New England Patriots’ Blowout Playoff Loss Is For The Best Moving Forward

The New England Patriots suffered their most embarrassing loss of the Bill Belichick era in their 47-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills in the opening round of the playoffs.

Usually following a loss, you’re able to derive positives from the performance. Except in the Patriots’ case, there were none.

Despite knocking off Buffalo on this very field in Week 13 in a performance for the ages — the Patriots previously won despite throwing the ball just three times — they couldn’t come close to replicating that dominance. In fact, they weren’t competitive from the very beginning of the game.

The Bills became the first team in NFL history — yes, you read that right — to pitch a “perfect” game. They didn’t punt, they didn’t kick a field goal and they didn’t turn the ball over a single time during their 30-point victory over their hated rivals.

Buffalo scored touchdowns on its first seven offensive drives (only the second team in NFL history to do so in the Super Bowl era) and handed the Patriots their second-worst margin of defeat during the Belichick era.

And despite the sting, the humiliation and the ensuing offseason of thinking about this loss, this defeat is for the best moving forward.

The 2021 Patriots were a success. They overachieved with a rookie quarterback in Mac Jones and finally found the winning formula again after a disastrous 7-9 season last year in the first season of the post-Tom Brady era.

But this is a squad that had been exposed in recent weeks. The Patriots lost back-to-back games to the Indianapolis Colts and Bills towards the end of the season before falling to the playoff-less Miami Dolphins in Week 18.

They had lost three of their last four games and entered the playoffs regressing — not progressing.

Their franchise quarterback was at the forefront of the regression, throwing five touchdowns against his eight turnovers in the Patriots’ four most recent losses — all versus teams with winning records.

As much of a success as this season was, the Patriots took full advantage of their weak schedule. Only two of their wins were versus playoff teams and just three came against teams with winning records.

Once Jones started committing turnovers and the Patriots couldn’t rely on their run-dominant, clock-eating offensive approach, the defense started to crack. Despite ranking second in the league in points allowed, the unit looked anything but an elite defense over the final five games of the season, allowing 30.0 points per game.

For perspective, the New York Jets had the worst defense in the league over the course of the season, allowing 29.6 points per game. Over the last three games of the regular season, the Patriots’ 30.0 points allowed per game was the third-worst mark in the league.

Entering the 2022 offseason, the Patriots will have a decent amount of cap space at $27 million. The most important part of the offseason will be finding a way to acquire a star receiver to offset the pressure on Jones. The defense will also need a re-branding of sorts, with New England likely needing to get a little younger and more athletic at the linebacker spots.

The Patriots’ run defense — a weakness all season long, ranking 22nd in rushing yards allowed and 25th in yards allowed per attempt — was gashed by a Bills rushing attack spearheaded by Devin Singletary (81 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 5.1 yards per carry).

Yes, the same Singletary who ranked 44th among 61 qualifying running backs in offensive grade (65.1 grade), according to Pro Football Focus.

Relying less on aging linebackers in Dont’a Hightower (13.5% missed tackle percentage, second-worst mark on the team) and Kyle Van Noy is something the Patriots desperately need to address.

And this is why this defeat — as stinging as it may be — is for the best: the Patriots are no longer operating under the false belief they’re good enough to win a Super Bowl.

New England needs to upgrade its roster at key positions. Great coaching and executing a game plan to perfection while keeping turnovers to a minimum can only mask the flaws on your roster for so long.

The Patriots were able to accomplish this during the first three months of the season. They weren’t able to sustain it when teams started playing rougher and more desperate during the last month of the season.

The 2022 Patriots will be better. Belichick will upgrade the talent on the roster, shed the aging players and Jones will improve with a year of valuable experience under his belt.

“Losing terrible, none of us wanted to do that tonight,” Jones said. “But there’s nothing we can do about it. There’s a lot to look forward to and be positive about and learn from. There’s nothing to hang our heads on. I’m super-proud of the people who have helped me grow as a person – coaches, players, support staff and all that. There’s a lot to look back on and just learn. There’s nothing to feel sorry about. It’s just a learning experience to get better for next year.”

Matthew Slater — the team’s longest-tenured player at 14 seasons — defended the 23-year-old quarterback following the loss.

“I know my kids and I will be watching him for a long time to come,” Slater said. “I’m excited about where this organization is going to be in the future with him; it’s certainly been an honor for me to play alongside him and see him grow over the course of the year. Patriots Nation, they should be excited about having No. 10 as a quarterback.”

We may not be used to seeing the Patriots so vulnerable. Such is the case when you have the luxury of Brady taking snaps for two decades.

But don’t fret, the 2022 Patriots will be back.

And they’ll be better than they were this season.