Forget the Cam Newton year- we all knew that was going to be a mess. This, right now, is the lowest moment of the Belichick reign in New England.
Getting blown out at home by the Bears is always a bad sign, but that wasn’t the worst of it. This was a total disaster.
First red flag was that the Patriots’ defense- their “strength”- was embarrassing. They couldn’t get off the field on 3rd down, allowing the Bears to go 11/18 converting, and Fields seemed to run for what seemed like a billion yards on the key plays. In all, the Bears rushed for 243 yards, just kicking an impotent and SLOW AF New England defense right in the nuts.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Patriots also managed to lost Kyle Duggar and Dave Andrews- two of their 5 or so best players- to injuries.
But the coup de grace, and obvious elephant in the room, was the Quarterback Qulusterfuck.
Belichick seemingly screwed this up from the outset. He starts Mac Jones over the hot Bailey Zappe- ok, fine, if Mac is your guy, then you run with him. But after 3 quick series, he then pulls his “Pro Bowl” QB, and goes to the 4th round rookie. If he planned ahead of time to play both QB’s, that is just plain dumb. Either Mac is your QB, and he plays when healthy, or he is not.
Now, if Bill still needed time to decide, the solution is quite simple. Don’t put Mac out there before he’s 100%, and put him in a position to fail. Just lean on the injury, and get another look at Zappe.
Instead, the man who disdains distractions, dumped a barrel full of gasoline on the QB controversy fire. The crowd ate it up too… booing Noodle-Arm MacTM and chanting for the Zapster. Then, the typically quiet Gillette stadium erupted when the backup came in and led them on 2 straight TD drives. The place was rocking and reeling for a while, but Zappe soon crashed to earth. It appears as though, as was widely expected, he may actually not be good at all.
In the matter of about 90 minutes, the Patriots’ went from having choices at QB, to have two empty shells, a shitload of questions, and virtually no chance at competing this year.
I’m changing course now, and I”m a #MacGuy. Zappe is NOT ready now to take over, and quite frankly, I’m not convinced he ever will be. The rest of this season has only one purpose as far as I’m concerned: Figure out if Mac is the guy.
The Team and Bill are at Rock Bottom, and the only possible solution is the #10 Step Program.
Hi-Top Table Athletics 