Some people (Colin Cowherd) reacted to the Patriots’ embarrassing wild-card loss to the Bills by cowering in fear of Josh Allen and trading Mac Jones.
Jakobi Meyers has a different perspective, one that, in addition to being rooted in reality, is refreshingly optimistic.
The AFC East changing of the guard officially is complete. Buffalo didn’t punt a single time in its last two games against New England and destroyed the Patriots in their playoff matchup. New England now is looking up at multiple teams in the AFC pecking order and might even be the third-best team in its own division, when you consider what the Miami Dolphins have done to them.
But Meyers views the success of other teams as inspiring, rather than discouraging.
“I think one thing, I don’t really like speaking on other teams, but I feel like watching the Bills since I’ve been in the league, they’ve consistently gotten better,” Meyers said Monday during a virtual news conference. “That core group of skill guys and just their offense, it just shows you — it actually gives you hope, you know what I mean? Because we see where they started and see where they are now. We kinda look forward to that, just one day that’ll be us, you know what I mean? One day that’ll be us.
“Our core group is just, being so comfortable playing with each other that we know what each other’s thinking. We know who we want to target. Like, we can just do this and do it together. So, I’m really excited about this group and, like I said, just looking at other teams across the country, it gives us hope.”
New England has a myriad of issues to address during the offseason, including its regression on defense and whatever it was that went wrong during the bye week. But there is young talent for the Patriots to build around, with Mac Jones looking like a potential franchise quarterback. Plus, Bill Belichick will be back next season, and having the best coach in history on your side counts for something.
The Patriots currently aren’t good enough to hang with the Bills. But things change quickly in the NFL, and it’s not unreasonable to think the narrative could be flipped by this time next year.
