Patriots’ 0-2 begin hints extra of 2000 than rebounding with a Tremendous Bowl title

Patriots

This 0-2 begin has the potential to devolve into one thing a lot worse. 

If it’s a feel-good twist you’re after, then sure, the final time the New England Patriots opened a season 0-2 was 2001, a notation that comes with an enormous ol’ “however” so as to gasoline the form of false hope that greatest markets an inferior product. In spite of everything — wink-nudge-wink — we  all know what occurred after that…

If we actually wish to use historical past to assist paint an image for current days, then let’s as a substitute use this footnote: The final time the New England Patriots misplaced their first two house video games to begin a season was 2000, Invoice Belichick’s first marketing campaign as New England head coach. 

These Patriots wound up 5-11.

Now, which group do you suppose is the higher comp for the Patriots we’ve watched so far this month? 

Regardless of the tease that they might have been one inbounds foot away from beating the defending NFC champs in Week 1, what most Patriot followers got here to appreciate by the top of Week 2 was that their preseason fears had come house to roost. 

This group stinks. 

On the intense facet, it’s in good firm. The Cincinnati Bengals, a group that some regard as probably the most proficient within the NFL, are additionally 0-2. It’s a sluggish begin however keep in mind, the Bengals had been additionally winless after two weeks final season. They solely made it to the AFC Championship recreation from there, changing into the one group to perform that feat because the NFL went to seven playoff groups in 2020. 

Additionally 0-2 heading into Monday evening’s doubleheader (and potential for the Steelers and Panthers to affix the loser crowd): the always-underwhelming Chargers, the lipstick on a pig circus in Denver, the shortcomings of the Vikings below Kirk Cousins (a QB some contemplate Mac Jones’s very best comparative ceiling), a franchise that after employed Jack Easterby, the Arizona Cardinals (a group so unhealthy that it simply put Daniel Jones in rarefied firm), and the Chicago Bears, which, sufficient mentioned. 

Don’t use the Bengals and 2001. These are their comps. 

Higher but, you need to go to the depths of Patriot historical past to recall the final time the group started a season 0-2 with each losses coming at house. It final occurred in 1975,  a yr the Patriots went 3-11 below rookie quarterback Steve Grogan. It additionally occurred two seasons prior, when the group wound up 5-9. Neither notation is an effective signal for Mac Jones and Co. 

Neither is this: in response to the AP, since 1990, solely 31 of the 270 golf equipment (11.5 p.c) that started a season 0-2 superior to the playoffs. The Sporting Information goes again to the NFL merger in 1970 to notice that solely 39 of 405 NFL groups (9.6 p.c) which misplaced their first two video games proceeded to make the playoffs. 

ESPN’s Invoice Barnwell writes, “If a group loses once more and drops to 0-3, although, determined turns into hopeless. Since 2002, 99 groups have began 0-3. Simply a kind of groups (the 2018 Texans) has made it to the playoffs.” 

In different phrases, when you’re a Patriot fan holding out hope for the playoffs, both you haven’t been watching or the realism of the scenario hasn’t fairly settled in; This 0-2 begin has the potential to devolve into one thing a lot worse. 

Even with out Aaron Rodgers, the Jets — up subsequent on the schedule, Sunday within the Meadowlands — are not any pushover, not when you think about the lackluster charcuterie board of expertise surrounding Jones on offense going up towards one of many league’s high defenses in New York. Week 4 guarantees what appears to be like like a protection for the ages when the Patriots journey to Dallas. They might realistically not be capable of declare win No. 1 till Oct. 8 towards the New Orleans Saints. That is the place we’re at; the six-time Lombardi Trophy-winning Patriots are going to be dumpster diving for wins. 

As a result of 0-2 begins have methods of festering, even on good-to-decent groups. Subsequent factor , snow begins falling, gamers can’t make it to their Jetsonmobiles, and there’s a mutiny on the horizon. Benching rookie Demario Douglas, one in every of Sunday evening’s offensive highlights within the early going, as a result of top-of-the-line defenders in the whole recreation (Bradley Chubb) made a pleasant play to jar a ball unfastened, may not ship the message Invoice thinks it does. Or, at very least, it doesn’t ship the identical message in a 2023 NFL that it may need in a day and age that after additionally employed fullbacks. 

To be honest, regardless of the doom-and-gloom that populates above, an 0-2 begin isn’t what it as soon as was, even solely three years in the past. With the arrival of the seven-team playoff format in 2020, extra groups than ever have the chance to rebound and make one thing out of their season. That’s why for the likes of the Bengals, possibly the Vikings, not profitable both of the primary two video games isn’t a demise knell. And if the Texans can do it then, properly…

For the Patriots, the 0-2 begin is a precursor to a season of laborious actuality. Like one that features conversations about Caleb Williams and Bo Nix, throttling your group into the identical QB vortex you’ve laughed at your rivals for locating themselves in.

So, overlook about 2001. This group is extra just like the one from a yr earlier. And when you’re trying forward, there’s this: the final time the Patriots began a season 0-4 was that very same 2000 season, Belichick’s first in New England. 

It may occur once more — 23 years later — in what would possibly begin trying increasingly more like Belichick’s last soccer go-round.