I was surprised by how much this one hurt.
It hurt bad. Wicked bad.
This is one of those times where the phrase "there's still a lot of football left" doesn't make me feel better. It makes me wonder how much more of it I can take.
Restating the obvious: The Patriots have lost two games by less than a field goal and another, late Sunday afternoon, in overtime. They've lost all four of their home games. They're 5-1-0 in the fantastical land of What If and 2-4-0 in the dreary world we call reality.
I don't even want to know the statistics on teams starting 2-4-0 and making the playoffs.
It's tough being on the other side of schadenfreude.
I mean, I've rooted for bad, losing football teams over the course of my pigskin adjacent life. I've known what it was like to be mocked and jeered and worse, to have other fans feel sorry for me. You know, like being a Jets fan. (Thank you. I'll be here all week.) It wasn't till Tom Brady arrived in Foxborough that I got to experience what it was like to be hated, despised, and yes, feared for 20 glorious years.
I had no idea what it would be like when that ended (and ended badly or else, well, you know). Unsurprisingly, nobody west of the Connecticut River feels sorry for me or the other good citizens of Patriots Nation or for Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.
That McDonald's ad is playing on an endless loop in their heads as they catch the score of Patriots games.
The missed facemask penalty against the Cowboys? That's just pigskin karma, baby.
Still, even as I sit here thinking the Patriots just need one more player, just need to hit on a couple of draft picks in 2022, I can't go for tanking. And despite all evidence to the contrary, my beer goggles view of the remaining schedule tells me there's a best case scenario of 8-3-0.
Playoffs? Will 10-7-0 get it done?
It's a sickness.
I know. I should seek medical attention.
But I want to find out.
I want to find out if Mac Jones can continue to get better. I get the game plan against the Cowboys and it almost worked. (Key word in that last sentence being almost.) Jones was 15/21/229/2/1 in the game. Another plus-70% completion game (71.4%), with a 10.9 YPA mark, which was obviously boosted by the 75-yard TD toss to Kendrick Bourne. More importantly, that bomb came just one play after the nut punch Pick-6 by his Alabama teammate, Trevon Diggs.
Mental toughness?
Check.
Yes. I'm going there. I'm saying Josh McDaniels should go pass wacky even if it appears more dropbacks only means more scenarios in which Mac Jones could be killed. (I wouldn't have just coughed up the ball after that hit by Randy Gregory; I would've coughed up a lung.) I'm a firm believer in putting the ball in the hands of your best player and right now, that isn't Damien Harris or Rhamondre Stevenson; it's Mac Jones.
And as great as Matt Judon has been, it seems apparent that believing the defense would carry the 2021 Patriots was a case of mistaken identity. If Devin McCourty, Dont'a Hightwower, and Kyle Van Noy have succumbed to the years and the mileage, there's no easy fix for what ails this New England on defense. This team can't win 20-17 like myself - and others - thought they could. They need to score 30+ points to win.
They need Mac Jones to pass for 300 yards and 3 TD to win.
Whether the Patriots can turn things around or not, any game where Mac Jones doesn't throw the ball 35+ times is a wasted opportunity. The Patriots spent a lot of money on players who can catch a football; Nelson Agholor, Kendrick Bourne, Jonnu Smith, and Hunter Henry. Maybe it's time to give them all more opportunities to earn their paychecks.
More importantly (perhaps), if you're only willing to take baby steps on the road to greatness, you may never get there.
So…
Let's go!
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