At the very least, the New England Patriots came into 2023 expecting things to be better than the disastrous 2022 season.
The offensive line wasn’t going to magically improve overnight, and even with the signing of Bill O’Brien as the team’s new offensive coordinator, there clearly wasn’t enough offensive talent for the unit to take flight completely.
But could they hover enough off the ground to matter with the hardest schedule in the league? So far, the answer has been a resounding no with the team sitting at 2-8 and the worst record in the AFC.
It has been a nightmare season filled with more downs than ups for the Patriots. The scariest part is the nightmare isn’t over. There are still plenty of games left to play before closing the curtains on 2023.
Here are the studs and duds for New England at the midway point of the season:
QB Mac Jones: DUD
This is not the third season the Patriots expected from Mac Jones after the team brought in Bill O’Brien as the offensive coordinator.
But then again, this is what can happen when a quarterback has three different offensive coordinators in three seasons, a busted offensive line and one of the worst receiving corps in the NFL.
Jones has regressed in ways that would have been unbelievable two years ago, when he was a rookie Pro Bowler. Now, reality is setting in that the Patriots and the former Alabama signal-caller were never good fits for each other, and the end could be nearing as a result.
So far this season, Jones has a 38.8 QBR with 2,031 passing yards, 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Quite shockingly, he’s looked worse this season than he did last year.
WR Demario Douglas: STUD
Demario Douglas is one of the few players that sparks legitimate hope for the future for New England’s offense. He’s a YAC-monster with the ball in his hands, and he can consistently create separation in one-on-one matchups.
The Patriots waited way too long to get him involved in the offense, and even worse, they opted to give more opportunities earlier to players like JuJu Smith-Schuster and DeVante Parker.
Douglas is more than capable of filling that Julian Edelman and Wes Welker role in the slot for the Patriots. Seeing his sudden emergence into a legitimate playmaker has been a huge positive for the offense.
K Chad Ryland: DUD
We’re not going to pile on the rookie kicker too much here.
He’s still a young player that can obviously get better, and it isn’t his fault the Patriots made the astoundingly bad decision of selecting him in the fourth-round of the 2023 NFL draft.
However, he has the second-worst Pro Football Focus grade in the entire league. The consistency hasn’t been there, and that’s even worse for a team that depends so heavily on kicking field goals to even compete, much less win football games.
CB Christian Gonzalez: STUD
Christian Gonzalez looked like one of the best cornerbacks in football over a four-game stretch. He even earned high remarks from Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who has torched everyone but the Patriots’ first-round draft pick.
“I was able to go against their rookie. He’s real good,” Hill said on an episode of the “It Needed To Be Said” podcast, via the Vocal Podcast Network. “Very lengthy corner, had some real good technique and speed about him. So they’ve got some real good pieces over there in New England, man. So shout out to New England.”
Unfortunately for the Patriots, Gonzalez went down with a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 4. So fans only got a teaser of how great he could be on the field.
If first impressions count for anything, the Patriots might have secured the biggest steal of the 2023 NFL draft with Gonzalez, who somehow fell to No. 17 overall.
LB Josh Uche: DUD
This was supposed to be Josh Uche’s coming-out party.
He took off like a rocket in the second-half of the 2022 season, compiling 11.5 sacks and forming a terrifying pass-rushing duo with Matthew Judon. There was hope that momentum would carry over into 2023, but so far, it has been nothing but crickets.
Perhaps the second-half of the season will look completely different for Uche, much in the same way that it did last year. Even worse for the Patriots, Uche is playing on an expiring contract with nothing tying him to staying with the team in 2024.
DL Christian Barmore: STUD
Christian Barmore is turning into a star. The defensive lineman is finally healthy, and that has been bad news for opposing offenses.
His three sacks are currently tied for the most on the team, and he also has five pass deflections. His ability to ruin plays in the backfield is more than just getting after the quarterback.
It still feels like Barmore hasn’t reached his ceiling, and he’s already one of the Patriots’ best players.
WR DeVante Parker: DUD
The drop-off for DeVante Parker in the Patriots offense has been one of the biggest surprises of the season. In seven games, he only has 15 receptions for 158 yards and no touchdowns.
