Mac Jones Walks off to the sideline. (Photo Courtesy: Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald)
The New England Patriots lost 35-23 to the Buffalo Bills to finish a long and disappointing season with a record of 8-9. For the entire season, the team had obvious holes, especially on the offensive side of the ball, and were saved in numerous games down the stretch by scoring defensive touchdowns and facing inept quarterbacks, such as Sam Ehlinger, Colt McCoy, Zach Wilson, and Skylar Thompson. In some ways, the team should be relieved they suffered the 35-23 loss to the Bills in week eighteen to be knocked out of playoff contention. The Patriots did not win a single game this season when allowing more than twenty-one points. In today’s NFL, where offense is king, and all the rule changes are predicated toward the offense, it is not sustainable to win games with your defense anymore.
Mac Jones regressed in year two after making the playoffs as a rookie, having a quarterback rating of 92.5 in his rookie season and 84.8 this season. However, Jones may not deserve all of the blame here, as he was placed in an unfair situation by Bill Belichick.
Belichick hired Matt Patricia, former Patriots defensive coordinator and Lions head coach, who had zero experience coaching offense, as the offensive coordinator. Patricia may have experienced unfair criticism because he was in an impossible situation with no previous experience.
The most important thing this offseason for the Patriots is to re-install confidence in Mac Jones and surround him with stronger offensive talent and coaches. Bill Belichick was quoted in his press conference Monday saying, “Mac has the ability to play football in this league”, and after a debacle of a loss to the Raiders in week fourteen, Belichick was asked why they chose not to throw a Hail Mary from their own 40-yard line. Belichick said, “We just couldn’t throw it that far”. Early in the season in a Monday Night Football game against the Chicago Bears in Jones's first game back from a high ankle sprain, the home crowd was chanting “Zappe”, the backup quarterback, and they were essentially asking Mac to be taken out of the game following just one single three and out. This was because the team went 2-0 in Zappe’s two first career starts after beginning the season 1-3 in games started by Jones and veteran Brian Hoyer. This is not how your franchise quarterback should be portrayed to the public, and even if Belichick believes what he said, those are comments he should not make to the media. It is ironic because Bill typically gives the media members nothing in his press conferences.
The Patriots did have a few bright spots in this down year, particularly with Kyle Dugger and Rhamondre Stevenson. Dugger, a safety drafted in the second round of the 2020 draft, scored three touchdowns on defense this season, leading the NFL. Stevenson, a running back selected in the fourth round of the 2021 draft, led the team with 1,461 yards from scrimmage. He had sixty-nine catches this season after only having fourteen as a rookie, making major improvements in that part of his game. He was forced to shoulder the load even more than usual this season as fellow backfield member Damien Harris missed six games with multiple injuries.
The Patriots missed the playoffs in 2020 but rebounded to make the playoffs and win ten games in 2021. If the Patriots can make the correct tweaks to the coaching staff and the roster, they could have a similar bounce-back year in 2023.
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