Going into the bye week, it should be an interesting next two weeks for the Patriots. A win over the Jets in Week 3 was supposed to serve as a restart following an 0-2 start. These hopes of yet another mulligan came after a Week 7 win over Buffalo that stopped a 1-5 start.
However, Sunday’s 10-6 loss to Indianapolis in Germany not only gave New England its second three-game losing streak of the season, it also is the clearest sign yet that this team’s issues may not be fixable at this point.The back footed, severely underthrown interception that Mac Jones tossed in the red zone late in the fourth quarter basically sealed a loss. Bailey Zappe was brought in for the final drive and threw an interception on a fake spike.
“We’ll look at everything,” coach Bill Belichick said Monday. “We’ll look at everything across the board.”
While Belichick made clear those assessments would include every position on the roster, the fact that Jones was benched after his pick in favor of backup Bailey Zappe was an indication that Jones’ status as the starter is up in the air at best.
A lot of blame is going to Mac Jones, but it is the team as a whole. The same scrutiny is squarely on Belichick, whose team is last in the AFC and 2-8 for the first time since finishing his first season in New England 5-11 in 2000.
Their biggest issues have surfaces on offense. Points per game (14.1), yards per game (308.4) and third down efficiency (34.9%) are all down from a season ago. Slow starts also continue to plague the Patriots, who have yet to score a touchdown on an opening drive this season. Dumb penalties have also been issues of killing drives. As a defensive team they are better, but this team as a whole is still a mess.
The Patriots are 27-33 since Tom Brady left following the 2019 season to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As the year goes on it will be interesting to see how this team performs. Will they change quarterbacks? Will the Patriots tank for a good draft pick? It is going to be a wild few weeks to end the season for the Patriots.
Jaden Chandler-Parnell, or “JC” is a Sports & Sports Betting Insider for Stare Down Sports. You can Follow him on X @Jaden95Chandler
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