From Foxboro To Vegas, Last Week Was Brutal For ‘The Patriot Way’

For two decades, the "Patriot Way" became like a religion for people who eat, sleep and breathe football. Its unlikely church, nestled in quiet Foxboro, Mass., drew worshipers from New England and beyond.

These days, there aren't many people left who believe in it. And, someday, we might look back at last week as the point of no return.

It started in Las Vegas, the Patriots' de facto West Coast outpost, where the Raiders fired three former Bill Belichick lieutenants -- Josh McDaniels, Dave Ziegler and Mick Lombardi -- in what felt like a total rebuking of the "Patriot Way." In the aftermath, we learned Vegas players became disillusioned with the overbearing, zero-tolerance culture created by McDaniels, who learned everything he knows from Belichick. The Patriots reportedly even came up during a full-team, come-to-Jesus meeting a few days before the firings, and McDaniels defended his former employer -- to his embarrassment.

In New England, the following days saw the Patriots stunningly do nothing at the trade deadline despite facing near-impossible playoff odds. A national NFL writer for the Washington Post spent a few afternoons at Gillette Stadium and left after writing the only thing one reasonably could write after being around the team: a hit piece. The top journalistic institution in town, The Boston Globe, ran sourced reporting about Robert Kraft eyeing potential replacements for Belichick. Along the way, Belichick scowled and snorted his way through each media availability.

And then Sunday happened.

The week closed with the Patriots dropping to 2-7 after a humiliating home loss to the lowly Washington Commanders, who traded two of their best players at the deadline. FOX cameras captured Jonathan Kraft, seated next to his father, basically mocking Robert's once-proud franchise, and for good reason.

Even last season, with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge running the offense, New England was able to rack up eight wins against the dregs of the NFL. This season, the Patriots can't even protect home field against a bad team that's trying to tank with a middling young quarterback. The six banners in the stadium and six trophies in the franchise Hall of Fame truly are the final vestiges of the dynasty years.

By the time everyone sulked out of Gillette Stadium, Jack Jones and J.C. Jackson both had declined to speak with reporters about their obvious benchings. Jones even used social media essentially to rip the team while making light of his legal issues. Oh, and Mac Jones, after another performance that made it clear he isn't franchise-quarterback material, took a dig at a Commanders rookie and kinda-sorta admitted to losing faith in the Patriots' system.

Back in Vegas, the Raiders blew out the New York Giants in their first game without McDaniels. Raiders players, looking like they'd just won a Super Bowl, celebrated by smoking cigars in the locker room, with owner Mark Davis happily participating.

He wasn't quite at Jim Irsay's level, but he was vibing, and his team basically was dancing on the grave of the "Patriot Way."

The Raiders were smoking celebratory cigars after their first win without Josh McDaniels 💨

Mark Davis was loving it 😂

🎥 ig/maxxcrosby pic.twitter.com/3zlvqGVm8n

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) November 6, 2023

For good measure, this week started with ESPN talking heads excoriating the Patriots and Belichick getting asked whether he'll be coaching for his job this Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts.

Enjoy that trip to Germany, fellas.

Obviously, it's easy to pile on when things aren't going well. Fans, players, coaches and executives watched New England dominate the NFL landscape for 20 years while winning six Super Bowls. Belichick, Kraft and Tom Brady made the rest of the league look stupid. People have been waiting for this moment, and now they're gladly kicking the Patriots while they're down.

But that doesn't mean they're wrong.

Two things can be true. What New England accomplished during the dynasty years was remarkable and never will be duplicated; Belichick and Brady are the greatest at their respective jobs in NFL history. At the same time, it's fair to wonder whether the "Patriot Way" -- whatever it is -- had anything to do with it.

At the very least, it's failing its final test. Just because it worked for 20 years doesn't mean it stood the test of time. We needed to know how it would hold up once the franchise sunk into mediocrity -- or worse. We needed to know whether it could help a franchise go from worst to first, not just keep it in first all the time.

Would players still be willing to put in that extra hard work without the proof of concept? Would pending free agents start making business decisions during games? Would players and coaches start losing trust in each other? Would Belichick command the same respect without being able to point to the scoreboard? Would his bargain-bin approach to roster building still work without a legendary quarterback under center? Could over-investing in defense and special teams still help him win on the margins in an era of high-flying offense?

So far, the results aren't good.

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The locker room feels like a group that's resigned to its fate and is losing belief in what it's being taught, with the starting quarterback setting the tone. The barrage of missed tackles indicates at best poor coaching and at worst poor effort. Multiple players now have publicly complained about playing time. New England, almost three years removed from a wild free agency spending spree, looks utterly talent-deficient. Its 2022 draft class looks worse by the day. The defense is regressing, and the special teams unit is the worst in the league.

So, is the 'Patriot Way' really what it always was cracked up to be? Or was it a house of cards that would crumble the moment the No. 12 card got pulled? At this point, you have to go with the latter.

The mask is off, and what's underneath isn't pretty for anyone to look at.