Allow me to formally welcome you all to what is hands down, without a doubt, the single worst day of the entire year.
That first Monday back after the holiday break. The halls are undecked, the leftovers have expired, and all we’re left with are 10-15 extra pounds and a close-up view of the dank, miserable, unwashed booty that is three full months of bleak, cold, grey, football-less winter. Just wake me up when it’s April.
But at least the Patriots won another one. And they’re currently the 2 seed in the AFC, getting ready to host the Chargers on Sunday night. We all get at least one more week of Patriots football before SAD officially descends. So that’s something.
- Other than losing out on the One Seed via that goddam Week 1 loss to the team currently picking first overall in the 2026 NFL Draft, the playoff bracket couldn’t have worked out better for New England. With Buffalo currently at 6, the only way they’ll play New England is if they take out Jacksonville and then Denver before heading to Foxboro in late January. The Patriots will play either a very flawed Steelers team or a very inconsistent Texans team should they take care of business later this week. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
- It’s tough to call a 38-10 drubbing to complete a rare season sweep of Miami a disappointment. The stat lines look great, and Maye closed down shop once again well before the game ended. But I don’t know; I’m not a fan of how the Patriots started this one, particularly on defense. Miami’s first two drives had that effortless feel that plagued New England earlier this season, and the concern was always what a competent team would be able to do if the Patriots took a quarter and a half to wake up. Nothing but competent teams from here on out.
- But I don’t want to get negative in what should be a very happy time around these parts. I’m usually not one to do any additional work for the same amount of money, but I couldn’t be happier to know that I have to write at least one more of these Fan Notes this season, and hopefully more. The Patriots have outscored their opponents 80-20 through two weeks, and basically only needed six quarters of football to do that. Bad teams that are tanking be damned, this team has some real momentum heading into the postseason for the first time since maybe 2016. I’m not going to go all team of destiny or anything like that, but man…I don’t know. We’re going to know a whole lot about this team by this time next week.
- I’d be curious to know if some of the trickery we saw yesterday was just to get it out on tape to give teams something else to worry about this January. Between the reverse to Williams, first-quarter flea flicker to Chism, the Stevenson-led Wildcat,...
Pats Pulpit
