CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – Another tough loss on Sunday for the Patriots, 10-to-6 to the Colts in Germany, and that has fans all over New England looking ahead to next season.
Morale is low after that showing on Sunday, trust in the quarterback room is gone, support for Bill Belichick is waning, and many of the fans 22News spoke with didn’t even bother settling in early for Sunday’s 9:30 a.m. kickoff.
This week’s bye is serving as a welcome respite for Patriots fans. Now at 2-8 overall, they’re locked in a three-way tie for the second-worst record in the league.
According to ESPN’s strength of schedule metric, they’ve had the hardest road of any team in the league so far. It gets a little easier for the back half, but most fans said… it’s too late.
“I just think we have to tank. We just need to cut our losses for now. There is no real recovery for the rest of the season and hope we can just get a good draft pick, But Mac Jones was already a decent draft pick in our eyes, and you see how he turned out, so who knows,” said a local fan.
New England took Mac Jones 15th overall in 2021. Right now, they’re on track for a much higher pick, likely top-five, could be top-three.
After the bye week, a pivotal matchup in that race for the bottom. The Patriots have a head-to-head matchup with one of those other 2-8 teams, the New York Giants, on the road on November 26th.
The third team in that 2-8 tie, the Arizona Cardinals, just got their starting quarterback, Kyler Murray, back from injury, so that Pats-Giants matchup could very well decide who gets the second pick overall, assuming the one-win Carolina Panthers stay their course.
Duncan MacLean is a reporter who has been a part of the 22News team since 2019. Follow Duncan on X @DMacLeanWWLP and view his bio to see more of his work.
