This is the best you should have expected
Anybody who thought this year’s Patriots were going to “grind it out and win on defense” clearly hasn’t been paying attention. Verbal told anyone with a microphone after the Minnesota joint practices: this roster stinks.
The reason the Patriots are the number two seed in the AFC boils down to three things:
Drake Maye
Competition
Coaching
Maye looks like the real deal — playing like a top-five quarterback every week, adding a new trick to his highlight reel every time out. Sure, a lot of that success comes from feasting on the absolute dregs of the NFL. That “signature win” against Buffalo was nice, but let’s not pretend this team would be rolling like this against real competition. And that’s fine. For a young team with a young quarterback, confidence matters. Winning builds good habits — losing builds excuses.
Remember: players win games, coaches lose them. Maye doesn’t look this good without the structure and sanity Mike Vrabel brings. The wideouts don’t look half this competent if Josh McDaniels isn’t back calling a professional offense.
Make no mistake: Drake Maye is the difference. His leap and his talent are why the Patriots are sitting at number two in the AFC. This roster — while technically “improved” — isn’t that different from last year. The difference is, last year was a full-blown dysfunctional shitshow run by a guy way over his head, thrown into the job because mommy and daddy got a divorce.