Curran: Pats’ ‘rock bottom’ can get worse before end of season originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Just when you believe that the 2023 New England Patriots’ season can’t plummet any further, they manage to find a new low.
This season, they’ve hit rock bottom multiple times. First, there were devastating consecutive losses to the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints in which they were outscored a combined 72-3. Then, they followed those abysmal performances with a loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.
New England briefly bounced back with a significant win over the Buffalo Bills; however, any optimism inspired by that victory disappeared with a loss to the Washington Commanders the following week. Since then, it’s been all downhill.
The Patriots’ trip to Germany to face the Indianapolis Colts ended in disaster. Third-year quarterback Mac Jones was benched in favor of Bailey Zappe after throwing a brutal fourth-quarter interception. Zappe then threw a pick on a fake spike play to seal the Colts’ 10-6 win. Following the trip overseas, cornerback Jack Jones was cut by the team due to his unacceptable behavior.
Despite this, they found another new low after their bye week with a 10-7 loss to the New York Giants. Jones was benched for the fourth time this season, and rookie fourth-round kicker Chad Ryland missed a 35-yard field goal that would have tied the game with six seconds remaining.
With a 2-9 record and both their QB and head coach on the hot seat, one might think that things couldn’t possibly get any worse for the New England Patriots at this point…
However, Tom E. Curran, our Patriots insider, disagrees. “At some point, you have to pocket your rock bottoms and say, ‘I’ll let you know at the end in hindsight what the rock bottom was,'” Curran said. “This is the loser’s playbook. There is friction on the sidelines, among players, and there are no answers. It can get a lot worse.”
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Jones has struggled mightily as the Patriots’ starting QB, and Zappe hasn’t fared much better in relief. While the situation behind center certainly hasn’t helped matters, Curran believes the issues in the organization run deeper and likely won’t end any time soon.
“You could sign (Tom) Brady and I don’t think you’re gonna win games,” he added. “They went 2-4 with a better team in 2019 coming down the stretch with him. They’re not a tick or two away and a competent quarterback away. We’re entering the next chapter of rock bottomness.”
At this point, the only potential silver lining for this year’s Patriots team is that they could end up with a top-three draft pick in 2024. They enter Week 13 with the No. 3 overall selection.
Losing might benefit the Patriots in the long run. They’ll just hope to avoid doing so in embarrassing fashion from this point on, starting next Sunday when they take on the Los Angeles Chargers.
