Allow me to formally welcome you all to what is hands down, without a doubt, the single worst day of the entire year.
That first Monday back after the holiday break. The halls are undecked, the leftovers
have expired, and all we’re left with are 10-15 extra pounds and a close-up view of the dank, miserable, unwashed booty that is three full months of bleak, cold, grey, football-less winter. Just wake me up when it’s April.
But at least the Patriots won another one. And they’re currently the 2 seed in the AFC, getting ready to host the Chargers on Sunday night. We all get at least one more week of Patriots football before SAD officially descends. So that’s something.
- Other than losing out on the One Seed via that goddam Week 1 loss to the team currently picking first overall in the 2026 NFL Draft, the playoff bracket couldn’t have worked out better for New England. With Buffalo currently at 6, the only way they’ll play New England is if they take out Jacksonville and then Denver before heading to Foxboro in late January. The Patriots will play either a very flawed Steelers team or a very inconsistent Texans team should they take care of business later this week. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
- It’s tough to call a 38-10 drubbing to complete a rare season sweep of Miami a disappointment. The stat lines look great, and Maye closed down shop once again midway through the third quarter. But I don’t know; I’m not a fan of how the Patriots started this one, particularly on defense. Miami’s first two drives had that effortless feel that plagued New England earlier this season, and the concern was always what a competent team would be able to do if the Patriots took a quarter and a half to wake up. Nothing but competent teams from here on out.
- But I don’t want to get negative in what should be a very happy time around these parts. I’m usually not one to do any additional work for the same amount of money, but I couldn’t be happier to know that I have to write at least one more of these Fan Notes this season, and hopefully more. The Patriots have outscored their opponents 80-20 through two weeks, and basically only needed six quarters of football to do that. Bad teams that are tanking be damned, this team has some real momentum heading into the postseason for the first time since maybe 2016. I’m not going to go all team of destiny or anything like that, but man…I don’t know. We’re going to know a whole lot about this team by this time next week.
- I’d be curious to know if some of the trickery we saw yesterday was just to get it out on tape to give teams something else to worry about this January. Between the reverse to Williams, first-quarter flea flicker to Chism, the Stevenson-led Wildcat, a formation that I think saw Pop Douglas lined up at RB…these are all things we didn’t see once during the season, and we may very well never see it again. But it’s out there now.
- I think what I’m most happy about as we close out the season, other than a noted lack of additional injuries, is how the running game is starting to come alive. Few things will keep a postseason campaign going like a strong running attack (thanks again, Sony Michel), and both Mondre and Henderson are running as well as they have all season.
- Not only that, but both backs have been extremely solid in pass protection. Stevenson straight up flipped a guy over on the blitz yesterday, and Maye was able to step up into a clean pocket thanks to several strong Henderson chips.
- “Henderson Chips” would make for a good business venture for TreVeyon once he decides to expand his portfolio.
- It would be very difficult to look at the season numbers, including yesterday, and pick a clear-cut MVP receiver for this team. Every week, a different guy has stepped up, and Maye distributes the ball so well that there are rarely and real standout games. But if I had to give it to someone, it would have to be Hunter Henry. Henry has been the most consistent Patriot for years now, and the level of comfort he has developed with his quarterback is exactly what you want to see. When Maye absolutely needs a play, he’s usually looking to Diggs. But when he’s looking to get the offense going, it’s going to be Henry.
- Though the throw of the day, in my opinion, is the one that got Diggs his 1,000 yard season. Late in the third, Maye stepped up and out of pressure with a wide open Austin Hooper about four yards off the LOS with maybe another five or six of space in front of him – an easy completion. But Maye stared Hooper down to draw double coverage onto him, opening up Diggs on the crosser for 34. It was escaping a collapsing pocket, manipulating the coverage, hitting a man in stride, picking up big yards, and getting his guy over a milestone all wrapped up in one nice, easy-to-understand package. I think the name of the playcall was “The Complete Opposite of the Stranger Things Finale.“
- This also may be the second or third time in 2025 Maye has rolled right, stiff-armed a defender, and either made the play with his legs or hit a man right on the sideline for positive yards. Considering how often they replay that falling down Mahomes incompletion the first time he got blown out in a Super Bowl, I imagine we’ll be seeing this one on plenty of highlight reels.
- Which reminds me: good for everyone for not letting this song infiltrate all of the Drake Maye talk that has been taking place over the past two years. It seemed like a total layup, but you really don’t see it much at all. Huge bullet dodged there.
- I don’t know if this was the best game the offensive line has had all year, but it’s in the conversation. Pushing the pocket, limiting negative runs, creating lanes, and finishing the season with almost 400 yards on the ground through two games. These Jumbo and Tank formations might make up the bulk of the offensive groupings we see this postseason, using Munford as an eligible tackle and Hooper taking up the pull duty.
- I really don’t know what to say about the defense. I mentioned already that it was rough going early on, but then they found their footing, started generating negative plays, and forced Miami into 2023 Patriots territory, ie third and six-plus that they didn’t have the firepower to convert. The offense’s ability to generate early leads puts pressure on teams to play catch-up, and so far only the Bills have been able to answer. Let’s get the big guys back, get Spillane back, get Landry back, then put the women and children to bed and go looking for dinner.
- I wish the NFL would take a page out of professional soccer and update the standings in real time, based on the score as it currently stands. It’s easy to keep track of, and watching teams jumping in and out of various seedings with each score would be a lot of fun.
- I wonder if there has ever been a league MVP whose team finished third in the division.
- Honestly, I don’t understand why anyone cares about the MVP at all. It’s a 32-man race every year, and of those 32 men, there are honestly only about 5 or so who ever get any real consideration. If you aren’t a QB, you have to have an otherworldly season to even be considered for the honor. That said, nobody had Drake Maye in the convo this year. Nobody. Not even close. It was supposed to be a three-way race between Allen, Jackson, and Mahomes again. But two of those guys aren’t in the playoffs and the third is a Wild Card hopeful. And that, my friends, is my own MVP – Most Valuable Post.
- Take some time to enjoy this. Enjoy how wrong everyone was about this team. Hell, enjoy how wrong you were about this team. Maybe someone out there had 14-3, the Two Seed, and people bending over backwards to talk about the schedule in order to prevent Drake Maye from taking home the MVP award – but I doubt it. New England gets to host the last playoff game of Wild Card Weekend, so they’ll know exactly who comes to town if they take care of business. And this all took place in year two of a rebuild.
Bring on the Chargers.
