It's OK to be pessimistic about the 2023 New England Patriots
The New England Patriots kick off their 2023 season on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles, and this could end up being a rough season for the team. Between an unknown at quarterback, questions along the offensive line, and a lack of a truly elite offensive playmaker, the New England Patriots might end up enduring a rough season.
And if you think this team isn't going to do much in 2023, that's perfectly OK. You see, for years, Patriots' fans became used to winning, and winning a lot. The Patriots used to make the AFC Championship Game nearly every season, and that was the bare minimum, right?
The team won the Super Bowl a whopping six times from 2001-2018, and appeared in five Super Bowls during the 2010s. Winning three of them. Over the last three years though, this has been a .500 team and the Patriots just don't have the reputation that they used to. I think when Tom Brady left the team for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the 2019 NFL season, his departure revealed quite a bit that was wrong with the team.
The playmakers on offense were just subpar at best, and I'd even say that Brady's greatness was able to cover up some deficiencies along the offensive line. Much of these negative aspects of the roster were due to Bill Belichick's mistakes in free agency and in NFL drafts.
All of those mistakes seem to be reaching a boiling point, and I think the 2023 NFL season is going to be his last chance. And there's more reason to believe that this team will finish with a losing record than they would a winning record. If you aren't really that excited about the team and don't have a ton of faith in the 2023 New England Patriots, that's OK.
Sometimes NFL teams go through obvious patches of some rough play, and we were all very much used to the Patriots being the best of the best, every single year. That clearly isn't the case in 2023. I do think major changes could be on the horizon, and Belichick's seat as the head coach and general manager is red-hot, in my opinion.