Despite ultimately coming up short, the New England Patriots played one of their better games of the season against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. Even after falling behind by 15 points late in the third quarter, they came back and had a chance to drive late for the win.

That comeback bid failed, resulting in a 28-22 defeat, but there was a lot to like especially on the attacking side of the ball. In fact, the Patriots were in control the entire game – at least that’s what head coach Jerod Mayo claimed in his post-game press conference.

“Kind of what I told the guys in the locker room: I never really felt like they were in control of the game. I felt like we were in control of the game,” Mayo said.

The rookie head coach pointed to the Patriots controlling the ball and possession as the basis for his statements. Indeed, his team was on the field for 37 minutes and 20 seconds, compared to the Rams’ 22:40, while also making 73 offensive plays to Los Angeles’ 51.

However, volume does not necessarily mean control. A closer look at the game and some of the statistics that come from it illustrate this.

The Patriots took the lead with 5:05 left in the first quarter on a touchdown pass from Drake Maye to Kendrick Bourne. The Rams then tied the game with 7:18 left in the second period and went up 14-7 shortly after. They never looked back: LA was ahead on the scoreboard for the final 35:45 of playing time and never saw its odds of winning dip below 70 percent at any remaining point in the match.

The Rams also made the most of their time on the field. Although they were at a disadvantage in terms of possession statistics, they averaged 7.9 yards per play, compared to the Patriots’ 5.2. They also had a 53 percent success rate and a 79.2 percent run success rate (that is, they converted a drive into another series of downs or touchdowns).

The Patriots were competitive in those last two metrics at 51 and 78.8 percent, respectively. However, does this mean they controlled the game?

While that part of Mayo’s postgame statements doesn’t pass the smell test, he was right when it came to his overall assessment after seeing his team fall to 3-8.

“Do we need to get better? Absolutely, and that’s my job as head coach of this football team,” he said. “It starts with me. I have to do better. We have to demand more from our assistant coaches. We are going to demand more from our players. We have enough talent in our locker room to be a very good football team, we just have to be able to put it together.”

The Patriots were unable to do that on Sunday. As a result, they lost a match in which they were competitive but did not control them to the extent that Mayo claimed they did.