It’s that point.
Turkey. Football. Family. And, in fact, giving thanks.
The Patriots have made it arduous for followers to really feel grateful this yr. Any hopes of a playoff run have been shot simply six video games into the season. But even at 2-8, there are causes to be grateful.
Struggling to search out the phrases? Well, right here you go:
1. Clarity
This was the promise of the 2023 season. Not a postseason run, successful document and even enjoyable.
Together, we’d lastly study whether or not Mac Jones is match to guide the franchise; whether or not the Patriots wanted to enter a rebuild; if Bill Belichick was the person to guide the workforce for the foreseeable future. Those solutions, painfully and definitively, are: no, sure and no.
Most groups don’t study themselves so rapidly within the NFL. We spent final season locked in countless debate about who was at fault for the Patriots’ failures: Jones or Matt Patricia, Belichick the coach or Belichick the GM. Wouldn’t you somewhat rip the Band-Aid off?
That’s what’s occurred now, which has allowed possession to get a head begin on searches for its subsequent coach and GM. The entrance workplace already seems to be attempting to find its subsequent quarterback. Director of scouting Eliot Wolf, the No. 1B within the entrance workplace to director of participant personnel Matt Groh, reportedly scouted USC quarterback Caleb Williams in-person final weekend.
Could Williams be the way forward for the franchise? More on him later.
2. Christian Gonzalez and Demario Douglas
Barely three video games into his NFL profession, some have been prepared to suit Gonzalez for a purple jacket. If you watched him, you get it.
Gonzalez instantly established himself because the Pats’ No. 1 nook, dealing with A.J. Brown, Tyreek Hill and Garrett Wilson in consecutive weeks. The 6-foot-2, 205-pounder is among the many most athletic gamers Belichick has ever drafted, and people traits translated instantly. Teammates describe him as “special,” and it’s honest to anticipate Gonzalez might be within the Pro Bowl dialog for years to return.
As for Douglas, the sixth-round jitterbug is the Patriots’ greatest and most constant separator. He initiatives because the workforce’s future slot receiver. He leads all energetic wideouts with 46 targets, 361 yards and greater than 11 yards per contact. Douglas ranks seventh within the NFL in common yards after catch (6.9), per Pro Football Focus.
Bottom line: Douglas affords a ability set the Pats haven’t seen since Julian Edelman. Get the ball to the little man, and let him go to work.
3. Tom Brady’s return
The fist pump. The crowd’s roar. His fiery deal with at halftime.
Callahan: Tom Brady’s return a reminder of Patriots’ fast-fading glory
Setting apart the sport consequence, every part about Brady’s return for the season opener, proper right down to the rain halting when he took the sphere, felt good. It was a well-deserved homecoming for the best of all time. Brady nailed his speech, too.
As he all the time does, he delivered within the ultimate moments with the next dismount: “All our lives take us on different journeys. They take us to different places, they bring different people into our lives, but one thing that I am sure of — and that will never change — is that I am a Patriot for life.”
4. Small veteran breakouts
Hats off to Jabrill Peppers. Jahlani Tavai, too. And whereas we’re at it, take a bow, Mike Onwenu.
All three veterans have exceeded expectations enjoying in new and/or elevated roles this season. Playing off the ball and on the sting, Tavai has glued collectively a entrance seven that misplaced its greatest participant, Matt Judon, in Week 4. He is the one Patriot with a sack, interception and compelled fumble this season.
Peppers, in the meantime, is hitting every part that strikes. The former first-round choose is lastly, and persistently, flashing the expertise that made him one of many highest touted highschool and school prospects within the final 10-15 years. Peppers is a real cornerstone of this protection, racking up 59 tackles, a sack and compelled fumble this season.
As for Onwenu, he is maximizing his snaps in a contract yr at proper sort out. While the teaching workers was sluggish to plug an apparent gap with an equally apparent answer (Onwenu performed properly at proper sort out as a rookie), they’d be smart to maneuver even slower on a alternative. Onwenu is grading as a top-30 offensive sort out at Pro Football Focus, regardless of repping at guard in his restricted apply time this summer season and in September.
The Patriots’ glue man linebacker maintaining Bill Belichick’s protection collectively
5. You’re nonetheless not the Jets
Even at their lowest, the Patriots can nonetheless look down. They can giggle and level. They can holler and hoot.
They can snort and chuckle and chortle out loud on the Jets.
Sure, the Jets have a greater document. But they have not crushed the Patriots as soon as within the post-Brady period and have not gained a recreation on this division sequence since 2015. That’s three presidential administrations in the past.
And at this charge, Gang Green would possibly make it 4. Supposedly, if the Jets are out of the playoff hunt, Aaron Rodgers is not going to return to the sphere this season. The Patriots host the Jets of their regular-season finale Jan. 7.
6. The dynasty recollections
Two many years of championship-level play and recollections cannot sweeten this bitter season. But they will preserve you heat by way of an extended winter.
The Super Bowls, the comebacks, the record-setting performances. The moments Brady, Belichick, Bruschi, Harrison, Gronk, Edelman and others redefined what it meant to attain and consider within the NFL. Pick your favourite Patriots Super Bowl from the final 25 years and rewatch it this weekend. Or two or three.
Not many fan bases can do this. And none can boast to have lived by way of the best 20-year run in league historical past.
7. Only 154 extra days till the NFL Draft
Williams is predicted to go No. 1 general, a contemporary marvel on the place. North Carolina’s Drake Maye will push him for that spot, and a few draftniks have him rated forward of Williams. The Patriots may additionally flip to certainly one of a number of different quarterback prospects: LSU’s Jayden Daniels, Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy or Washington’s Michael Penix Jr.
It’s a very good yr to want a quarterback, large receiver (good day, Marvin Harrison Jr.) and/or offensive sort out. The Pats must be out there for all three come April.
The solely factor left to do is hurry up and wait.
Source: www.bostonherald.com