When New England Patriots wide receiver Nelson Agholor lost a fumble late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s season opener against the Miami Dolphins, the writing was on the wall.
New England would end up falling on the road against the Miami Dolphins in its season opener in South Beach.
The Agholor fumble was just one example of the Patriots struggling to play Bill Belichick-style football. New England turned the ball over three times, resulting in 10 Dolphins points. That included a strip sack for a touchdown on young quarterback Mac Jones.
At this point, Sunday’s season-opening performance doesn’t seem to be too much of an outlier. It’s not an exception to the rule. And it could lead to disaster for New England following the 20-7 defeat.
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New England Patriots offense remains a hot mess
“We have a lot of people on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively, everybody contributes. Ultimately, I have responsibility for everything that happens on the field. In the end, I’ll take responsibility for that. But we have a lot of great members of the staff. A lot of different ideas come from different areas or a collaboration of ideas. We’ll see how it goes.
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick ahead of the season opener
Well, it didn’t go swimmingly. A lot has been made of Joe Judge and Matt Patricia sharing play-calling duties. There’s also a rumor that Belichick himself is calling plays. Regardless, this Pats team doesn’t look anything like the dynastic iteration under Belichick and Tom Brady for a good two decades.
Sunday’s game was a prime example of this. Jones completed 21-of-30 passes for 213 yards with a touchdown and two turnovers. He struggled getting the ball down the field outside of a 41-yard touchdown pass to Kendrick Bourne. It was pretty much a carbon copy of last season with mistakes mixed in. This comes on the heels of indications during the summer that Jones was struggling picking up New England’s offense.
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New England Patriots culture now in question
The loss of offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to the Las Vegas Raiders has had an obvious impact in New England. This can’t even be in question right now. Outside of Belichick, he was the one constant during the dynastic run.
“I think there is a feeling for people who’ve covered the Patriots for a long time, that they can’t believe what they are seeing from them so far. The way things played out in the last preseason game vs the Raiders, just confirmed what we’ve all been thinking and in some cases saying.
It’s taking us all by surprise the Patriots would be so complicit in their own demise. In his first yr as HC Josh Mcdaniels’ team looks more like the Patriots than the Patriots do … unreal.”
Former New England Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson
We’ve read the reports and seen the stories. It’s a narrative that has followed Belichick after Brady’s surprising departure from the organization in 2020. Did Brady himself play a larger role in New England’s dynasty during that 20-year run?
Now that Brady is leading a championship contending Buccaneers squad and has a Super Bowl of his own in Tampa, the questions will continue to be raised about Belichick.
For good reason.
Sunday’s pathetic 20-7 loss to an upstart Dolphins team adds another layer to this. One now has to wonder where the New England Patriots go from here. But it’s not looking great.