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Remember the days when Bill Belichick's Patriots would strike fear into the hearts of elite quarterbacks?
Ah, those were good times.
New England has 17 victories since Mac Jones took over as the franchise quarterback in 2021, and the vast majority of them have come against inferior opposing signal-callers. The latest example was Monday night's 27-13 win over the Arizona Cardinals, who were forced to insert career backup Colt McCoy into the game after superstar Kyler Murray suffered a season-ending ACL tear on the third play of the night.
Of course, that says more about the regression of the Patriots' once-reliable defense than it does about Jones, but it also speaks to the offense's inability to outscore great opponents with its still-young quarterback at the helm. Basically, the Jones-era Patriots are a middling outfit that beats up on bad teams but usually comes up short against better competition.
Check out this unimpressive list of quarterbacks that New England has beaten over the last two seasons:
2021
Zach Wilson (terrible rookie)
Davis Mills (meh rookie)
Mike White (replaced injured Wilson)
Justin Herbert (legit)
Sam Darnold (bad; clearly hurt during the game)
Baker Mayfield (bad)
Matt Ryan (washed up)
Ryan Tannehill (bad; without Julio Jones, A.J. Brown and Derrick Henry)
Josh Allen (wind game)
Trevor Lawrence (rookie; still screwed up by Urban Meyer)
2022
Mitch Trubisky (flat-out bad)
Jared Goff (average but always terrible against Belichick)
Jacoby Brissett (career backup)
Zach Wilson (incompetent)
Sam Ehlinger (rookie; should be in CFL)
Zach Wilson (still incompetent)
Colt McCoy (career backup)
(Note: Bailey Zappe played quarterback for the Patriots against Goff and Brissett.)
And here are the quarterbacks the Patriots have lost to since the start of the 2021 season
2021
Tua Tagovailoa (twice)
Jameis Winston
Tom Brady
Dak Prescott
Carson Wentz
Josh Allen (twice)
2022
Tua Tagovailoa
Lamar Jackson
Aaron Rodgers
Justin Fields
Kirk Cousins
Josh Allen
The lists from 2020, when Cam Newton was at quarterback, and 2019, when Tom Brady had one foot out the door, aren't much better. That said, the Patriots in 2020 did beat Jackson (in a rainstorm), Murray and then-rookie Herbert, and 2019 included wins against Prescott (also in a rainstorm) and Ben Roethlisberger. So, there were at least a few quality victories.
Obviously, not every successful season includes games against great quarterbacks. The Patriots don't make their own schedule nor do they control when opposing players suffer injuries. But the 2018 campaign alone included wins against Patrick Mahomes (twice), Andrew Luck, Rodgers, Cousins and Philip Rivers -- and New England wasn't even that good for much of the season.
The Patriots in recent years have proven capable of winning a relatively decent amount of games and still are capable of embarrassing subpar teams. Belichick might've lost his fastball, but he still knows how to make bad head coaches and quarterbacks look especially foolish.
However, at some point, New England must beat elite quarterbacks if it wants to go anywhere. And it'll get a few more opportunities this season, with games against Joe Burrow, Tagovailoa (who's 4-0 against Belichick) and Allen still on deck.
