One thing you rarely hear inside Gillette Stadium is New England Patriots fans giving their team the boo birds.
But given some of the stinkers we have seen this squad put up since Tom Brady‘s departure following the 2019 season, it stands to reason that Patriots fans are not too happy about this iteration of the team.
That came out in droves during Thursday’s game against the division-rival Buffalo Bills. New England took an early lead on a touchdown catch from cornerback Marcus Jones (yes, you read that right). Buffalo then scored 21 unanswered points to pretty much put this one on ice in New England.
After that initial touchdown, the Patriots put up all of 53 yards in their next six possessions. This led to Patriots fans loudly booing their team as things were playing out in the second half.
The boos actually started shortly before halftime. New England’s defense forced a fumble of Josh Allen to set its offense up in scoring position. The Pats were looking to make this a one-score game before some terrible clock management from head coach Bill Belichick. It led to kicker Nick Folk missing a 48-yard field goal. Buffalo went into intermission up 17-7 and didn’t look back.
Related: New England Patriots schedule and game-by-game predictions
New England Patriots’ uphill climb for a playoff spot
New England finds itself at 6-6 following this most-recent loss. It is now 1.5 games behind the division-rival New York Jets for the final wild card spot in the AFC. In fact, the Patriots currently find themselves as the 10th seed in the conference.
The good news? Bill Belichick and Co. have upcoming road games against two losing teams in that of the Arizona Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders leading up to a difficult three-game stretch to conclude the season. Said span includes outings against the defending AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals as well as the Miami Dolphins and these very same Bills in Buffalo.
If New England doesn’t make it to the playoffs this season, there’s going to be a lot of questions about the future of the organization under Belichick. Is Mac Jones the answer under center? Should the team go into full-scale rebuild mode?
As for what we saw Thursday night, New England Patriots fans had every right to boo their team. It was a downright disastrous performance from the now .500 team.