End of New England Patriots' Dynasty
After a dismal Sunday Night Football performance against a Detroit Lions team that looked lost in the first two weeks the skeptics are out. Tom Brady and his New England Patriots for the first time this century looked like relics of what they were just recently.
A defense that posted stout numbers in 2017 has deformed into a unit that fails to matchup up against any team. This 2018 defense resemble a child’s science fair project held together by scotch tape and glue hoping that no one would see their faults. Their strategy seemingly was to hope opposing offenses would fall victim to that every elusive to grasp Patriots Magic.
Yet so far this season no one is scared of this defense or this team.
Matthew Stafford stood in the pocket, had a cup of tea, and sent the defense a letter by the time anyone was even close to putting pressure on him. Blake Bortles looked as good as his fake twitter account against the Pats in week two. The only thing keeping them from being 0-3 is a pathetic performance in week one by the Texans
This dynasty did not fall after this Lions game. Historians will not point to September 23, 2018 as the defining moment of the Patriots collapse. It never could be just one moment or one game. Instead it has been a slow degrade, like the cracks in a house foundation growing bigger and bigger by the year.
This so called collapse began when Belichick decided he could live without players instead plugging in players and expecting the same results. He shipped off Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins for a happy meal and a coke. He let players like Malcom Butler, Nate Solder, Logan Ryan, Dion Lewis, Danny Amendola, and Shane Vereen just walk away from the team with nothing coming back.
Jones and Collins may be the most notable of the losses because they formed a trio of players who were going to lead the defense with Dont’a Hightower. Of the three Hightower seems like the lesser, Jones gives the Arizona Cardinals the pass rusher Belichick desperately needs and Collins gives the Cleveland Browns the athleticism the Pats lack.
The final nail in the coffin was when the Pats shipped away Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers. After they the dynasty was not “over”, but it was certainly on borrowed time. It only seems poetically tragic that on a night he Patriots looked so vulnerable and old Garoppolo was in Kansas City hoping for some good news.
Odds are Garoppolo will be out for the foreseeable future, a future that should have been in New England. Now whether the reports of a power struggle are true or not, the fact remands that the smart move would have been to trade Brady after the Super Bowl win against the Atlanta Falcons.
Belichick has made a living on getting rid of high priced vets a year early, Randy Moss to the Vikings for example, and 2017 was the time for that. Believe whatever story you may want but the Pats doubled down on an aging vet for one last run with a minimally talented roster.
They had their magic last season when Brady won the MVP but the damage was done and the holes on the team were easy to exploit. The defense failed against Nick Foles in the Super Bowl and another player exodus ensued.
Hindsight is 20/20 and it is easy to sit here and say we should have seen it coming but this was the New England Patriots after all. A team lead by a legendary quarterback no one ever believed in and a coach who has defied all standards to become one of the best ever. This is the team that always has the elusive it factor.
Instead this is a team sitting on the pedestals given by pundits and feasting on the fear of opponents. No one should fear this team anymore, nor should we revere them. This has been just another team lead by one player holding it all together. Brady is just a man he can’t do it all.
Father Time wins every time, whether it is a person or a dynasty. The dynasty has been done for some time we just have not been able to see it through to smoke of the Patriots’ mystique. Now that the smoke has cleared it is just Brady and a bunch of players. The Patriots made a mistake not moving on from Brady before, now is the time to move on.