FOXBOROUGH, Mass -- Davante Adams thinks he knows what the Green Bay Packers need.

He’s just not sure if there’s enough time to do it.

NFL scores, standings and more Everything you need this week:

• 2018 playoffs coverage »

• Full schedule » | Full standings »

• 2019 draft order: Every first-round pick »

More NFL coverage »

"We need that game," Adams said in the losing locker room at Gillette Stadium on Sunday night. "Next week, we need it. We’re running out of games to keep saying we need that game, but we definitely need it at this point."

Aaron Rodgers has an idea about how the season -- one that’s slipping away by the week -- can be saved.

It involves himself and his star receiver.

"I need to keep feeding Davante in those clutch situations," Rodgers said before the Packers took their 3-4-1 record and headed for an overnight flight home from New England after Sunday’s disheartening 31-17 loss to the Patriots.

"That’s what I’m most disappointed in myself about is having him a couple times."

And not throwing Adams’ way, to finish Rodgers’ thought.

One time, he threw to rookie Equanimeous St. Brown, who couldn’t come up with the ball near the sideline in the second half.

"Maybe hold onto that and try to hit Davante down the field," Rodgers said.

Davante Adams had six catches on nine targets for 40 yards and a touchdown against the Patriots. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

On a night when Patriots coach Bill Belichick showed off his myriad weapons, used trick plays (a Julian Edleman 37-yard pass to running back James White among them) and saw receiver-turned-running back Cordarrelle Patterson excel in ways Ty Montgomery never did for the Packers before they traded him away last week, all Rodgers could do after the game was accept the idea that he and Adams need to do more.

When asked if the Packers were too reliant on him and Adams to carry them, Rodgers said: "Well I mean we need to, we expect to."

And so do his teammates.

When asked why he has faith that the Packers can salvage something of their 3-4-1 season, left tackle David Bakhtiari pointed to Rodgers.

"We’ve got 12," he said. "Plain and simple."

It sounds like Rodgers thinks No. 17 should be part of that reason, too.

"I mean Davante is a tough cover, and I expect to play great every week," Rodgers said. "I've got to keep finding ways to get him the ball, I've got to keep moving him around. We did a good job tonight of moving him around [to the] No. 2, No. 3 [receiver spots]. But I've got to keep looking his way."

Rodgers, who has attempted at least 40 throws in six of the past seven games, threw Adams’ way nine times on Sunday night. They connected on six of them, including a touchdown, but they totaled just 40 yards. Randall Cobb’s production, a 4.8-yard average on five catches, has dipped. Rookie Marquez Valdes-Scantling has turned into a home run hitter with three catches for 101 yards, but he’s not a volume receiver yet. And Jimmy Graham hasn’t had the kind of impact the Packers hoped when they gave him $13 million for this season.

As far as the running game goes, Aaron Jones’ carries continue to creep up slowly -- 14 for 76 yards -- but his fumble in Patriots territory on the first play of the fourth quarter with the game tied 17-17 proved to be a killer mistake.

There seems to be one in every loss or tie. Last week, it was Montgomery’s fumbled kickoff return in the final minutes of the 29-27 loss at the Rams.

So what’s missing?

Rodgers came up with two words: "The consistency."

And he included himself in that, too.

"We’re hurting ourselves with negative-yardage plays and missed throws and turnovers at the wrong time and not being on the same page too many times, whether I’m missing a throw or we’re not in the spot I think we’re going to be at, it’s happening in the worst times," he said. "When we have to play our best in those crunch times, we haven’t been playing our best."

Perhaps a brief stop at home for Sunday’s game against Miami before two more on the road at Seattle and at Minnesota will help turn things around.

"I don’t have a magical or a beautiful quote for you," Adams said. "I don’t have a one-liner, but we’ve just got to figure it out. We put ourselves in a tough spot. We’ve obviously got way too much talent to be in the position we are right now. But yeah, we’ve got to figure it out."

If not, then the pressure on coach Mike McCarthy, who is in danger of missing the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time in his 13 years, will continue to mount.