catches, four targets). “They had a lot of coverage on him, at different points. We just never connected the way we need to,” Brady said.

The Jaguars spent the week talking smack about limiting Gronk and backed it up. They also smacked the Pats from the opening whistle with a tough, hard-hitting style that is their calling card. New England’s Trey Flowers and Patrick Chung both left the game with concussion symptoms and you'd better check your teeth with players like Myles Jack and Telvin Smith ready to pop you.

The game’s biggest play came straight out of Sacksonville, the Jags’ corny nickname for their hard-charging defense. With the Patriots showing a bit of life down 24-13 early in the fourth quarter, Kyle Van Noy intercepted a Blake Bortles pass. But on third-and-long, LaAdrian Waddle was burned around right tackle and Dante Fowler crashed into Brady for a strip sack that brought the house down.

While the offense needed to answer quicker than falling into a 24-3 third quarter hole, the defense’s performance was much more distressing. When Belichick benched Butler in the Super Bowl, he exposed players like Rowe. Maybe now he’s simply asking too much of him, Jonathan Jones and newcomer Jason McCourty.

While the Patriots struggle to open the field with their thin crew of receivers, the Jaguars trot out a slew of guys who run like jaguars. Donte Moncrief (Stephon Gilmore), Keelan Cole (Rowe), Dede Westbrook (Jones) and even tight end Austin Sefarian-Jenkins (Rowe) beat their defenders for touchdowns. The cushion that many Patriots afforded their men at the line of scrimmage was Charmin soft and they still got beat. That’s never a good sign. Neither was a 10-of-14 Jaguar third down efficiency rate that kept the Patriot defense on the field too long in record-setting, 97-degree heat.

Belichick’s teams routinely look a little ragged early on as the coach assesses what’s really in his locker room. By October things are clearing up a bit and once December rolls around the Patriots are almost always as good as anyone.

That will be the hope for New England fans once again this season. Can Belichick coach up the secondary? Will Edelman’s arrival free up the passing game? When will additions Danny Shelton and Adrian Clayborn (combined zero tackles) show up?

“This team is never going to give up,” said Hogan. “We’ve seen that time and time again. We’re going to play for 60 minutes. We’ll come in and watch the film and improve on it and move on because we have a good football team.''

So maybe this bad day in Sacksonville will lead to a return trip for the Patriots sometime in January. Sign me up. At least it will be a whole lot cooler.