After having their hopes of a turnaround season flattened by the Miami Dolphins, the New England Patriots will continue their desperate attempts to turn things around in Sunday’s showdown with the Washington Commanders.
This is the first game in a stretch of winnable matchups for a Patriots team that has dealt with a hellacious schedule up to this point. In eight games, five of those matchups came against likely playoff-contending teams.
They’ll be coming face-to-face with a Commanders team that has been dealt back-to-back losses to the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. It’s also a team that traded away their top pass-rushers, Montez Sweat and Chase Young, ahead of the October 31 trade deadline.
But don’t take that as a reason to believe the Commanders are just going to roll over for the Patriots.
Quarterback Sam Howell has been a bright spot for the team this season, and they’ll be facing a Patriots team with a banged-up defense, bad offensive line and severely lacking at wide receiver. Kendrick Bourne is done for the season with a torn ACL, and DeVante Parker was ruled out for Sunday’s game on the injury report.
That leaves more questions than answers for a Patriots team facing must-win circumstances from here on out.
