Patriots Veteran Reveals Source Of Team Tension In 2023 Season

The Patriots’ 2023 season was a mess, but it would have been disastrously horrific if it weren’t for one of New England’s units.

The defense was the lone bright spot for the Patriots, who suffered six losses in which they allowed 21 points or less. Three of those defeats, which happened to occur in consecutive weeks, saw the opposition come out on top despite scoring 10 points or fewer.

All the while, New England’s offense put forth dud after dud with a group that significantly lacked high-end talent. And according to veteran defensive back Jonathan Jones, tension developed between the Patriots offense and defense as the units went in opposite directions.

“I think the division was something you could see was starting to happen,” Jones told The Boston Globe’s Nicole Yang. “Something you never want to happen is offense versus defense, where the defense is like, ‘Well, we’re doing our job,’ because, one, that still doesn’t win us games and two, that doesn’t help the locker room.”

Time will tell if the gap within the Patriots is diminished in 2024. For the offense, improvement must start with finding a serviceable quarterback, which New England could target with the No. 3 overall pick in the upcoming draft. Of course, Jerod Mayo and company will need to surround any signal-caller with proper talent if the Patriots are going to keep pace offensively with the league’s best.

All told, it’s shaping up to be a very busy offseason in Foxboro, Mass.