The New England Patriots have not looked like an unstoppable juggernaut through the first six weeks of the 2017 NFL season. Far from it, really.
They already have lost twice — equaling their total from all of last season — and three of their four wins have come by seven points or fewer. Though 4-2 certainly is a respectable record, especially given the wild unpredictability that has defined this season, the Patriots’ start feels a bit underwhelming after the preseason hype this team received.
Bill Belichick believes that hype was unfair.
During a conference call the morning after New England edged the New York Jets 24-17 on Sunday, the Patriots coach concluded a nearly seven-minute-long dissertation about weekly game plan tweaks by saying it’s “incomprehensible” to believe that a team that appeared in a Super Bowl — as the Patriots did last season — would immediately continue playing at the same high level when it began the following season.
“It’s incomprehensible to me how anybody can think that a team that’s practiced for six months and played 19 regular-season and postseason games and had triple-digit practices, five months later, after not playing a game, after having a fraction of that type of experience, could be anywhere close to the level of execution that they were five months before that after all the things that I just listed,” Belichick said.
“I mean, it’s impossible, in my view. So each year, you start all over again. You start that process all over again. You build your team over the course of the year — through practice repetition, through preseason to regular-season games, through the evolving of your scheme. That’s why each year’s different and unique. But I understand I’m in the minority, and most other people don’t see it that way, which is OK. But that’s how I see it.”
The Patriots dropped their season-opener to the Kansas City Chiefs, lost to the Carolina Panthers on a last-second field goal in Week 4 and survived scares against the Houston Texans, Tampa Buccaneers and Jets. Their only dominating performance came in Week 2, when they scored a 36-20 road win over the New Orleans Saints.
Thumbnail photo via Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports Images
