The New England Patriots have been on an epic run, but it looks like the Patriots reign atop the NFL is coming to an end.
They say that all good things must come to end. The New England Patriots run atop the NFL isn’t an exception to this rule.
These last two games haven’t been fun for Patriots fans. New England has suffered two brutal losses. The team that fans know and love has disappeared.
Something about this season seems different. This is usually the time of the year when the Patriots are figuring everything out. They should be preparing for a deep run in the playoffs. At this point, it seems more and more likely that New England will be closing shop soon.
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So let’s get into why it seems like the New England Patriots dynasty is coming to an end.
1. The defense
New England’s defense is playing pretty horribly at the moment. The Patriots have some great talent like Trey Flowers, Adrian Clayborn, Dont’a Hightower, and Kyle Van Noy up front, but are still unable to stop the run. In Week 14 Brandon Bolden of all people was running all over New England’s defense.
The Patriots defense is playing awful. New England isn’t exactly known for having insane defense’s, but this is a new low for the team. Once again the team is struggling to make easy tackles and corners are struggling to stay with their man.
If it wasn’t for Stephon Gilmore and Trey Flowers the team may have been out of the playoff race by now. These guys have been great. Flowers has 6.5 sacks and Gilmore has been a lockdown corner. Gilmore has only had one bad game this season and that was against the Tennessee Titans.
Now in a lot of seasons, this would be the Patriots main problem, but now there is a multitude of issues.
2. Tom Brady is playing poorly
Tom Brady is a great quarterback. He will go down as the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, but this season hadn’t been Brady’s best.
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Brady has thrown 9 interceptions this season. In his last 2 seasons, he has thrown 10 interceptions combined. The last time Brady threw 9 or more interceptions was in 2014.
Now sometimes interceptions can be chalked up to bad plays by the receivers or a tipped ball. Brady can’t use that as an excuse this year. There have been numerous times this season where Brady has made poor throws and horrible decisions.
It seems like Brady is on the downswing. At some point, a player’s abilities have to start suffering due to age. It has just taken Brady a lot longer to reach that point.
I think we could see Tom Brady retire in a season or two. I don’t think he will want to go through a rebuild which seems imminent in New England. The window is closing for the Patriots.
Brady is a competitor so I expect him to try and redeem himself next season, but it seems like the days of Tom Brady bailing out the Patriots is over.
3. Rob Gronkowski is falling apart
When Rob Gronkowski started his career you would’ve thought it was insane that he could possibly retire before Tom Brady. After the tumultuous season Gronkowski has had I wouldn’t be surprised if he retires.
Gronkowski’s injury history is as long as a CVS receipt. It’s one of the reasons the Patriots were able to draft Gronk. He fell in the draft due to his back problems.
This season seems to be the first one where Gronkowski’s injury are playing a major toll. He is unable to gain separation and is struggling to make it into the end zone. Gronk only has 3 touchdowns this season and there were 11 weeks between his first and second touchdown.
The best thing that Gronkowski does now is draw a constant double team. You would think this would open up room for other receivers but the Patriots offense still hasn’t been that great.
Soon the Patriots are going to be without a major part of their offense because I would be stunned if Rob Gronkowski plays another season.
4. Bill Belichick is being outcoached
Bill Belichick has had a rough two weeks. He can be blamed for New England’s last two losses. Belichick has made a career of being the smartest guy in the NFL. This season he has lost a couple I.Q. points.
In Week 14 Belichick decided that it would be a great idea to have Rob Gronkowski on the field for the final play against the Miami Dolphins. Ryan Tannehill would’ve had to throw the ball 75 yards for this move to make sense. New England needed tacklers not pass catchers.
We all know what happened next. Gronkowski was the only guy who could’ve stopped Kenyan Drake from scoring and he looked like he was running in quicksand. If the guy he replaced, Devin McCourty was in the game, I’m willing to bet he makes the tackle.
Then in Week 15 on the most crucial play of the game, the Patriots best receiver as of late was on the sidelines. With the Patriots needing a touchdown Bill Belichick opted to have Cordarrelle Patterson, who is a better running back than a pass catcher on the field over Josh Gordon.
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Bill Belichick has made some awful decisions this year and isn’t looking like the great coach we have come to love and adore.
5. The New England Patriots have no plan for the future
The New England Patriots are in a win-now situation. New England isn’t really built for the future.
The Patriots best receiver is over 30 years old. Their quarterback is 41 years old, and their former No. 1 threat Rob Gronkowski is falling apart.
On defense, they are in a better situation because Trey Flowers and Ja’Whaun Bentley look like they can be the pillars of the defense.
New England will have to hit the jackpot in the draft. They need to find a replacement for Rob Gronkowski, a quality linebacker, and a decent receiver. That is a tall order.
Since New England has no plan for the future they will be rebuilding for a while. When the Patriots dynasty falls apart, it will fall hard. The days of Patriots fans be spoiled will be long gone.
So even though the New England Patriots still have a shot to win the Super Bowl it seems like their dynasty is coming to an end.