There was a day not long ago when the New England Patriots’ embarrassment had dire consequences for their next opponent.
Those times also included Tom Brady as quarterback and many good players around him.
The Patriots no longer have the opportunity to take revenge on anyone. If there was any doubt that the Patriots’ dominance is a bygone memory, it came on Sunday.
The Patriots lost 38-3 to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 4. While that was an extreme for the Patriots and the worst loss of Bill Belichick’s career, they have bounced back from previous tough defeats with clear wins. In the past, Sunday would have been a problem for the New Orleans Saints. In the current reality, the Saints handed Belichick the second-worst defeat of his coaching career. The Saints won 34-0 in a game that was never in doubt. The Saints took a 31-0 lead in the fourth quarter, marking the first time in Belichick’s career that he had trailed 30-0 at home according to ESPN Stats and Info. That’s two consecutive weeks of unwanted history in a storied career. And the Patriots are 1-4.
In recent years, when everyone was writing off the Patriots, Belichick was giving snarky answers to the media and New England was making everyone’s opinions look terrible while they were riding a winning streak. It’s safe to say that won’t happen this season. The Patriots are just bad.
The low point for the Patriots in a season that has already had many low moments came in the third quarter. New England had a fourth-and-3 at the Saints’ 40-yard line. The Patriots trailed 24-0. And they stung. In fact, they gave up. It was an admission from Belichick that he had absolutely no confidence in his offense to gain three yards in a situation where trying undoubtedly mattered. It was a terrible decision by Belichick and a sign of how miserable New England is this season.
Belichick is still an all-time great coach – the dislike of him and the last few seasons will lead a lot of people to incorrectly say he isn’t, but that’s stupid – but his personnel decisions make his job as a coach much more difficult . The Patriots may have the fewest blue-chip players in the NFL. Their best player is probably pass rusher Matthew Judon, who missed Sunday due to injury. Judon is good, but not on the level of TJ Watt or Nick Bosa. And the Patriots’ second-best player is…phew. Good luck finding this answer. Whoever you name, it won’t be pretty and it won’t be someone who should be the second-best player on an NFL roster.
Everything might be fine if New England had a quarterback, but they don’t. Mac Jones had a promising rookie season and has been declining ever since. He had bad turnovers against the Cowboys last week that put New England out of the game. Early Sunday, he threw blindly to the middle of the field under pressure, and Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu had an easy pick-6. After that it went downhill. Belichick confirmed after the game that Jones would still be the starter, but the Patriots don’t have many options either. Bailey Zappe came into the game in the fourth quarter. He also replaced Jones last week, and Belichick said it wasn’t because of Jones’ poor performance.
The Belichick question will become increasingly important. Could the Patriots really fire a legend who brought them six Super Bowl victories? If the rest of the season goes like the last two games, we might find the answer.
Nothing in the NFL lasts forever. The Patriots were mostly unbeatable for 19 years with Brady as the starter, and that may never be the case again. That era seemed like a hundred years ago, especially when you saw the Patriots get completely annihilated in consecutive weeks.
The Patriots went from great to boring to terrible in just a few seasons. Belichick has gone from being a near-conclusive GOAT to getting the most out of a bad roster to being completely uncompetitive in consecutive weeks.
Hopefully Patriots fans enjoyed the glory days, because they won’t be coming back for a while. This time, the Patriots aren’t good enough to make that statement look bad.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick has suffered two terrible losses in a row. (Photo by Winslow Townson/Getty Images) (Winslow Townson via Getty Images)
Here are the rest of the winners and losers from Week 5 of the NFL season:
WINNER
Ja’Marr Chase: The Cincinnati Bengals finally made some big plays in the passing game. It was no surprise who was on the receiving end.
With Tee Higgins sidelined with a rib injury, Chase was the only receiver Joe Burrow had his eye on. He had a monster game with 15 catches, 192 yards and three touchdowns and the Bengals earned a huge 34-20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.
The Bengals’ offense has been lacking explosive plays all season, but it was a 63-yard bomb from Burrow to Chase that opened the game. The Bengals led 17-14 before that play and then had a 10-point lead after Chase got behind the defense and Burrow hit him deep for a score. The Cardinals never led again after that.
The Bengals were in trouble at 1-3. Being 2-3 isn’t ideal, but at least there’s a way out of that gap now.
Breece Hall: Last season, it looked like Hall was on his way to an NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award when he tore his ACL during a game with the Denver Broncos.
It took a while for Hall to look like he was fully back from the ACL injury, but he looked great on Sunday in Denver, where he first suffered the injury. Hall’s 72-yard touchdown was the key to a 31-21 win for the Jets, improving their record to 2-3. The win gives the Jets hope, as does Hall’s big day. He had 177 yards rushing. And with the Broncos trailing 24-21 late, the defense made a big play, returning a fumble for the game-winning touchdown.
The Jets’ offense will be extremely limited for the rest of the season, but Hall is a fantastic playmaker. He was slowly worked out through the first four games, but then the Jets said he wouldn’t be limited in Week 5. On Sunday it looked as if he was fit again.
Jared Goff: Goff was a throw-in for the Detroit Lions in a blockbuster trade from the Los Angeles Rams. He offset salaries so the Lions could send Matthew Stafford to Los Angeles. Goff would be a bridge quarterback to any hot, young quarterback the Lions choose.
While the Rams have no regrets about the trade, the most surprising development is that Goff has proven to be pretty good. Goff had another strong game in a 42-24 win over the Carolina Panthers, throwing for 236 yards and three touchdowns without top receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown or rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs, the missed due to injury.
