This is the end. The New England Patriots must turn the page on their most successful chapter in the franchises’ history as the last embers of their Super Bowl winning teams are now leaving the franchise.
This has to be the moment the Patriots look past “The Patriots Way” and towards the future.
In what has to be the most embarrassing loss of them all this season for the Pats as they fell 17-3 to the New York Jets, the Patriots really need to open a brand-new chapter for the franchise and move beyond the legendary “Patriots Way” of the past twenty years as the end of that era has come with their 4-13 record this year. And, I really hate to say it, but that new chapter must involve letting go of Bill Belichick and the past Super Bowl winners.
That final game was a really rough one to watch.
Despite having all the hallmark traits, such as being in front of a raucous Foxborough crowd, a full-blown snowstorm engulfing the field, and taking on the “little brother” New York Jets in a high-stakes (that was probably Bill Belichick’s final game as the New England coach) matchup, the Patriots laid the biggest egg of their season yet as they lost 17-3, capped off the year with a 13th and final loss to finish 4-13, and saw their 15-game winning streak over the Jets (and their 16-year home winning streak dating all the way back to 2008 also ending) end.
From the measly three points the Patriots scored, the plethora of turnovers and errors, and wrapping up with allowing a 50-yard TD run from Breece Hall in a “must-stop” defensive situation, the Patriots just didn’t look like the team that had dominated the division for 19 straight seasons (2000-2019).
They looked like a bottom-feeding, helpless organization trying it’s very best not to completely embarrasses itself in front of an annoyed home crowd…and obviously failing spectacularly in doing so. It was the furthest thing from “The Patriots Way” one could imagine the Patriots getting…which is why I now know it’s officially time to write the final words of that chapter.
Matthew Slater, the legendary special teams gunner with 10 Pro Bowl nods (NFL record), 5 All-Pro selections, and 3 Super Bowls, is most likely going to retire at the end of the season anyway, while former Pro Bowl guard Trent Brown (2018 Super Bowl winner) and former Pro Bowl corner J.C. Jackson (2018 Super Bowl winner) have completely lost the plot and need to be cut from this roster. So, they’re already one step out the door.
Linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentely (2018 Super Bowl winner) and cornerback Jonathan Jones (2016 Super Bowl winner, 2018 Super Bowl winner) also need to leave as despite the defense playing very well, these two were some of the weaker links on the unit. Plus, defensive lineman Detrich Wise (2018 Super Bowl winner) might have some trade value, so I’d also look to ship him on from the roster.
And, I also think it’s time to move on from center Dave Andrews, the stalwart leader of the offensive line for 2 of the Patriots Super Bowls (2016, 2018) and the better part of the last 9 seasons, as well. But, the Patriots offensive line was one of the worst in all of football, and Andrews was the unquestioned leader of that unit…which leads one to question if sticking with him for the long-term is really the best idea when younger and hungrier options are on the market.
Andrews has said that he is banged up and needs time off, yet still can play the position when he heals, but I think that healing needs to be with another team as the chapter of “The Patriots Way” needs to be ended completely as everyone I mentioned are the remaining holdovers of the Patriots last Super Bowl win and older winning rosters. Everyone except the big man himself: Bill Belichick.
I really hate to say this, but the time has come for Bill Belichick as the Pats head coach. If the 4-13 season and all the failures, mistakes, penalties, turnovers, collapses, etc. of the last four seasons didn’t prove Belichick no longer was the man for THIS coaching job, then that dreadful 17-3 loss to the Jets should have.
The Jets are the one team that Belichick ALWAYS beat no matter the circumstances (and he did so to stop a Pats 3-game losing streak early in the year), and he had a 15-game winning streak against them dating all the way back to the 2015 season! Seriously, Bill Belichick was able to beat a divisional opponent (you know, a team you place twice PER YEAR) for nearly 10 straight seasons! That’s incredible!
But this was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and perhaps the most fitting of ways to end “The Patriots Way”.
The Jets were the team that defined the last two generations of Patriots football for they started the dynasty through the Mo Lewis hit on Drew Bledose that allowed Tom Brady to take over, they were the constant “little brother” to the Patriots superior “older brother”, and now they have finally had their day and won a game against Belichick and the Patriots IN FOXBOROUGH for the first time in 16 years to end Belichick’s reign over the Patriots.
There’s really no better story than that.
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