Bad News For The NFL

It’s no secret that the last two decades in the National Football League have seen the New England Patriots become the gold standard of the league. Over that span the Patriots have won seven AFC Championships and four Super Bowl Titles. And you have to go back to 2000 to find the last time that New England finished an NFL season with a losing season. The Pats have been successful that even their non-playoff seasons have been amazing as they went 11-5 in 2008, but were unable to advance to the postseason.

The Patriots entered the current National Football League season with a huge cloud of uncertainty hanging over them. Starting quarterback Tom Brady is serving a four-game suspension for his alleged role in “Deflategate” as this was expected to hinder the Patriots chances of success. Aside from Brady, Pro Bowl tight end Rob Gronkowski missed the first two games with a hamstring injury, while defensive end Rob Ninkovich is serving a four-game suspension as a result of testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs, and middle linebacker Donta Hightower has been slowed by injuries as well. And whereas these issues would slow down most NFL teams, the Patriots continue to go about it as business as usual.

What has helped New England have success is that they know how to begin a season on the right foot as they have not dropped their opener since 2003. However that streak was expected to come to an end when they traveled to meet the Arizona Cardinals to begin the current National Football League season.

After the Cardinals made the NFC Championship Game this past January, they are expected by many people (myself included) to represent the conference this February at Super Bowl 51 which meant that the Patriots were more than likely to be facing an uphill battle when they met a few weeks ago.

However the Patriots would seize control of the game on their very first drive when Brady’s replacement in Jimmy Garoppolo led the offense on an eight play, 74-yard drive that was capped off when he found wide receiver Chris Hogan on a 37-yard touchdown drive to give New England the early 7-0 lead. The Patriots would go on to defeat the Cardinals 23-21, and the offense didn’t skip a beat with Garoppolo as he was 24-of-33 passing for 264 yards and a touchdown. And when it was all said and done, you could see that the Pats were ready to rally around their young quarterback.

This past Sunday the Patriots hosted the Miami Dolphins whom they were eager to put into chase mode. The first two New England drives resulted in touchdowns as Garoppolo connected on scoring passes to wide receiver Danny Amendola, and tight end Martellus Bennett respectively. The Pats jumped out to a 24-0 lead, but all was not good for them as Garoppolo would suffer a sprained shoulder when he was hit by Dolphins linebacker Kiko Alonso. The Patriots would have to finish the game with rookie Jacoby Brissett at quarterback, but they would hold on to defeat Miami 31-24.

The odds were really against the Patriots heading into Week 3 as they were set to host the Houston Texans and their ferocious defense which is led by defensive end J.J. Watt who is the reigning National Football League’s Defensive Player of the Year. The Pats would have to prepare for the Texans on a short week as this game would be played last night. New England also had to find a way to get Brissett ready for the first start of his professional career with Garoppolo unable to go, and Brady still suspended.

But just like the Patriots did in their first two games of the year, they jumped on the Texans early as they led 10-0 after the first quarter. The Pats first touchdown was the result of Brissett’s legs as he scampered 27 yards on a naked bootleg for the score. The Patriots would go on to dominate the Texans in each phase of the game for the convincing 27-0 victory. Now the Patriots are 3-0, and with Brady set to return in two weeks, the rest of the National Football League is on notice.

The Patriots were supposed to be struggling right now which was the result that National Football League owner Roger Goodell was seeking when some of the team owners forced his hand to drop the hammer on Brady for something that most people don’t care about. Along with Brady’s suspension, the Patriots had to forfeit draft picks, including their first-round pick this past April. But whereas these moves could hinder another organization, the Patriots are the best at making sweet lemonade out of sour lemons.

Bill Belichick has been the Patriots head coach since 2000 and whereas most people think that the main reason for his success has been Brady, it has been due to his ability to adjust. When the Patriots won their first Super Bowl back in January 2002, the backbone of the team was a defense that was led by linebackers Willie McGinest and Tedy Bruschi. Brady would continue to evolve as a quarterback which helped New England win consecutive Super Bowls in 2003 and 2004. En route to becoming the first and only team in National Football League history to go 16-0 in the regular season in 2007, the Patriots employed an offense for the ages which featured wide receivers Wes Welker and Randy Moss. Defenses around the league began to catch up to the Patriots penchant to throw the deep ball and in 2010, New England would go to a different passing game that focused on two tight end sets with Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, along smaller wide receivers such as Julian Edelman. And even when Hernandez was arrested in 2013 for murder, the Patriots didn’t skip a beat.

Since 2001, the Patriots regular season record is 185-58, and once you compare that to another National Football League team such as the Cleveland Browns who are 82-160 over the same stretch, it simply comes down to stability within the organization, talent development, putting personnel is the best spot to succeed, and overall execution.

We always hear about the “Patriot Way” under Belichick which simply consists of “doing your job”. Belichick doesn’t put his players in situations where they can’t succeed as he only asks them to do what he assigned them to do. Defensively the Patriots are full of interchangeable parts which is highlighted by Devin McCourty making the move from cornerback to free safety and Ninkovich lining up at numerous positions within the front seven. And as the names may change on the back of the jerseys for the Patriots, the success is still there which is a credit to Belichick. You can also see that on offense for New England as well as Garoppolo wasn’t asked to be Brady, but simply no try to be a hero. And the game plan was altered last night for Brissett who was just 11-of-19 passing for 103 yards, but the most important stat was that he didn’t have any turnovers.

Following last night’s victory over the Texans, Belichick tied Curly Lambeau for fourth place on the National Football League’s all-time wins list for head coaches and he now only trails Don Shula, George Halas, and Tom Landry. But unlike these other legends, Belichick is doing it in an era that has been defined by the salary cap and free agency which comes back to his ability to adjust.

And whereas most people were talking about the Patriots going 1-3 or 2-2 without Brady, they could now be 4-0 without him following their home game against the Buffalo Bills next Sunday in spite of the fact that Brissett suffered a torn ligament in his thumb last night. The Pats are clearly the team to beat in the AFC East and along with the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers, they are the class of the conference. There is a consensus around that doesn’t like the Patriots due to what has been perceived as cheating, but the more that they are accused about it, the better they get, and they are once again about to emerge from another potentially bad situation smelling like a rose.