Patriots quarterback woes are derailing the 2024 season

The 2024 season is slowly but surely (if things continue as is) sinking. It's already in the abyss, tied for last place in the AFC East. Not only is that the case at present, but the team is being cast as among the worst, if not THE worst, team in the NFL.

That can't be the outcome owner Robert Kraft was seeking with Bill Belichick's 2024 sacking. His replacements, Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf and newly minted Head Coach Jerod Mayo, have floundered thus far.

One move that set the tone for this disaster-in-progress was one of the two key free-agent signings of the offseason (not the re-signings of current Patriots): spending $8M on quarterback Jacoby Brissett. That's the gaffe we'll concentrate on here.

Patriots' Eliot Wolf set a defeatist tone with the Brissett signing

Wolf spent big on Brissett, a career journeyman and backup quarterback. This though his owner made clear he wanted to draft a quarterback high, and logically, that player had to play. Meanwhile, he did nothing at all to bring in a left tackle.

Brissett has performed as expected. He has only 536 yards passing, with two touchdowns and one interception in four games. Yet, nothing about that lackluster performance was unexpected. His career TD total entering 2024 in eight seasons was 52 against 24 INTs.

Brissett was a starter in two of his eight previous seasons, but he's been a solid backup and nothing more. The Patriots' media cognoscenti are finally coming to realize what was obvious. Drake Maye should have been the starter. Anything else was defeatism.

While Brissett's stats have been pedestrian, his offensive line is historically terrible. The statsstarkly illustrate this fact,

"Pass protection is currently ranked dead last in the entire NFL, according to PFF, as Jacoby Brissett is facing a 49.6% pressure rate on every dropback, putting him on path to being the most pressured quarterback since the stat became available in 2018.

Their performance was at its worst against the 49ers in Week 4, allowing the highest pressure rate in the league again at 53.8% on every dropback."

Additionally, no Patriots receiver has more than four catches this season. Ja'Lynn Polk has four, with 61 yards topping the field. Two others, K.J. Osborn and Tyquan Thornton, have four in the first four games. Neither has more than 31 yards. The wideouts have one touchdown. They aren't helping Brissett much.

The Patriots' mistake has been compounded by coaching blunders

Wolf signed Brissett, but who decided to start him? Maye won the job in camp but was still denied the start, shattering any thoughts of a meritocracy. The morale of the other players couldn't be enhanced when they saw their best chance to win on the pine.

Since Mayo is the Head Coach, it should be assumed he decided to start Brissett. If not, it's an even worse optic for him. Regardless, he's squarely on the spot. If the Head Coach doesn't play the players who give his team the best chance to win, why bother playing at all?

All the excuses about Maye's footwork, arm angles, and the specious argument that he might get injured notwithstanding, Maye was, is, and will be the best option for the team to win this upcoming game or any prior game. Putting Maye on the field in garbage time against the Jets and then not starting him against the 49ers is an even worse look.

It's been hypothesized here that all this decision-making adds up to one thing: the New England Patriots tanked the 2024 season before it even began. In many years of observing the National Football League and the Patriots specifically, this observer has never seen or recognized that scenario by any team.

If it were the military, it would be considered "conduct unbecoming," in this case, by a professional sports team. All of this adds up to clear examples of a personnel operation and/or a coaching staff riddled by inexperience and in way over their heads.

All the excuses are just that, excuses. The Patriots have a lousy offensive line. They have mediocre receivers. They're riddled with injuries. All are true. Yet, the one overarching objective of any professional sports team should be to put your best team on the field every game and then go all-out to win.

Thus far, the Patriots have failed miserably to implement this most basic of sports tenets. The results have been predictable. This team is terrible and deservedly languishing in last place in the AFC East, along with the Dolphins. It's not a pretty picture and absent taking the sensible step of benching Brissett and starting Maye immediately, don't expect it to get any better.

More Patriots news and analysis: