All signs point to Patriots tanking 2024 season after QB announcement

New England Patriots beat reporters are the cream of the NFL crop. They are insightful, knowledgeable, and not afraid to give candid opinions. Yet, even the best aren't necessarily always right. Three of the best are missing the boat on one major 2024 issue we'll explore here.

In a YouTube clip on NBC Sports Boston, Tom Curran and Phil Perry speak with Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald, who all opined that Jacoby Brissett "should" be the Patriots' game-one starter.

Curran thinks the team should stick with the "plan." Perry thinks Maye will be demolished by the Pats' lousy offensive line. Callahan says the team's "objective is not to win." There's a lot there to analyze and dissect.

Let's first address the "plan" Tom Curran referenced. Then, we'll look at Perry's offensive line reason for keeping Drake Maye on the bench. And then, we'll address Callahan's comment, the worst indictment of the 2024 Patriots and their administration of all.

Patriots are losers on a whole host of levels

The 2024 New England Patriots entered the offseason with a clean slate. Although the key players, newly minted Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf and new Head Coach Jerod Mayo, were part and parcel of the Bill Belichick era, the team is exclusively in their hands.

The "plan" cited by Tom Curran is that the team will "develop" Drake Maye, and therefore, it's fine to let him sit on the pine for Jacoby Brissett. But should that be the case, though Maye clearly beat out Brissett and earned the starting role? It shouldn't. But don't upset the "plan," even though it's proven wrong. One thing is worse than making a mistake: sticking with it when you realize it's flawed.

That was Tom Curran's take on the situation. Phil Perry had a much more cogent argument. It's not about a plan; it's about the miserable state of the Patriots' offensive line. And there, Perry's take is right on target. The O-line is an embarrassment to lousy offensive lines. After dumping numerous high or higher draft picks there, the talent level is still at the bottom of the NFL.

Whatever, Maye won the job and deserves to play. Is there a risk of injury? Of course, there always is. It's football, not pool. It's a rough game. Players, including quarterbacks, get hurt no matter how good their offensive lines are.

Another oft-mentioned risk, so-called, is that a young quarterback's confidence will be irrevocably "ruined" if subjected to less-than-optimum playing conditions. This is drivel. If a player has grit and the fortitude to get up off the canvas, get back in the huddle, and compete, nothing will break his spirit. He either has it or he doesn't. If not, it's better to find out sooner rather than later, as they did with Mac Jones.

Andrew Callahan's comment is the most telling about the 2024 Patriots

As is apparent in the YouTube clip cited, Andrew Callahan made an astute and unexpectedly candid (good on 'ya, Andrew) comment that the Patriots' 2024 "...objective is not to win..." That's the most telling and damning comment of all, as Callahan agreed with Curran and Perry that Maye shouldn't start.

That the Patriots may see "rebuilding" as an excuse for not trying to win every game on the schedule is the worst indictment of the "new" Patriots hierarchy you can make. If true, it's a disgrace to a once-proud franchise that finished last in 2023 and may have acquiesced to doing so again in 2024 without even a fight.

One has to ask, where is owner Robert Kraft in all this? If it's true, has he accepted losing as a strategy? It seemed evident after the first pre-season game that Kraft may have stepped in and ordered Drake Maye's participation in the Eagles' game. Now, after the Commander's game, there's no doubt Maye is the team's best quarterback,

Is Kraft going along with tanking the 2024 season, without even a kick being made in anger, by allowing the team's best quarterback to sit on the bench because of this bogus "plan"? Hope not. If so, Kraft's proud status as a "fan" has been eclipsed by something antithetical to any fan's objective: rooting for his team to win or at least make every attempt.

That's the story of a truly thought-provoking YouTube clip. It's loaded with observations and dissertations on the Patriots' quarterback situation that may embody the ostensible tanking of the 2024 season before it begins. It's not a pretty picture. Yet, there's still time for someone, e.g., the owner, to step in and change this embarrassing narrative. Mr. Kraft, are you listening?

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