It’s no secret that New England is lacking a true No. 1 option at receiver on the outside, but Parker was believed to be the closest alternative. So far this season, six other Patriots players have more receiving yards than Parker.
Given what the team expected him to be, this is one of the biggest disappointments for the team in the 2023 season.
LB Ja'Whaun Bentley: STUD
Ja’Whaun Bentley has big shoes to fill for a franchise that prides itself on churning out some of the best linebackers in the league. It’s a long line of legends Bentley is following, but he has managed to do so quite admirably.
He has been one of the Patriots’ most improved defensive players and currently leads the team with 68 total tackles, three sacks, five tackles for a loss and three pass deflections.
Like Christian Barmore, Bentley can be a foundational piece that keeps New England’s defense relevant for years to come.
WR JuJu Smith-Schuster: DUD
The JuJu Smith-Schuster experiment has failed miserably in New England. It’s obvious at this point that the veteran receiver isn’t 100 percent. He lacks the sort of burst that made him a reliable threat with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs.
Drops have been an issue, and he isn’t beating coverage consistently enough to be a major factor in the passing game. The Patriots obviously expected more when they let their top receiver, Jakobi Meyers, walk out the door, and they signed Smith-Schuster as a replacement.
That move alone has been one of the worst in the Bill Belichick era with the Patriots.
S Kyle Dugger: STUD
It should come as no surprise that Kyle Dugger has been one of the Patriots’ best defenders in the first half of the season. He’s playing in a contract year and trying to prove he’s worthy of a big contract in the offseason.
If the season ended today, he’s already done enough to put himself in a good position to get what he wants in the offseason. The Patriots would be wise to agree on a deal to keep him in New England for the foreseeable future.
Losing both Devin McCourty and Dugger in back-to-back seasons would be devastating to the secondary.
S Jabrill Peppers: STUD
Jabrill Peppers earned my team MVP nod for the first half of the season. That’s how good he’s been for the Patriots so far this year.
His awareness and playmaking abilities have improved dramatically. Whenever there’s a play to be made, he always seems to be the one in position to make something happen.
He has 51 total tackles, six pass deflections, one forced fumble and one interception on the season. It doesn’t matter if he’s needed to come downhill to crash in on a tackle or drop back into coverage. Peppers has been effective in nearly everything he’s been asked to do this season.
WR Kendrick Bourne: STUD
Kendrick Bourne put 2022 completely in the rearview and reverted back to the 2021 version of himself in the Patriots offense this season. That version gave the Patriots their best playmaker at receiver before his season-ending knee injury.
Bourne still leads the team with 37 receptions for 406 receiving yards and four touchdowns. He was on the path to do some really special things in a bad offense.
Losing him for the season made the offense unsalvageable. It also left rookie Demario Douglas on an island facing double coverage.
OT Trent Brown: STUD
The offensive line has been horrendous for the Patriots this season, but that shouldn’t include Trent Brown, who has been one of the best players in the league at his position.
Granted, things haven’t always been great in the run-blocking department, but Brown has been an absolute beast in pass protection. Injuries have derailed him lately, and he’s working hard to get back onto the field.
The Patriots clearly miss him out there as well, especially after seeing quarterback Mac Jones get sacked five times by the Indianapolis Colts in Week 10.
CB Jack Jones: DUD
Being late for a team meeting and performance issues led to the Patriots benching Jack Jones in back-to-back games, before he was ultimately released on waivers.
It was a disappointing end to what started as a promising run for the second-year cornerback. Jones was claimed off waivers by the Las Vegas Raiders, and he’ll be looking to resume his playing career under his former high school coach, Antonio Pierce.
The deep connections there could bring out the best in Jones and get him back on track to playing good football.
LB Jahlani Tavai: STUD
Jahlani Tavai has been one of the most overlooked defensive players in the league this season. He currently has the sixth-highest PFF grade at the linebacker position.
The one area where Tavai’s skills have particularly taken off in is as a coverage linebacker. It’s an area where past Patriots defenses have struggled. Tavai is the type of player at the position that can fly around the field and make the sideline-to-sideline plays New England has been missing.