The Lions are one of the best teams in the NFL, which was a possible outcome after they made a smart trade for Stafford. The surprising thing is that it is Goff who took them to this level.
Gardner Minshew II and Zack Moss: Anyone who listened to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday expecting to see a lot of Anthony Richardson and Jonathan Taylor was in for a surprise.
Richardson was forced out of the game in the first half with a shoulder injury and the newly introduced Taylor barely played. It was Minshew off the bench and Moss who led the Colts’ massive 23-16 win over the Tennessee Titans in the AFC South. Moss in particular was fantastic, rushing for 165 yards and two touchdowns.
Minshew’s performance is bittersweet. It’s great for the Colts that they have a strong backup they can rely on, but they’d rather not see him play that often. Richardson has left three of the Colts’ five games with injuries. His shoulder injury looked serious. If Minshew has to play for a while, the Colts can have confidence in him, but that brings with it major concerns for their prized rookie.
Desmond Ridder: There were a lot of questions last week about Ridder and whether the Atlanta Falcons should use him for Taylor Heinicke. If Ridder felt that pressure, he responded violently on Sunday.
Ridder had the best game of his career, leading the Falcons on a drive that ended with a field goal as time expired to beat the Houston Texans 21-19. Ridder threw for 329 yards and hit several clutch throws on the game-winning drive after the Texans took a late lead.
The Falcons are 3-2. They probably aren’t good enough to beat the NFL’s elite teams, but they can stay in playoff contention and beat weaker opponents. Perhaps Sunday was a sign that Ridder was taking a step forward, which would raise Atlanta’s ceiling.
LOSER
The luck of the Vikings: Last season, the Vikings went 11-0 in games decided by seven points or fewer. It was an NFL record that probably won’t be equaled for a long time. This requires flipping the coin on your side many times in a row.
Didn’t you know that the luck was the opposite this season? The Vikings are 1-4 and 0-4 in games decided by seven points or fewer. They lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 27:20.
The Vikings had a few chances to tie the game in the fourth quarter but couldn’t get it done. They were in Chiefs territory when Kirk Cousins threw incomplete on a fourth down and a pass interference flag on Kansas City was picked up. On the final play of the game, Cousins had a chance to throw a Hail Mary into the end zone but was sacked.
The Vikings are in trouble at 1-4. They’re not as bad as their record, just like they weren’t as good as their record last season. Her fate has completely changed and plunged her into a big hole.
Cooper Kupp, although it wasn’t his fault: It didn’t take long for Kupp to remind everyone that he’s still one of the best receivers in the NFL. He came off injured reserve and had four catches on the Los Angeles Rams’ first drive.
The Rams are simply not as good as the Philadelphia Eagles, and that showed in the Eagles’ 23-14 win. But the Rams won’t have it easy this season either.
Kupp once again had a typical game with eight catches for 118 yards. It’s as if he was never out with a hamstring injury. Rookie sensation Puka Nacua also held on with seven catches for 71 yards and a touchdown. The Rams competed, but the Eagles shredded the Rams’ defense with several long drives in the second half.
The Rams should be fine against weaker opponents. They simply weren’t able to upset the Eagles, even with Kupp back in the lineup.
Brian Daboll: There was a time, although New York Giants fans probably wouldn’t admit it, they thought Ben McAdoo was pretty good.
McAdoo had an 11-5 record in his first season and led the Giants to the playoffs. Then it fell apart. Fast.
That brings us to Brian Daboll. Last season’s NFL Coach of the Year now oversees the NFL’s least competitive team. The Giants’ lack of production on Sunday was baffling. A team that had a pick-6 on defense was still dominated by the Miami Dolphins, 31-16. That’s hard to do. But it happens when your defense has no interest in attacking or covering anyone, and the offense has very little talent. The Giants gave up 524 yards.
The Giants are 1-4 and needed a historic comeback to get this one win. They seem like a team that has already given up. That doesn’t reflect well on Daboll.
Lamar Jackson: The Baltimore Ravens were in a good position Sunday, but two errors by Jackson erased the win.
The Ravens were leading the Pittsburgh Steelers 10-8 at the Pittsburgh 5-yard line in the fourth quarter when Jackson threw a bad interception to Steelers rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. in the end zone. After this play, the Steelers finally got on offense when Kenny Pickett hit George Pickens for a touchdown. The Ravens still had a chance to answer, but Jackson was sacked, fumbled and the Steelers recovered. Pittsburgh scored a field goal, Jackson failed to make a last-minute drive, and the Ravens lost 17-10.
The Ravens got off to a good start this season, but suffered a few unfortunate losses. Baltimore seemed poised for a win on Sunday. The Steelers defense deserves credit or some great plays, and the Ravens dropped many, but credit also goes to Jackson for helping pull off a win.
The Buffalo Bills’ multiple defeats: It’s not great that the Bills already have two losses. On Sunday they reached their second game in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars and lost 25:20. The offense didn’t show up until it was too late, and the defense allowed all of the Jaguars’ playmakers to play unchecked. For a team that wants to reach the Super Bowl, going 3-2 is not good if it wants a chance at the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
What might have been even worse for the Bills was the injury to linebacker Matt Milano. Milano, a first-team All-Pro last season, suffered a knee injury in the first half and did not return. NFL Media reported that he suffered a broken leg and a season-ending knee injury. That’s one of the main reasons why Jacksonville amassed 474 yards. The Bills will be without one of their defensive stars for the rest of the season, in another major blow to their Super Bowl hopes. It wasn’t a good Sunday for the Bills.