A Patriots "State of the Union": Where are we and where do we go from here?
Where are we?
As it stands, the Patriots are in the running (probably leading) for the coveted title of “Worst Team in the NFL”. With a 1-6 record following a defeat to the bottom feeding Jaguars, themselves a bit of a disaster, and seemingly getting worse each week instead of better, things are looking bleak. Maybe the silver lining is that we are currently holding the 1st overall pick in the 2025 draft. On the other hand, that’s despite having the weakest strength of schedule. Ouch. Bit of a gut punch.
Good thing this team has shown resilience and the ability to take a punch and get back up swinging themselves.
“We’re a soft team.”- Jerod Mayo.
Oh. Right then. Unfortunately, Mayo has a point: The team has allowed opponents to rush for 4.6 yards per carry to the tune of 136 yards per game and 9 touchdowns on the season. Not great. If you look at just the last three games though, it’s even worse. 171, 192, and 193 yards on the ground. That’s an average of about 155 per game. That's so soft even the Charmin Bears are like “nah I need more grit”. Now, of course losing three of your best interior defenders doesn’t help. Barmore, Bentley, and Peppers, for one reason or another, are all out and those can easily be considered three of the defensive anchors and best players. Still… 3 straight games over 170 yards given up on the ground is- soft. No way around that. On the offensive side, the OL couldn’t consistently block a team of middle schoolers, and our own rush game has been limited at best. The toughest guy on the team was Jacoby Brissett, who despite getting knocked down and still getting back up like a million times in 5 games, was promptly benched for the rookie. But who am I to question what that says to the team about the value of toughness?
On a somewhat optimistic note, the keys have been turned over to Drake Maye who, bless his heart, has managed to stay uninjured and make some good plays. So far, he’s handling himself as well as anyone could ask for. Just have to hope that holds up and he doesn’t crumble under the weight of being the only bright spot in a season destined for ugliness. Also, the OL isn’t going to magically get better so the risk of him taking a continuous beating for 10 more weeks is still a valid concern for his long-term development. Hopefully he’s got the toughness the rest of the team is currently lacking and can persevere through this brutal season.
A quick snapshot of the rest of the squad: WR is a mess- Polk has hands of stone despite thinking he’s the best in the league, the rest of our pass-catchers are in a sort of limbo of having some potential but basically not being able to generate any production. There is no top tier talent on the team. The running backs have been pedestrian at best. Granted, everyone is relying on an offensive line that is true to their name. Awful line play has, and will continue to be, the biggest Achilles heel of this team. There’s no quick fix to that. Special Teams haven’t been great, and the defense is struggling, as noted, in the run game to the point where teams don’t even really need to pass against us, although they’ve had success with that too.
The bottom line is this: This team stinks. Injuries, lack of talent, poor coaching, poor game day execution, poor in-game adjustments, and seemingly poor morale and attitudes are all playing a factor. Assign the blame in whatever way you want- we suck. If we look ahead to the rest of the season, there are 10 games left and I’m not sure anyone can feel 100% confident that any of those games is a guaranteed win. Sure, we’re likely to win at least one or two more because the NFL is crazy and the idea that the team would lose 16 straight games is an insane thought. Then again, ask Detroit Lions fans how they were feeling after 6 straight losses. And they had Calvin Johnson.
So where do we go from here? After 7 games of the 2024 season, what does the future look like?
Where do we go?
As many have said since the offseason, expectations for this year were (or should have been) rightfully low. This is not a playoff team, or even a particularly competitive one. But it is a team that can learn, grow, and hopefully show improvement over the course of the season. It’s easy to sit here and point out all the problems with the team, of which there are many, but it’s also not too hard to evaluate the situation and look at what needs to happen going forward. The tough part is knowing whether what needs to happen, and what does happen, will line up.
In my opinion, there’s not going to be a quick fix for this year, but in terms of baby steps, it would be nice to see the team play with more discipline- fewer penalties, fewer blown coverages, better gap discipline in the run game, etc. Some of those things are correctable from coaching and would result in the team showing a better competitiveness in games. The offense also seems to have shown some more punch with Maye at the helm, but they must continue to make some plays and develop an identity that they stick to over the remainder of the games this season. That’s as much on the coaching staff as the players.
Toughness. Let’s show some. The team can start by being both mentally and physically tougher and I think that is as much a mindset as it is an ability to be bigger, stronger, or faster than the person lined up across from you. Toughness is intangible, and it would help this team a lot. Whether they have any or not, we’ll find out over the next 10 games.
Coaching. Mayo needs to handle his role better. Whether that’s preparation during the week that we can’t see from the outside, in-game coaching adjustments (which to this point seem to have been almost non-existent), or, especially, the message being conveyed to the public through the media, Mayo has a LOT of room to improve. For the team to play tougher, play more as a unit, to have more trust in each other, whatever you want to call it, the head coach needs to do a better job of presenting that unified front instead of throwing players under the bus and treating the media as if they’re a part of the team. Maybe that’s not entirely within his control (i.e. Kraft influence), but it needs to be addressed or there will continue to be mixed messages and possible unrest in the locker room.
Players must do their jobs better. Like I said, we know there is no fix for the lack of talent on the team, but that just means the guys who are there need to work harder in practice, need to make sure they’re not making mental mistakes, need to make sure they’re not selfish and they’re committed to the team. I recognize they’re not suddenly going to become more talented, but as the saying goes, hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. These guys need to work their asses off to try to overcome some of the talent deficiencies rather than talking through social media or the regular media as if they’re “better than [their] record shows”. That falls on the coaching staff too, making sure the guys are prepared properly. Whether they’re up to the task or not remains to be seen.
Final thought from a big picture standpoint:
This rebuild was never going to be quick and easy, and it was never going to be without drama- all rebuilds and all losing seasons deal with rough patches. But stepping back from the immediate results and looking at the overall state of the franchise, my biggest question is- what’s the plan? For as up front and outspoken as Mayo has been about certain things, and Wolf too, to some extent, there is a certain feeling of being adrift that I can’t quite get over. In the offseason Mayo said he wanted to change the “hard-ass” culture. Now the team is soft. Mayo calls out players in the media, then says he wishes players would keep their thoughts in house. Wolf spoke about feeling good about their talent on the OL, but they’ve been rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic at every position on the line for 7 straight weeks. Signing guys off the street who come in and in one week overtake players who’ve been there since the summer does not inspire confidence. The overall direction of the franchise, with those two being the captains of the ship, right now leaves a little bit (maybe a lot) to be desired. Maybe they do have a strong belief in what they need to do going forward, and I’m under no illusion that *I* need to be told what the plan is. But as an observer on the outside looking in, whether that plan exists or is being followed by its architects is a question that seems worthy of being asked.
