Patriots News: Bill Belichick, Demario Douglas, Jack Jones and Steve Smith Sr.

Steve Smith Sr. made it painfully obvious he didn't study up on the Patriots before Week 16 game

The 2023 Patriots are a far cry from where they were during their dynasty years; that is apparent to everyone who watches one of their games this season. But have they become so bad that analysts have chosen not to study up on the team before discussing them on pre-game shows?

That's the impression NFL Network analyst Steve Smith Sr. gave when giving his takes on the upcoming matchup between the Patriots and Broncos on Sunday Night, making a few flubs that had fans reposting the videos in disbelief.

His mistakes weren't just mispronouncing a player's name or something insignificant. Smith actually name dropped two receivers that needed to step up in the game to help make a difference on the offense who had been ruled out already.

Maybe it was just an accidental slip when mentioning JuJu Smith-Schuster, but bringing up Kendrick Bourne when he's been out with a season-ending ACL injury since October? What are we doing here?

Typically, these kinds of mistakes happen and are forgivable since it only makes Smith human to do so on live TV. However, considering it's his job to talk about football games for a living, it seems fair to say he should at least know the players who will or won't be active for the game, especially one who has been out for over two months.

It seems indicative of where the Patriots are this year. This wasn't something that happened when they were winning, and just like the Broncos seemed to overlook them heading into this game, the same seems applicable to Smith when preparing to discuss it on NFL Network.

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