Preview: (12/12) NE @ ARI
The New England Patriots (6-6) visit the Arizona Cardinals (4-8) on Monday Night Football (8:15pm).
Are the New England Patriots in a season death spiral? What they need is a get-right game against a team that’s worse than them. The Arizona Cardinals have fewer wins to point to, and the Ws they’ve pulled have been against woeful losers like the Raiders, Rams, Panthers, and Saints. QB Kyler Murray can pull out electric plays when healthy, but he and the rest of the offense have lacked the consistency to be competitive for four quarters.
The Patriots need this bounce back win after the demoralizing loss last week.
Last week’s action
The Patriots lost 24-10 to the Bills, the class of the AFC East. In theory, it’s no great shame to lose to the best. Somebody has to be first, second, third, and last. But the uncompetitive showing put forth by New England points to, again, issues that no longer need to be guessed at or debated.
The team doesn’t have the talent to challenge the top-tier competition in their own division, never mind the rest of the league. And they don’t have the coaching they need to bridge that talent gap.
Player talent can be acquired and developed through the draft. Coaching personnel can be reassessed in the offseason. Chief on the chopping block will be Joe Judge and Matt Patricia, who will end up taking the blame for the underachieving squad. Is it because Patricia and Judge can’t coach? Or because they were never given a clear enough assignment to allow them to focus their efforts? Most teams around the league don’t play “Who’s the offensive coordinator?” guessing games through the first third of the season, but Bill Belichick decided that’s what the Patriots were doing in 2022. And Patricia and Judge, who the Globe’s Gasper called Belichick’s “indebted and indentured coaching servants,” rolled with it.
But it doesn’t feel like the players or the fans want to roll with it anymore.
Fans are booing, QB Mac Jones is cursing out the play calling on the sidelines, and WR Kendrick Bourne is calling out the schemes in the locker room post-game: ““We need to scheme up better,” Bourne told reporters. “We need to know what they’re doing. We need to know what they want to do on third down. We’re kind of sporadic.”” For a franchise that’s historically known for maintaining discipline on the field and sticking to PR soundbites off it, the Patriots look like they’ve gone into full tailspin mode.
The one bright moment was a tricky play on offense that sent CB Marcus Jones out wide left as a receiver. QB Mac Jones threw a quick pass to him in the flat, then it was all over as soon as the two-way threat put on the afterburners.
Credit Mac Jones for putting up a tolerable line (195 yards, 1 TD, no INT). But it’s another week of not-good-enough.
What we’re wondering
Can the Pats stop WR DeAndre Hopkins? New England’s secondary has been torn up lately by elite receivers like the Viking’s Justin Jefferson and the Bill’s Stefon Diggs. And if Hopkins doesn’t go off, WR Marquise Brown is a respectable second option.
Do the Patriots play to win or play not to lose in the national spotlight of Monday Night football? The team has had some tough losses lately with the whole country watching: versus the Vikings on Thursday night, versus the Bills on Sunday night. Lucky for New England that it got “flexed” out of the 12/18 Sunday night spot versus the Raiders. But Bill Belichick and Company still needs to trot the team out for one more high-profile match. Some commentators called out the Patriots coaching staff for making conservative calls down the stretch of the Bills game to avoid a worse loss rather than keep attacking. Are they right? And if so, is this the new recipe for the rest of the season?
What we’re watching for
The Cardinals rushing attack hasn’t had much punch this year. RB James Conner put up 14 TDs in the previous season, but as of the start of Week 14 he’s only logged 4 TDs in 2022. The odds for a Cardinals playoff run are already prohibitively long, but if they want to end the year on a good note, a late season rushing renaissance from Conner would be a nice start.
The 49ers LB Nick Bosa (14.5) claimed the top spot on the sack leaderboard from LB Matt Judon (13). It’s neck-and-neck as we head down the late season stretch. Should we root for a meaningless stat battle? Sure, why not. You take your wins where you can get them with this year’s Patriots team.
For Boston Fans
WATCH: ESPN
LISTEN: 98.5 The Sports Hub
#humpFL #foreverNE #BirdCityFootball #redsea
The New England Patriots (8-9) fell to host Buffalo Bills (13-3) in the final week of the 2022 season.