Patriots

Bill Belichick's team is learning from its losses and improving every week.

Patriots receiver Nelson Agholor signals first down after his 44-yard reception during Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Chargers. Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe

COMMENTARY

The New England Patriots are a .500 team and I’m buying in. 

Granted, there are six teams with better records than the 4-4 Patriots in the AFC, 12 in the entire NFL. In fact, if the 2021 season ended today, New England would still be on the outside looking in at the playoff field of teams, squeezed out by the very same Chargers team they were able to beat in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon. 

Talk to me in a month and we’ll discuss how that has all changed. 

That doesn’t mean that I’m putting too much into Sunday’s 27-24 win and suddenly see the Patriots running the table to finish 13-4. It doesn’t even mean I see them as legitimate Super Bowl contenders. 

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But based on what we’ve seen from this team over the first eight weeks, I’m willing to at least commit to one truth. 

This team can beat anybody. 

The fact that they haven’t beaten everybody doesn’t lessen that argument. Even as of a few days ago, the fact that they’d only beat the Jets and Texans, teams that had two wins to their names, seemed to fly in the face of their ability. Nor should we start treating the Chargers as if they’re the second-coming of the 2007 Patriots. 

But think about where this team was in Week 1. Seven weeks later, they’ve grown into a competitive unit that has completely transformed how we look at the remainder of the schedule. You could argue that, heading into this weekend’s game at the Carolina Panthers, the Patriots could be 7-1. They should have beaten the Cowboys. Should have beaten the Buccaneers. They shouldn’t be the only team yet to lose to the lowly Dolphins. 

But the team that came up a fumble short against Miami wouldn’t have been able to manage what it did in Los Angeles Sunday. The growing pains we watched in the season opener, then in the first showdown against the Jets and the confusing approach to the New Orleans Saints, are starting to dissipate. What we’re seemingly left with is a group whose confidence and ability is beginning to match its peers in the NFL. 

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It’s little wonder that Bill Belichick has said how much he enjoys coaching this team. It has his fingerprints all over it. 

Despite the penalties and periodic incompetence in the red zone, how much satisfaction must the coach have taken from Sunday, particularly seeing how quarterback Mac Jones (18 for 35, zero touchdowns) had the worst showing of his professional career. This was the sort of team effort that makes Belichick giddy, the kind of game where he doesn’t have to snarl while answering questions solely about his quarterback. It was a game where he could point to his defense’s presence in confusing sophomore Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, and laying praise at the feet of Adrian Phillips, whose pick-six helped seal the increasing perception of his team. 

Yes, the Patriots have holes in the secondary, offensive line, and at wide receiver. Jalen Mills doesn’t exactly breed confidence with his out-of-position blunders. Too much Brandon Bolden, you cry, all as it seems Josh McDaniels can’t seem to find the napkin upon which he jotted down his red zone gameplan. 

But things are indeed coming together, and instead of denouncing losses to the Cowboys and Bucs as “moral victories,” perhaps we should take them for what they really were; defeats from which the Patriots were able to learn a thing or two about who they might be moving forward. 

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Teams that aren’t ready will simply have another handful of moral victories to stew over. 

Teams that just might have the pieces in place manage to accomplish what these Patriots have over the last two weeks, taking those learning curves and putting them into a greater use. 

 Look at the rest of the schedule, and suddenly it seems less overwhelming than it did a fortnight ago. The Patriots can beat the Panthers, Browns, Falcons, and Jaguars. They’ve proven they can go toe-to-toe with the likes of Dallas and Tampa, which means they can probably give the same sort of effort against the Titans and Colts. They should be able to enact revenge on the Dolphins, even if the season finale in Miami doesn’t come with a history of December success. 

Then there are the 5-2 Buffalo Bills, leading the AFC East and, by some accounts, considered to be the best team in the conference. Then again, that’s also a label that the Bengals held before losing to the two-win Jets over the weekend. Who is really supposed to be considered the best team in the NFL when goblins are roaming neighborhood streets thirsting for sugar? 

A couple of weeks ago, we might have predicted a couple of ‘Ls’ for the two games against Buffalo. Today? These Patriots still have another month to go before facing their divisional rivals. 

Based on how we’ve watched them mature over the first two months, how much better will they be then? 

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We saw a glimpse of that on Sunday against the Chargers, as convincing a win as we’ve seen since last season’s takedown of the Baltimore Ravens. Yet, that was a but flash in the emotionless 2020 season, a victory that led to nothing, with a lack of personnel to pull it out of its demise. 

Sunday wasn’t such a jewel in the rough. The Patriots grew into this win over the Chargers.

That doesn’t necessarily give them a seat at the big boy table quite yet, but it does change the prognosis quite a bit. 

The Patriots won’t beat everybody, but they’ve already proven that they can. 

That’s enough for me to start looking at this team differently than just a few short weeks ago.