For a Patriots fan, the season crashed to an end yesterday in a dismal drubbing by arch-rival Buffalo. I have no problem with the Bills being is ascendency for a while. I have always liked them as a team, lamenting their four straight Super Bowls with no victories, one of the saddest records in professional sports if only because of the dire disappointment that each sequential loss caused.
This was a season overall that failed to capture my
attention in a grand way. I still think this and last seasons (not just for the
Pats) should have huge asterisks next to them because of COVID and the odd ebb
and flow of teams and players. The Tennessee Titans were (are) the number one
seed in the AFC – that should tell you everything you need to know about the
year past.
After so many years of not just relevance but predominance
by my team, it is disconcerting to have them as after-thoughts. Rebuilding was
inevitable. Even if TB12 had stayed with the Pats, they were still going through
vast changes in personnel, in coaching, even in philosophy. Brady’s last year with
the team was a disappointment all around, especially after three Super Bowls appearances
in four years before that. Despite how things look, Brady will not last forever
and eventually the team would have been faced with the need to work in a new
Quarterback, whether that be Mac Jones (who I think still has the potential to
be very good or great if he listens to Belichek and Saban and not to his press)
or someone else. The Pats were not terrible this year, except in the first and the
last few games but they were so ordinary that the whole season felt like it was
mired in doldrums from the start. In many ways, this was worse than the
horrific Billy Sullivan days. At least those teams had a horror show comedy
vibe about them. These Patriots teased with brilliance (they might have won two
or three more games with a little football luck and better officiating) but
more often they just, well, were. They just filled up one side of the field
with little expectation of the great or the horrible. And that’s a side of our team
that we have not seen in ages, perhaps never in its magnificent and checkered
history.
So where from here? Root for the usual suspects, I guess. Brady is still in play, so hope for an eighth SB win? Wish for Mahomes to regain his freebooting, swashbuckling form? Or perhaps side with a Cinderella? I have no resentment to the Bills as I’ve mentioned before and would not hate to see them win it all. How about those unlikely Titans or the Bengals?
There are teams whom I wholeheartedly will root against. The
Cowboys of course – no pandemic or likeable quarterback (go, Dak!) can change that.
The Packers have lost all semblance of sympathy in my eyes due to the arrogant
boorishness of Rodgers. And despite upbringing and family ties, I still can’t
bring myself to rally around the Steelers while Big Ben is behind center.
All of this (except of course the Cowboys) is subject to
change. If I can get the energy and
excitement to even care about the playoffs. As I said at the beginning, the
season is over. Who cares about the rest?
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