Patriots’ final two games will be most important of 2020

The Patriots being eliminated from playoff contention might be a blessing in disguise.

The New England Patriots suffered the inevitable on Sunday and watched their flimsy playoff chances come to a screeching halt following their road loss to the Miami Dolphins, who really gave them numerous chances to establish a convincing first-half lead.

Instead, however, the Patriots’ offense was unable to capitalize on those opportunities, failing to find the end zone for the second straight week. In fact, it was such a lifeless performance that we have finally convinced ourselves that Cam Newton should be replaced as the starting gunslinger.

That makes the final two games arguably the most important of the season. After all, it will present the Patriots’ coaching staff with the opportunity to make a conclusive decision on backup Jarrett Stidham. That’s right, folks: this is us eating our humble pie.

We’ve been adamant in preaching against benching Newton, who, given his commendable leadership and unwavering professionalism amid adversity, deserved the chance to play as much as possible to potentially boost his value in free agency.

However, it would be delusional to keep defending him in light of these horrid stretch of performances. Just take a look at what the former MVP has (or hasn’t done) through the air over his last four games.

• Week 12: 9-of-18 for 84 yards, zero touchdowns to two interceptions (23.6 passer rating)
• Week 13: 12-of-19 for 68 yards, one touchdown to zero interceptions (87.4 passer rating)
• Week 14: 9-of-16 for 119 yards, zero touchdowns to one interception (53.9 passer rating)
• Week 15: 17-of-27 for 207 yards, zero touchdowns, zero interceptions (86.8 passer rating)

Ask yourself this, Patriots fans: do those numbers warrant Newton keeping his starting job? The 31-year-old vet was objectively poor vs Miami and it somehow stood as his best performance (by statistical measures) in over a month. For added context, his 468 combined passing yards during that span is just 60 fewer than what Cardinals star Kyler Murray compiled on Sunday alone.

This obviously isn’t to say that Stidham will come in and make the offense sing. His cameos off the bench this season have been nothing shy of a disaster — he has three interceptions on just 33 pass attempts.

However, with making the playoffs officially mathematically impossible for the Patriots, the remaining two games should be about determining if Stidham has any chance of being the starter next year. The upcoming offseason is simply too important to go into it with questions about the 2019 fourth-round pick’s potential.

Bill Belichick’s sobering response to Dolphins loss sums up Patriots season

The New England Patriots lost to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday and were eliminated from playoff contention. Here's what Bill Belichick had to say.