We Need to Talk About the Patriots

Ok.  It's October 26, 2013.  The New England Patriots are currently 5-2, in sole possession of 1st Place in the AFC East, and are coming off trips to the AFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl in the last two seasons.  So why do we need to sit down and talk about them?

Because of what they represent, that's why.  This past year, the Bruins went to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, and choked away a 2-1 lead to lose the Cup on home ice, 3-2, with two Chicago goals in 17 seconds.  The Red Sox are presently locked in a 1-1 tie in the 2013 World Series, and the possibility is there that they'll choke away that in spectacular fashion, too (of course they could win it all, as well).

So why, then, was I angrier at the Patriots' stunning 30-27 OT loss to the New York Jets last week?  Why was a regular-season loss not even halfway into the season more frustrating than losing the Goddamn Stanley Cup?

Well, a number of things.  First, the very fact that the Red Sox made the playoffs, let alone the freaking World Series, is enough to make this season a success.  They're back in a way I thought would take them AT LEAST 4 years after the Bobby V Debacle.  So, yeah, obviously I'm hoping to God they win the Series, but I'm not going to be jumping into the Winooski River if they don't.

With the Bruins, I mean, yeah, I was pissed as all hell when they blew Game 6.  But they Hawks played a good, clean series, and I had pretty much consigned myself to the idea that the whole 2012-13 season would be cancelled because of the lockout.  So any hockey regardless was a win, and the fact that the Bruins staged an amazeballs comeback in Game 7 against the Leafs (Just in case you forgot:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXODen6k2cs).  Then they went on to DEMOLISH the Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals, so, that was awesome too.  It sucks, but winning a Stanley Cup just 2 years ago certainly takes the edge off.

Which brings me to the Patriots.  It's been 9 years since their last Super Bowl, and in the interim they've gone from being seen nationally as a well-run, if boring model franchise to the epitome of evil that absolutely everyone hates and wants to see fail.  Which is fine, I suppose, since success breeds jealousy, etc etc.  But here's the thing about the Patriots:  they're not that good anymore.  Belichick stopped being a geniius like 4 years ago, and no longer has any knack for making adjustments as the game goes on (insert SPyGate reference here).  Tom Brady, while still the Greatest New England Patriot That Ever Was Or Will Be, has lost his touch with the deep ball.  I'm not going to say that he's not capable of what he used to be (as I said that on Facebook during the Saints Game and he immediately made me eat crow), but several times throughout the season, and especially in the Jets game, he had people open downfield that would have turned the tide of the game, and flat out missed them.  This can't be all about the rookie receivers, Tom.

And it pains me to say that.  It really does.  But Since that lovely Sunday in 2005, when it looked like Tom Brady and the Patriots might win 5, 6, 7 Super Bowls, I'm left wondering if that was it. 

And I know that makes me sound horrendous, like every Boston Sports Stereotype come to life.  But I don't know if non-Patriots fans know what it's like to have everyone hate you.  Frankly I don't know how Yankees fans do it (Oh wait, yes I do, they've won more World Series titles than anyone else and are only 4 years removed from their last one).  Maybe it's just me, but having EVERYONE hate you for a prolonged period of time is exhausting, and I'd love just one more Super Bowl to shut them up for a while.  I'm not asking for another 3, I'm not asking for Tom Brady to supplant Joe Montana as the undisputed Best Ever (though those would be cool), I just want one more.

And having gone through not one, but TWO last-minute Super Bowl losses to Eli Manning of all people, makes it that much worse.  I don't have even those three lovely rings to fall back on, since the SpyGate Argument negates pretty much everything about them in the eyes of the rest of the country, and apart from that I have no comeback.  It's made even worse not only by the fact that the Patriots only have 3 years or so of Tom Brady left, but that they don't even seem to care.

