After years and years of success, the New England Patriots have found themselves at rock bottom. In their first possession after being embarrassed by the Dallas Cowboys last week, the Patriots responded by going three-and-out against the New Orleans Saints. They followed that up with an interception by Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu who returned it for a touchdown, which pretty much gave the Saints all the momentum in the game. The Patriots lost to the Saints on Sunday 34-0 and were shut out for the first time since 2016.
It’s been the same story for the Patriots the entire season, the offense turns the ball over, the opposition goes up by double digits, and it’s too big of a hole for the Patriots to get out of. In the last 11 games, the Patriots have trailed in 10 of them. Only two of those games did the Patriots take the lead and win the game. Additionally, New England has been outscored 55-0 off turnovers this season.
The last time the Patriots scored a touchdown this season it came against the New York Jets in Week 3. They have not scored a single point since the first quarter of last week. On top of all of that, they have been outscored 72-3 in the past two games and have turned the ball over six times with three of those turnovers returned for a touchdown.
Somehow, the Patriots have gotten worse since last year. They don’t look like a functioning football team. It’s not just the offense that has gotten worse, but the defense has played poorly as well. Although they lost two key defensive players in corner Christian Gonzalez and linebacker Matthew Judon, they have the pieces to overcome those losses.
However, the Patriots missed many tackles against the Saints and looked sloppy. With a head coach like Bill Belichick who prides himself on fundamentals and being prepared, the Patriots have looked far from that.
In fact, this is where the Patriots problems may stem from. Belichick is one of the greatest coaches in the NFL, but since Tom Brady left the Patriots, Belichick is 26-30 and is 80-92 overall without him. Last week, Belichick suffered the worst defeat in his coaching career. This week he suffered the worst loss at home in his coaching career.
He is making history for the worst reasons. He is only one win away from 300 career wins and is only 29 wins from tying the all-time wins record by a head coach set by Don Shula. It’s fair to question whether or not he really cares about running a successful football team or breaking Shula’s record.
Patriots fans should judge where his head is at. The roster he has built has a lot of weaknesses and Belichick did not do much to fix the most obvious ones. Mac Jones has been the most pressured quarterback in the NFL this season. He is facing constant pressure and has to speed up his decisions which cause him to make more mistakes than improvements. This is because of Belichick signing fringe offensive linemen who would be the backup on better teams. As well as not drafting an offensive tackle in the first three rounds during this past offseason’s draft when they needed one badly.
Additionally, the Patriots did not give Jones any receivers with elite speed or that can change the game. They did the opposite and let Jones’ favorite receiver Jakobi Meyers go to the Las Vegas Raiders and replaced him with JuJu Smith-Schuster. He has looked out of sync with the offense and has dealt with knee problems. The one receiver who has given them any offensive production is sixth-round pick Demario Douglas who has been limited in the number of snaps he plays because he fumbled the ball against the Miami Dolphins.
That is not to say Jones has been doing his part to prove he deserves to be their quarterback. He has been given a real offensive coordinator in Bill O’Brien, but it is his third offensive coordinator since he’s been on the team. In the first three games of the season, Jones threw for 748 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions.
In the last two games for Jones, he has four interceptions, no touchdowns, and only has thrown for 260 yards with an average quarterback rating of 35.2. As well as missing easy passes to open receivers. One of which led to a fumble by Rhamondre Stevenson that led to a Saints recovery. These performances have led him to be benched for backup Bailey Zappe.
If the Patriots wanted to see Jones succeed they would have surrounded him with talent and protection just like every other quarterback has gotten for their third year in the NFL. It just feels like Jones was destined for failure these past two years and is being used as the scapegoat for the reason why the Patriots have been unsuccessful.
All in all, this comes down to the Patriots as an entire organization. It’s been four years since the Patriots finished first in the division, and now they may be on track to finish last in the division. These next 12 games not only will define what the Patriots will be this year but will define them as a whole. Belichick is at risk of losing his job and his credibility as a head coach. Owner Robert Kraft is at risk of losing his fan base and the organization is at risk of becoming the Patriots of old before Brady.
If the Patriots want to turn the season around it’s going to take a lot of belief and commitment from everyone. However, the way the season has gone down, the buy-in factor may be gone already.
