The biased optimist New England Patriots fan in me will always have faith in this team, and will have their back through thick, and thin.

The unbiased analyst in me unfortunately has to be brutally honest. This ain’t our year.

The Pats May catch lightning in a bottle and become the underdog to beat. It ain’t the first time they’ve played in the Wild Card Round should it come to that. I honestly don’t know how far we’ll make it in the playoffs, but our team doesn’t look good.

No one wants to hear it, but this ain’t the team that normally cleans house in December. Losses aren’t out of the realm of a typical Pats season. The problem is that we’re clearly in some slump that is costing us seeding. I’m used to these kinds of back-to-back losses during the beginning of the season when the roster is fresh, and we’re trying to figure everything out.

We’re making incredibly uncharacteristic mistakes. Julian Edelman and Josh Gordon are dropping passes they catch automatically. Our defense is getting bent over a table by running backs. Our defense at times is like an obese mall cop trying to subdue a Kenyan shoplifter who does 5 minute miles.

I’m not ruling them out, but they’re not giving me reasons to turn a blind eye to their poor performance. Everything that hurt us in Miami never got fixed in time for this game. If the Pats turn this around, and they upset the higher seeds then I’ll be first to admit I sounded the alarm too soon. We look atrocious right now.

The biased optimist will always have faith, but I gotta be honest. The way this team is right now just doesn’t give me confidence. I kept telling myself after weeks two and three that we were going to get it together and that we’d be back to normal in no time. We’ve had a few good wins, but I just never saw the cohesiveness, or the consistency needed to get a good record.

I don’t know what happens from here. A part of me is hopeful for some magic turn around, but I’m also slowly, yet painfully making peace with the fact that maybe this just isn’t our year. If we fail to make a dent in the playoffs, then this maybe the wake up call this team needs to really get their shit together. Until then, whatever happens going forward is really up to them.

 

Flemmings Beaubrun is an avid gamer and lover of music. When not working, Flemmings likes to spend his time whipping up dank beats for the masses. He also spends his weekends thrift shopping for rare video games and obscure electronics. Other times he’s in front of a TV with a giant bowl of cereal enjoying shows from the 90s.