The stuttering New England Patriots offence has been unfavourably compared to Taylor Swift ’s music career after they suffered a difficult loss to the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night.
The Bills were simply superior to their division rivals and dealt the Patriots a killer blow to their playoff hopes in the 24-10 win at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. It was Buffalo’s third Thursday night win of the season, becoming the first franchise to achieve such a feat after victories over the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lions earlier in the campaign.
The win takes the Bills to 9-3 on the season, while the Patriots are left with a 6-6 record. It is now highly unlikely that head coach Bill Belichick will lead his team to the playoffs for successive seasons after they reached the postseason last year before they were dumped out by Buffalo.
Jones - who was selected by the Patriots in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft - completed 22-of-36 passes for just 195 yards and a touchdown to go with no interceptions as his Patriots took a 7-3 lead before surrendering 21 unanswered points. After another drive ended prematurely, the television cameras capturing the Amazon Prime broadcast showcased Jones visibly frustrated on the sideline as he shouted: “Throw the f****** ball! F****** run game sucks! F***!”
As the Patriots stagnant offence was discussed on ESPN’s Get Up, Brooke Pryor made an interesting comment as she compared the Patriots to the Pittsburgh Steelers given both franchises have moved on from stalwart quarterbacks in Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger. Pryor suggested New England’s station could be best described using songwriting from Swift - but she predicted a far less positive outcome.
“I’d like to borrow a line from my favourite songstress, Taylor Swift: ‘The old Patriots can’t come to the phone right now - they’re dead’,” Pryor said. “But unlike Taylor Swift, they’re not evolving to a good thing.
“They’re taking a step back here and I think it is hurting Mac Jones and his evolution as a quarterback. They’re playing it too safe, but it shows how hard it is to move on from a guy who defined your organisation for so long.”
Former Patriots outside linebacker Rob Ninkovich insisted the bulk of the criticism should be aimed at Belichick rather than quarterback Jones. He added: “The offensive system that they’re running isn’t cutting it because they’re not scoring points. They’re not moving the football. Last week, you thought maybe they’ve got something going here but they just take another step backwards, so there’s no consistency which is a huge problem.
“I think Mac Jones is a good quarterback, I really do. His rookie season, he did a great job in a tough situation with Josh McDaniels as his offensive coordinator in a complex offence. He did really well and was probably the best rookie quarterback from that draft.
“Im putting his regression on Matt Patricia - and Bill [Belichick] has a lot to do with it as well because he did a lot to put Matt in that position.”
The 6-6 Patriots are next in action on December 12 when they face the Arizona Cardinals on Monday Night Football.
