Where is New England Headed?
Photo Credit: NFL.com
From 2001 to 2019, the New England Patriots established themselves as arguably the greatest dynasty in the NFL’s 103-year history, winning six Super Bowl championships and only missing the playoffs twice in their two-decade run of dominance. Seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick remained together during the entire stretch, cementing themselves as two legends of the game. While Brady’s success continued for the final years of his career in Tampa Bay following his 2020 departure, Belichick and the Patriots haven’t seen much since.
The 1-4 Patriots rank 30th in the league in turnovers and 26th in total offense, a position they haven’t been in for two decades, but now the team is being argued by some as the NFL’s absolute worst. Week 4’s historic 38-3 defeat to the Dallas Cowboys and Week 5’s 34-0 home loss to the New Orleans Saints were statistically two of the worst of Bill Belichick’s NFL head coaching career. Questions about the team’s direction continue to raise, as they have gotten worse since Mac Jones’s rookie year in 2021.
Photo Credit: Nancy Lane, Boston Herald
While Bill Belichick is one of the greatest NFL coaches of all time, the struggles his team has had in recent years are largely the result of his decisions as the team’s general manager, hurting how he looks in this situation. Tom Brady’s final season in New England in 2019-2020 saw the offense really struggle at times, despite finishing 12-4. The weapons Brady had available were limiting him from being as effective on offense as usual, as he simply had nobody. While the Patriots cleaned that up temporarily for their lone playoff appearance in 2021 (first-round exit), that trend has continued for the most part. Bill Belichick has drafted two Pro Bowl receivers during his time as the Patriots’ general manager and only one in the first round, N’Keal Harry who would be shipped out for a seventh-round draft pick not long after. His current staff consisting of Bill O’Brien, Matt Patricia, and Joe Judge is not helping his case as GM either, and the resume of Belichick is the only thing that allows him to remain the team’s GM.
Like the coaching, the players are struggling too. Quarterback Mac Jones has not looked good at all, and the team constantly fails to support him to help overcome the mistakes he makes. The Patriots have seemingly gotten worse from last season to this season, falling all the way to the NFL’s bottom tier of teams. The Patriots are no longer the dynasty they once were, and with the futures of almost every big name uncertain, New England has some serious evaluating to do.
