After Saints loss, time to pump brakes on '21 Pats

Bill Burt, The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.
·4 min read

Sep. 27—It was there for the taking.

A Mac Jones magical moment. His maiden voyage in fourth quarter comebacks. Two touchdown deficit was cut to one.

Gillette Stadium sounded, at least in decibels, like the old days.

It would've been the perfect scenario leading into Tom Brady Week, the replacement emulating the legend.

Instead, the New England Patriots' defense couldn't get it done for the second time in three outings — couldn't give the world the opportunity for the stuff of legends. The Pats lost to the New Orleans Saints 28-13.

Instead of a possible sub-plot of "Brady versus Mac," next week is solely going to be "Belichick vs. Brady."

We could focus on the defense, which has enough chefs at the top — new returnee Matt Patricia, Bill Belichick, Steven Belichick, Jerod Mayo — to fill a cruise ship, but that would be too simplistic.

The Patriots have issues — as they will see glaringly on Monday morning — everywhere, including fourth quarter grit and playmaking ability.

The other simplistic thought is Brady could've won the game here at Gillette Stadium. That probably is correct. Brady would've ignited everybody to pick up their game for a miracle comeback.

But on Sunday afternoon the offensive line, without Trent Brown, was average at best. Protection and run blocking isn't close to being good enough.

The high-priced wide receivers (Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne) aren't getting enough separation. Neither are the high-priced tight ends (Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith).

The special teams, other than Nick Folk, has been another non-factor. Punter Jake Bailey has been OK, I guess, but he hasn't had that memorable punt at the 2-yard line and he's had two kickoffs that went out of bounds giving opponents the ball on the 40.

And then there's Mac Jones.

He's not a franchise quarterback yet. He has a lot of growing and experiencing to do. This isn't like Alabama where everybody is open and knee braces aren't needed. In the NFL, where corner backs are the best athletes, everyone is covered.

Mac's got some moxie. He showed it at the end of the second quarter, getting a field goal, and in the fourth quarter, with a sweet pass to Kendrick Bourne to get within eight points.

Because the Patriots finished 7-9 a year ago, we have all assumed anything less than 10-7 would be a major disappointment.

But that's not how this works. and Exhibit A was the humbling defeat at the hands of the New Orleans Saints.

Remember when Brady would always say "come back and ask me around Thanksgiving" to figure out the team's identity? We laughed because it wasn't true. We usually knew all about Brady's Patriots by late September.

This is different, though. The 2021 Patriots are a work in progress.

Sure, Belichick unloaded the Brinks Truck on the first day of free agency. But as we're seeing, despite some of the best scheming in football, it takes time getting 11 guys on one side and 11 guys on the other side to play together.

Part of the problem is the schedule New Englanders are on, due to Brady's Super Bowl championship season in Tampa. He's a freak of nature in age, knowledge and competitive spirit, and was exactly what that Buccaneers needed, a leader at the top.

The Patriots, post-Brady, needed to be gutted a bit. That team was built around Brady. The post-Brady Patriots needed new blood and a new direction.

Those things, coming together, doesn't happen in three weeks.

The Patriots new elder statesman Devin McCourty probably said it best after the loss.

"We've gotta stop putting ourselves in position (like this)," he said. "You can't play every game from behind, (because) that's what is going to happen. You've gotta put yourself in driver's seat. We have to keep playing like that, playing complementary football. We talk about those things all of the time. Now we gotta do it."

Belichick is as good as it gets when it comes to building a football team and getting it on the same page. and part of his genius is finding a few diamonds in the rough (Brady drafted 199th overall; Mike Vrabel signed as unknown free agent; Rob Gronkowski drafted after not playing his last year in college).

There is a lot of blame to go around. The new guys, the veteran guys, the rookie QB and even the coaches.

But in reality, the Patriots aren't ready yet. and we, me included, need to adjust expectations a bit and not compare it to what is happening in Tampa.

And as a future quarterback used to say, we really may not know how good or bad this team and its future is until about Thanksgiving.

Maybe they are an 8 or 9-win team.

Until then, enjoy the probably painful journey.

You can email Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com.