For nearly two decades, New England Patriots fans have been spoiled with their team being led by Tom Brady, the Greatest of All Time. However, once he moved on from the team to play three seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before retiring, they haven’t been the same. Instead of winning many games and making a far run into the playoffs, six of which ended in a Super Bowl victory, we’re left with more losses than wins and not even making the playoffs.
In the 2020-21 season, the Patriots picked up free agent quarterback Cam Newton who formerly played for the Carolina Panthers. He was first drafted from Auburn University, but he initially played for the University of Florida before moving to Blinn Community College because he was expelled from both the university and the football team for stealing expensive technological equipment from the school. Newton is an innovative, dual-threat quarterback, meaning that he’s strong in both throwing and running with the ball himself. As a currently-depressed Patriots fan myself, I can say that I was PSYCHED to have Newton playing for my team, and I was looking forward to seeing what he had to offer to the team that had just lost Tom Brady. However, I was left severely disappointed when the Patriots had a 7-9 record at the end of the season, making them third in the AFC East Division and missing the playoffs. While we were struggling, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl. Before Brady, the Bucs were a perennially average team, usually finishing with a 7-9 record and missing out on the playoffs. For Brady’s teammates, this meant that the majority of them had never even been to the playoffs, let alone won a Super Bowl alongside one of the greatest to ever play. When the Bucs won the NFC Championship game against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, Bucs receiver Mike Evans, who was walking off of the field at the end of the game not knowing there was a ceremony, was quoted saying “there’s a ceremony? I don’t know, I’m new at this.”
During the 2021 NFL draft that April, the Patriots made it clear that they had intentions to move on from Cam Newton when they drafted quarterback Mac Jones from the University of Alabama with their first-round, fifteenth-overall pick. That summer, during training camp, the Patriots went on to release Cam Newton, who, to this day, was never picked up by another team. While not doing much better than the prior year, the Patriots finished second in the AFC East Division with a 10-7 record (note that this is the first year that the NFL played seventeen games, instead of sixteen), barely behind the now-powerhouse Buffalo Bills. The Patriots ended up making the playoffs before getting an abrupt end to the season at the hands of Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. The Patriots had to play in temperatures below zero while playing in a stadium with ferocious fans. Yes, the Bills fanbase (better known as the Bills Mafia) is known for body slamming each other through tables at their pregame tailgates and throwing off opposing teams with their loud cheers. Despite being from New England, the Patriots struggled in the Buffalo winter, and Mac Jones, a Florida native, was even spotted wearing a wetsuit under his uniform for added warmth. Despite their efforts, the Patriots lost the wild-card playoff matchup, 17-47.
Going into his second season with the team, expectations were high. During the off season, the Patriots used their fourth-round draft pick to draft Bailey Zappe, a quarterback from Western Kentucky University. Mac Jones kept the starting job, though. After the first game ended in a loss, the Patriots began to pick up steam with their close win against the Steelers. However, a few weeks into the season, Jones suffered a high ankle sprain and was out for a few weeks. During this time, Zappe was the starter, and he led the Patriots to a very close loss against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers before also leading huge wins against the Detroit Lions and the Cleveland Browns. Despite Zappe’s 2-1 record while starting, Coach Bill Belicheck returned the starting spot to Jones upon his return. This proved to possibly be a costly mistake as the Patriots ended the season with an 8-9 record, making them third in the AFC East Division (the Buffalo Bills were first, and the Miami Dolphins were second) and only ahead of the New York Jets. The Patriots missed the playoffs once again.
We’re now five games into the 2023-24 season, and the Patriots look to be having another season of lows. The season began with a close home-loss against reigning NFC Champion-Philadelphia Eagles before losing at home against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday Night Football (a prestige time-slot as Sunday Night Football is “prime time,” meaning that only one game has that time-slot, so the game is broadcasted nationally). They then had a victory over the New York Jets, winning by five points. After that, the losses continued with a 38-3 loss against the Dallas Cowboys and a 34-0 loss against the New Orleans Saints. I never thought the Patriots would have such a major dip, but they unfortunately have, only scoring three points in these last two games. In both of these games, Mac Jones was benched in favor of Bailey Zappe. However, Jones keeps getting the starts when I believe that Zappe should be in the starting lineup. At this point, the best solution would be to bring in an experienced free-agent (a free-agent is a player who doesn’t belong to a team), as this will give Jones, Zappe, and the third-stringer, Will Grier, an opportunity to be mentored by a player with more experience. Jones never got this as he was the starter from day one, and because he’s also young, Zappe and Grier didn’t get this opportunity either. Hopefully, the Patriots will turn things around as we approach the middle of the season!
By Kristina Klauzinski ‘24, Sports Editor