This is highlighted by their conduct with one player, and one player only: Wes Welker.  Now as you might know, Wes was my favorite player during his time here, one that I deemed worthy enough of a place in my Players Whose Jersey I Own pantheon.  I have a lot of jerseys, mind you, but the ones I have with actual players names and numbers on them are ones I have to think long and hard about.  What is their role on the team.  How long is their contract.  Will they get traded.  What will their legacy be.  All of that.  In 2007, after being tormented by Welker when he was on the Dolphins, I was overjoyed when the Pats ripped him away, and in fact remarked to my Dad during Game 1 of that amazing year "I know Moss will get all the attention, but keep your eye on Welker.  He might be the better pickup."  And for a while, it seemed like I was right, and Wes would be on the team for a long, long time.

So, yeah.  We lost two Super Bowls with him on the team, and he got lambasted for not catching a shoe-string pass from Brady that Tom DOES NOT get blamed for nearly enough.  I firmly believe that if he had caught that damn thing, he'd still be on the team.  Because, as you might know, he's not.

Welker entered into this offseason as a free agent, and we all knew there would be some negotiations.  The Patriots would probably low-ball him a little bit to start, but then saner heads would prevail and they would realize how much this dependable, durable receiver meant to them, and, more importantly, how much he meant to their star quarterback.  Brady restructured his contract to free up cap space, presumably for the Pats to go out and sign his favorite and most reliable target.  As it were, that didn't happen.

The Patriots offered him an absurdly low $10 million 2 year deal, and he instead went over to Denver and Peyton Manning, for $12 million.  The Patriots lost out on one of their most important players to one of their biggest rivals in the AFC (not to mention Manning) for a paltry $2 million. 

"No mind!" said the In-Bill-We-Trust crowd.  I'm sure he has an ace up his sleeve, and will replace Welker with someone even better!  And for a minute, it looked like they might be right.  The Patriots signed Danny Amendola, who on paper projected to be as good, if not better than Welker at a comparable age.  Faster, younger, cheaper for Welkahhhhh 2.0

Of course the game isn't played on paper, and here we stand with the Patriots at 5-2, while the Broncos are 6-1 and steamrolling people.  Amendola, he who has fewer touchdowns in his career than Welker has THIS SEASON (7 to 8), has been made of tissue paper, and while he has been quite a contributor when he's healthy, he's not been freaking healthy.  The Pats offense has been scattershot at best, and while the defense finally started to look, you know, not abjectly terrible, injuries have forced them back down to Earth (what with Wilfork and Mayo done for the year).  So what does this say about the state of the Patriots?  What does how they dealt with one player make me want to write such a post?

It's this:  The Patriots said goodbye to Welker and Brandon Lloyd and others because they wanted to get younger, and to do it on the cheap.  The Patriots are primarily concerned with staying pretty-good while also making money, which they have been exceedingly good at for 9 years.  But here's the thing.  You have Tom Brady, the best player in your franchise's history, for two, maaaaaaybe 3 more years.  He's already shown this year that he is not what he used to be, and he needs a stellar supporting cast to be able to put up the numbers that he used to in his prime.  So that begs the question:  WHY THE FUCK DO YOU CARE WHAT HAPPENS AFTER HE RETIRES?

None of your fans do.  We don't want a pretty-good team that will remain pretty-good for the next decade or two.  What we want, what we NEED, is a 4th Super Bowl Championship.  We need to see Tom and Company on top one last time, before he retires.  Would I trade that 4th ring for 5 years of terribleness afterward?  You bet your ass I would.  I'd be hard pressed to find a Pats fan that wouldn't.  So while Amendola might be a good choice for slot receiver 2-3 years down the road, he won't have number 12 throwing to him then, so why even bother?  The Pats aren't winning shit once Brady retires.  Not for a while, anyway.  So the reason that we need to talk about the Patriots is because they don't seem to get what's going on here, or they just don't care.  They're content to win AFC East title after AFC East title, only to be blown out in the first or second round once they encounter a team that actually has its house in order.  Brady isn't going to be able to lead us to that 4th ring all by his lonesome, and by surrounding him with cheaper players to help the bottom line, the Patriots are all but guaranteeing that 3 Super Bowls is all we'll get.

And that's why I'm angry at the TV these days.  The Red Sox might lose the World Series, the Bruins almost certainly will not make it even as far as they got last year (Cup Hangover and all that), but that doesn't grind my gears nearly as much as an organization that knows it's running out of time, and just doesn't care. 

-M