After 20-17 loss to the Washington Commanders on Sunday, the New England Patriots have a 2-7 record.

New England quarterback Mac Jones’ opening remarks at his postgame press conference sounded familiar.

“Tough game,” the former Alabama All-American said after the Patriots’ fourth 2023 defeat by a touchdown or less. “Tried to get it down to the end there and just didn’t come up with it. We got to find ways to do better and come up with a win in those situations. No excuses. Just got to work and figure out how we can do it.”

But while New England has been figuring, it has compiled the worst record in the AFC and stands as the only NFL team without a victory outside of division play.

The Patriots have a 2-7 record for the first time since coach Bill Belichick’s first season with the team in 2000. That team finished 5-11.

“It’s tough,” Jones said. “I think the biggest thing is remaining confident in yourself. When you do everything you can do every day, you should have no regrets, so I have no regrets.

“I do need to do things better. I’m always going to work hard and put in the hours, and that’s all I can do – right? – and motivate people around me to do it as well. I’m always going to be the same person. Obviously, the results aren’t there right now. It stinks, and there are no excuses.”

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Jones started New England’s scoring with a 14-yard pass to tight end Hunter Henry with 9:26 left in the first half after Washington lost a fumble on its 25-yard line.

A 68-yard touchdown run by running back Rhamondre Stephenson on the next possession and a 43-yard field goal by Chad Ryland had the Patriots ahead 17-10 with 10:14 to play in the third quarter after the Commanders had scored the game’s first 10 points.

After Washington scored 10 points to close the third quarter to take a three-point lead, New England had four possessions. The first started at the New England 25-yard line and ended with a punt from the Patriots 47.

New England’s final three possessions started at the Patriots 5, 9 and 9.

New England punt returner Pop Douglas fielded a punt at the Patriots 7 and lost 2 yards before one possession, and Brendan Schooler got a face-mask penalty on a Washington punt that pushed New England back to its 9 for another.

The Patriots got called for offsides and holding on a Washington punt. The first down for lining up in the neutral zone allowed the Commanders to run 22 more seconds off the clock and cost New England its final two timeouts. And when Washington punted again, Schooler got called for holding, pushing the Patriots back to their 9-yard line again with 2:07 remaining.

Jones started the final series with three completions for 36 yards, then had back-to-back 6-yard completions on third- and fourth-down throws. That put New England at the Washington 43 with 44 seconds to play.

But after a 2-yard scramble and with the Patriots on the edge of field-goal range, Jones’ pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster went through the wide receiver’s hand at the Washington 30 and into the hands of Commanders safety Jartavius Martin, who came into the game with 17 defensive snaps in his NFL career and came out of it with his first interception.

“We had a chance there at the end,” Belichick said. “Just couldn’t make enough plays. Obviously had plenty of opportunities along the way that we needed to make more out of, so just a disappointing result. Just got to do a better job of making the plays when we have the opportunities to make them. Simple as that. That’s really about it. And that’s all the way across the board – all three units. …

“We moved the ball but weren’t able to finish as many as we needed to. Had our chances, as I said. Need to make more of those opportunities. We had plays that we, obviously, couldn’t quite make.”

Jones completed 24-of-44 passes for 220 yards with one touchdown and one interception and ran three times for 3 yards.

The Patriots played without their top receiver, Kendrick Bourne, who sustained a season-ending injury last week, and wide receiver DeVante Parker also was out of action after starting the past seven games.

None of New England’s active wide receivers had more than 19 receptions this season entering the game. In addition to the final pass that went through Schuster’s hands, a deep pass to Jalen Reagor went though the wide receiver’s hands, and the Patriots kicked their field goal two snaps later.

“A lot of different guys each week, but at the same time, we have a great standard that we’ve set,” Jones said of New England’s receivers situation. “It’s just trying to go do it every play. I think there are guys out there who can make the plays. It’s my job to get the ball to them and I have a lot of confidence in Jalen, Tyquan (Thornton), Pop, Hunter, Mike (Gesicki), JuJu – all those guys. Obviously, DP wasn’t there today. The whole group is very much so close together, and they work really hard. It’s not like we’re not on the same page. We’re really close. We’re right there. We’re just a little bit short.”

The Patriots play the Indianapolis Colts at 8:30 a.m. CST Sunday at Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Germany.

“There’s still a lot of room to grow,” Jones said. “I know the record is no good right now, but we’re growing together. We got a lot of young guys who are working hard and trying to grow.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.