Pigskin Personality Disorder

 I really thought the deck chairs looked better before you moved them…

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result, I suppose it's definitively crazy to say this, but, welcome back to Foxborough, J.C. Jackson! 

Jackson was just a bad scheme fit with the Chargers, right? 

He's a much better fit for what the Patriots do on defense, right? 

Hello? 

Is this mic on?

I get it. Losing top corner/potential DPOY Christian Gonzalez meant Bill Belichick had to do something to stop the literal bleeding, and that's just about what this is. Something. Given the cap implications, it's a low risk/high (maybe) reward move. Perhaps this helps keep the Patriots competitive but really, they have much bigger problems to solve.

I'm not talking about losing arguably the best player on the roster - Matthew Judon - to injury, either. 

I'm talking about the Patriots pigskin identity, or seeming lack thereof.

I'm sure you've heard players bemoan a loss by saying, we didn't play our game, or, in the afterglow of victory, talk about how they dictated play; we made them play our game. 

Have the Patriots got game?

What is the Patriots' game?

Can you be a defense first/ball control offense if you can't run the ball?

(No. But you knew that. It was a rhetorical question, after all.)

Can you win games in the NFL if you're only scoring 13.8 points a game?

(No, again. Rhetorical, again. I was going to take a shot by saying "Only if you're playing the Jets" but the Jets are averaging 15.5 points a game. Ouch.)

Who are the 2023 New England Patriots? 

Do they even know themselves?

The Patriots need to find out this Sunday.

I'm really hoping they do.

Go Pats!