After the Patriots' biblical run to start this century, there’s a fitting phrase to sum up 2023: “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Whether it’s the three-game stretch where they held the Colts, Giants and Chargers to 10 points or fewer and lost all three, the stirring win over the Steelers or their respectable start Sunday against the Chiefs, the team answers the bell every week even with the season cooked.
After 60 minutes, it becomes clear they just aren’t good enough. Their 3-11 record broadcasts that fact.
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The question then becomes, why aren’t they good enough? How much blame lies with the roster Bill Belichick built? How much of it is traceable to injuries?
Will Belichick’s explanation for this season’s nosedive come down to “wouldas” and “couldas” were it not for all the guys who got hurt?
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After Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs, Belichick pointed to injuries as the reason he seemingly raised the white flag with his offense in the fourth quarter, punting on fourth downs with time dwindling and while facing a 17-point deficit.
“At that point we had lost three starters,” he explained. “Worried about the pass protection. Worried about being able to execute in that situation. Felt like we were playing good defense. Get the ball back on a turnover, three-and-out, get the ball in better field position.”
They went into the game without Rhamondre Stevenson, Trent Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster and have long been without Kendrick Bourne, Matthew Judon and Christian Gonzalez. They lost Hunter Henry, Cole Strange and backup left tackle Conor McDermott, who was in for Brown.
Belichick’s explanation after the game may sound similar to the one he’ll offer when making his case for finishing out his contract.
How would the season have gone if Strange and Mike Onwenu weren’t hurt at the start of the year? If Calvin Anderson and Riley Reiff -- who were signed to play right tackle -- ever made their way into the lineup? Could Tyquan Thornton have taken a step forward in his development if he hadn’t been hurt for the second straight season in training camp? Would Mac Jones have melted before our eyes if he had more protection early, could actually run the offense Bill O’Brien was installing and didn’t turn into an indecisive puddle that had to be benched?
What if Judon, Gonzalez and Marcus Jones were part of the defense all year? Add them in alongside Christian Barmore, Jahlani Tavai, Jabrill Peppers, Kyle Dugger and Jonathan Jones and what would an already-imposing defense look like instead?
Meanwhile, there are developing players on the roster from this year’s draft who have flashed promise. Demario Douglas. Atonio Mafi. Sidy Sow. Marte Mapu. And there are others who have done a lot with their time, most notably Anfernee Jennings and Mack Wilson.
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None of that should spackle over the fact that the team is poorly-staffed at wideout, that the Smith-Schuster-for-Jakobi Meyers swap was a massive blunder, that the team has no third-down back, that Stevenson was the only usable back until they scooped Ezekiel Elliott in mid-August, that Bourne, Brown, Onwenu, Henry and Dugger all have expiring contracts, that the Reiff and Anderson signings were insufficient and that the most important position in the sport -- quarterback -- is in a state of chaos.
They have an expansion team-level of offensive personnel, and the main reason for that isn’t injuries. With a likely top-three pick and the third-most cap space in the league, the Patriots are going to have to rebuild their offense in the offseason. It’s going to be the second rebuild in three seasons, the last starting in 2021 when they drafted Jones and brought on Henry, Bourne, Jonnu Smith and Nelson Agholor.
With all the expiring contracts and Jones’ New England future pretty bleak, the offense is -- to hammer the rebuild metaphor even more -- down to the studs. And they just don’t have enough “studs” to compete on Sundays. Injuries or not.
There are endless examples of Belichick's teams weathering injury avalanches. From Drew Bledsoe in 2001 to Tom Brady in 2008, to Rob Gronkowski almost all the time, the Patriots' ability to weather the broken bones and blown tendons was part of the legend.
How did Troy Brown and Julian Edelman wind up playing defense in games of huge import? Injuries. How did Brady react when Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer said the Patriots' injuries in 2005 reached a tipping point and led to a blowout win for San Diego? Not well. The 2003 Patriots were a MASH unit and won the Super Bowl.
From 2009 to 2022, the Patriots won more than anyone in the NFL (duh). They also had the fifth-highest total games lost to injury during that span.
Sunday's game showed those days are gone. Facing a Chiefs team in the midst of its own offensive reboot, the Patriots once again played well enough defensively to give a meagerly-talented offense at least a chance to win. But the Patriots don't have that and, after a spunky effort, they buckled after halftime.
By the end, they were left hoping the defense could hit the lottery defending the best quarterback in the league and then watching the Chiefs take merciful knees inside their 5-yard line.
Spirit of the players and coaches willing. The flesh -- the actual players -- too weak to compete.