The New England Patriots Don't Have an Identity Right Now
· Yahoo Sports
There is the team we were told the New England Patriots were going to be this year. They're the reigning AFC Champions—a quarterback poised for greatness in his third year. A head coach still looking to build a strong program and a roster supposedly built to sustain last year's success.
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Then there’s the team we have seen on the field for the last few weeks. A team playing like it was nowhere close to the playoffs last season—a quarterback showing major signs of regression in year three. A head coach whose vision for the team he's guiding carries uncertainty and a roster with slight blips on the radar of success, but not enough to build a winning culture.
After three games, the question now arises: do the Patriots actually have an identity this season? Last season, they prided themselves on a tough-minded approach and emphasized mutual loyalty and accountability between the coach and players.
They had an offense built around creative schemes to help Drake Maye and a defense built around strong man-to-man coverage and in-your-face blitz packages to beat up opposing teams.
The Jacksonville Jaguars game exploited this narrative. They had a sharper game plan that adapted when things went wrong for a brief moment and always had an answer for whatever the Patriots threw at them, both offensively and defensively.
The Patriots never evolved beyond that. They couldn't finish drives and couldn't dictate coverage on defense, and once the Jaguars pulled away, the Patriots had nothing to fall back on.
Jacksonville exposed the unevenness of the team's identity, and now a trip to Buffalo could make things worse. Many are already putting the Patriots at a 1-3 record because of how efficient the Buffalo Bills are right now. Sure, the Bills might have this in the bag, but could the Patriots show signs of hope even in a potential loss on Sunday?
Here's the thing: the Patriots don't need to beat the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. They need to show they can impose something on a good opponent. This poses some questions. What is the thing Buffalo has stopped? What does New England lean on when the first plan doesn't work? What does it simplify when the game gets complicated?
Those questions matter more than a win in Buffalo on Sunday. Because an identity isn't what a team says it wants to be. It's what remains when the opponent takes away what you wanted to do.
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