Patriots could repeat one of their worst starts to a season in 2024

Just like the Stone Age followed the Ice Age, the Jerod Mayo era followed the Bill Belichick era in New England. Hopefully, Mayo is more of a saber-toothed tiger than a giant ground sloth. 

It’s not just Mayo who finds himself in a new role in New England, though. There are many newbies and even some familiar faces in new roles. With just three preseason games to figure things out and make necessary changes, the pressure is on the coaches and players.

The Patriots roster undoubtedly has enough potential to improve on 2023’s dismal record. But it’s important to remember that the 2023 Patriots were robbed of several important players through injury. 

The Patriots aren't exactly set up for success this upcoming season

Despite drafting some exciting youngsters and signing good players in free agency, the front office failed to address the depth issue in some crucial areas. They will have to rely on undrafted free agents to step up if Matt Judon suffers another injury this season. And there isn’t so much a lack of depth at left tackle as a lack of a left tackle. 

Kicker is also an area for concern, as Chad Ryland and Joey Slye ended the 2023 season in the bottom five in the league regarding field goal percentage. But maybe Mayo's Patriots will be one of those teams who go for it on fourth down?

So 2024 in New England is going to be an experiment to see if a great defensive backfield and tight end room can compensate for their apparent weaknesses.

There has been some chatter that 2024 is just the beginning of a slow rebuild in New England, but drafting two quarterbacks when you have no left tackle is like trying to build a house from the roof down. 

If the Patriots plan to quietly tank so they can draft a left tackle with another high draft pick in 2025, they’re risking ruining two quarterbacks before they even have a functioning offensive line. They also risk starting the season 0-6 (or worse). That wouldn’t reflect well on the front office or new, first-time head coach, even if the plan is to rebuild slowly. 

But how would losing Mayo's first six games in charge rate in terms of poor starts to a Patriots season? Well, traditionally, even in poor seasons, they start well and tail off. 

Last year's 2-9 start was the worst kickoff of a season for the Patriots in three decades! But there have been even more inauspicious starts to a season. 

In their last season as the Boston Patriots, the team went 1-9 in 1970, but we’ll gloss over that one. The late, great Marty Schottenheimer was a linebacker on that team, so not many will remember that far back. 

More recently, though, in 1990, they only won a single game all season! That was a 16-14 victory over the Colts in Week 2. But it was followed by 14 losses, so that counts as a pretty bad start, a terrible middle, and an awful finale to a season!

In most bad years, the bye week came at the perfect point in the season, which won't be the case this year

In 1992, they were saved from a Week 1 loss by beginning their season with a bye week, but it certainly didn’t keep the players fresh. Under Dick MacPherson, the Patriots proceeded to lose the next nine games! Unsurprisingly, MacPherson was fired at the end of the season.

The team did win their Week 10 matchup against the Colts 34-37 in overtime! And in Week 12, it looked like they had turned their season around as they brushed the Jets aside 24-3! 

But normal service resumed in Week 13, on the road to the Falcons as McPherson’s team lost 34-0! They failed to score a point again the following week as the Colts ran out 0-6 victors in Foxboro Stadium. 

1992 was also noteworthy in New England as it was Dante Scarnecchia’s final season as “special teams and tight end coach”.

Hopefully, they'll avoid a repeat of the 1993 season

Despite firing MacPherson, the 1993 season saw the team’s worst start ever. In Bill Parcells’ first year as head coach and GM, the Patriots began 1-11! In the second week of the season, they almost won but instead lost a close game in overtime to the Lions, 16-19.

Their first win came in Week 6 when they took on the Phoenix Cardinals in the desert and squeezed past them 21-23. A pessimist might suggest the Patriots' 2024 season is headed in a similar direction. But this time out, the 23-21 victory will come against the Jaguars in Week 7. 

Parcells wouldn’t lead the team to another win until Week 15, when they beat the Bengals 7-2! That game somehow sparked the Parcells and Bledsoe era into life. New England would go on a four-game winning run that included thrashing the Colts 38-0 in Foxboro Stadium.

Their 5-11 record earned them the fourth overall pick, which they used to draft Willie McGinest.

They ended the 1994 season 10-6, which earned them a matchup against the Bill Belichick-coached Browns. The rest, as they say, is history.

If the Patriots ended the 2024 season 5-11 and went on to draft a left tackle who helped them win three Super Bowls, it would undoubtedly have been a win. But 1994 was a long time ago.

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