The New England Patriots are expected to finish last in the AFC East during the upcoming 2023 NFL season. The last time the Patriots finished at the bottom of the division standings was 2000 -- Tom Brady's rookie season!
The division is a lot better now than it was even a few years ago. The Buffalo Bills have won the AFC East title each of the last three years. The Miami Dolphins made the playoffs last season and have a fantastic roster. The New York Jets finally have a top-tier quarterback with the offseason addition of future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers.
Where does that leave the Patriots?
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Longtime Patriots safety Devin McCourty, who retired in March, thinks his former team will be better than people expect this coming season. Why is that? A motivated Bill Belichick is one reason.
“I think this team is going to be better than people think. Bill is focused this year. He’s locked in -- because we’re talking about legacy now. He’s second all-time in wins,” McCourty said Thursday on NFL Network show "Good Morning Football". "He’s not going to talk about it, but why would you not want to be first all time in wins? You’re right there. I think he wants to continue to prove to people, ‘I am Coach Belichick. I am the Bill Belichick. We will show you what we’re made of.’
“They’re out there practicing hard at OTAs. They had a down day the other day at OTAs because the other day was so hard. It’s not training camp, we’re talking about OTAs, but a down day? That’s how hard they’re working because they want to prove to everybody that ‘we’re not fourth in this division.’”
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The Patriots have often used the "nobody believes in us" rallying cry for motivation. Even when they were winning Super Bowl titles in 2003 and 2004, former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison would still say nobody believed in the team.
Could Belichick reignite that kind of energy with this season's group?
“In 2018, we took on that mindset of ‘this team is no good, Tom Brady’s done’ and that was the best ball we played at the end of the season," McCourty said. "This team feeds off of that. You talk to some of the older guys, the Tedy Bruschi's, the Willie McGinest's, the Ty Law's, that's the era they lived in. No one thought we were good. We're gonna go (beat) the Rams in the Super Bowl. They love being the underdogs. I think this team thrives, and I know Bill thrives when he can create the ‘everybody vs. New England’ kind of mentality in the locker room. That’s when you usually see this team play its best ball.”
More Patriots coverage
There are a few ways the Patriots could be better than expected this season.
The defense was very good last season, and this unit still has plenty of room for improvement if some of the younger players -- Christian Barmore, Josh Uche, Kyle Dugger, etc. -- take another step (or two) in their development. First-round draft pick Christian Gonzalez should be a solid Week 1 contributor at cornerback, too.
The offense really has nowhere to go but up following a disastrous 2022 campaign. Bringing in a real offensive coordinator in Bill O'Brien was a huge upgrade. O'Brien's experience and talent from a gameplan, scheme and play-calling perspective should help starting quarterback Mac Jones quite a bit.
The Patriots have a really tough regular season schedule. They will be going up against a team with a really good (or elite) quarterback for nearly the entire first half of the campaign. But a surprise run to the playoffs isn't out of the realm of possibility for this Patriots squad.