Albert Breer and Tom E. Curran weigh in on how many wins the Patriots might be able to get as they enter six weeks vs. the Dolphins, Texans, Jaguars, Jets, Titans and Bears.
The New England Patriots are limping into Week 5 having lost three consecutive games, including two decisive losses to the New York Jets and the San Francisco 49ers. Fortunately for them, their schedule eases up over the next six weeks.
Their next six matchups will come against the Miami Dolphins, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Jets, Tennessee Titans, and Chicago Bears. Those are winnable games on paper, but as our Tom E. Curran and Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer put it on Tuesday's Early Edition, there's no such thing as "easy" for the 2024 Patriots.
"There's no cupcakes. You are a cupcake," Curran said. "There are razor blades in every single cupcake there -- or put it this way, they have a tiny little mouth. They can't even open their mouth big enough to eat that cupcake. So to me, yes, there are great opportunities. This was a long time coming, and this is what this rebuild is gonna look like. ...
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"The Patriots' number one goal this offseason was uproot Bill Belichick. And then after that massive crater was gone, say, 'Now what are we gonna do? Let's just leave these guys here and see how they do.' So it's unpredictable is what I'm driving at. You don't know how they're going to perform and with all the injuries, it's even worse."
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Breer notes that the other losing teams are looking at the Patriots as the "winnable" game on their schedule. New England is in no position to underestimate any opponent.
"You are everybody's 'get right' game," Breer said. "Teams in that schedule -- if you're the Titans, don't you look at this and say, 'That's where we can do it.' If you're the Bears, it's like, 'OK, that's one we can count on.' The Bears have beaten the Rams and the Titans, and beat the Rams in a slugfest type of game where they didn't need their quarterback to play great. And you would think Caleb Williams will be better in a few weeks than he is right now. The Jaguars, there's gonna be a lot on the line for that coaching staff, so they pull out all the stops maybe to save jobs there.
"People around here still think like it's 2018 sometimes. They look at the schedule and it's like, 'OK, well, this is winnable.' When you've got a team that's like this, you can't think that way. This team is gonna have to scratch and claw to get anyone."
Both the Patriots and Dolphins own 1-3 records heading into Sunday's game at Gillette Stadium. With their top two quarterbacks due to injuries, Miami was blown out 31-12 by Tennessee on Monday Night Football. Third-stringer Tyler Huntley is expected to start again vs. New England.
If the Patriots offense can't keep up with the Huntley-led Dolphins, it may be time for head coach Jerod Mayo to seriously consider starting rookie QB Drake Maye over Jacoby Brissett. Mayo has adamantly stated Brissett is his starter going forward, but the veteran signal-caller has been unable to move the ball down the field over the last two weeks.
Kickoff for Pats-Dolphins is set for 1 p.m. ET.
