New England Patriots’ top 3 needs entering the offseason

The New England Patriots may have won Super Bowl 53, but they are not without flaws that will need to be addressed this offseason to improve.

When historians look back on the 2018 NFL season and examine the New England Patriots, they won’t find the league’s most-talented team, its hottest at the end of the season, or even its winningest overall. New England might have emerged on top of the football scrapheap to claim another championship, but they did so more through sheer will, teamwork, and gameplan execution than anything else.

Make no mistake – the Patriots are an excellent football team from top to bottom. But even compared to their other five Super Bowl-winning squads, this current roster feels a little patchwork. There’s a reason why the team adopted an underdog, “us-against-the-world” mentality during the postseason, feeding off criticism, doubts, and widespread public perception that they didn’t have what it takes to win a title.

It’s no longer a matter of debate – this 2018/2019 Patriots team deserved to win a championship because, quite simply, that’s exactly what they did. New England beat three incredible teams (L.A. Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs, L.A. Rams) to seal the victory and their claim as this season’s best team, so there’s no disputing their worthiness.

Still, Bill Belichick’s team has a long way to go if they hope to come back stronger next year and vie for the repeat. It’s exceedingly difficult to win back-to-back Lombardi Trophies in today’s NFL, but if the Patriots can shore up three of their most glaring weaknesses and areas of need, they might have a chance of beating the odds again in 2019.