Pressure is the ultimate double-edged sword.
It can lead to greatness or destruction.
It can create diamonds or literally crush seemingly the strongest of structures.
And in case you haven’t been paying attention, pressure has been growing in Patriot Nation with each successive loss and embarrassing performance.
Now, New England sitting at 1-4 heading toward Sunday’s Week 6 trip to Las Vegas to take on Josh McDaniels’ Patriots West Raiders, seems like a suitable time to run a bit of a sports world pressure test on those doing business these days at Gillette Stadium.
In terms of pressure and building pressure this fall, it can be argued that things are close to reaching some sort of inflection point for the most important members of the Patriots organization. Sure, this sky-is-falling, crushing feeling could be alleviated by a couple impressive wins, beginning this weekend against the less-than-dominant Raiders. But the same could have been said last Sunday afternoon in Foxborough when New England made the mediocre Saints look like world beaters.
Suddenly, arguably the most stable franchise in all of sports from the last two-plus decades feels like it might just be ready to buckle under the all-powerful pressure of losing.
It is with that harsh reality in mind, that a simple question must be asked in these trying times: Which member of the New England organization is under the most pressure right now?
QB Mac Jones: Third-year quarterback Jones has to be the first consideration. The former No. 15 overall pick who enjoyed impressive, playoff-caliber success as a rookie has seen his career take a nosedive over the last year-plus. Much of his 2022 mess of a season – both in terms of performance and comportment – was written off as a result of the “experiment” New England put in place with career defensive coach Matt Patricia running the Patriots offense into the ground.
But a year later, things are even worse for No. 10. Jones is literally scoring more points these days for the opposition off pick-6s and fumbles than he is for his own offense. He’s essentially been the impetus for all four losses this season, including getting benched in favor of lackluster backup Bailey Zappe the last two weeks when his team was blown out by a combined score of 72-3.
Jones doesn’t have a resume to fall back on. Doesn’t have contract in the NFL beyond next season to bring him any long-term stability. Jones’ once-promising career, trending toward franchise QB status and a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars, has bottomed out to the point where he might be lucky to latch on to journeyman backup status moving forward. As captain and center David Andrews alluded to his week, quarterbacks often get more praise and more blame than they deserve. Jones has had his struggles for sure, but he’s also the point man of an offense with a bad line, receivers who can’t get open with any consistency and a running game that’s sputtered, at best.
Head coach Bill Belichick: Considered the greatest head coach of all time by many, and thought to be within striking distance of Don Shula’s win record, Belichick is suddenly in the cross hairs of losing and overall team dysfunction. Three-plus years after he parted ways with Tom Brady, Belichick’s Patriots are bottoming out and appear rudderless. Sure they have cap space to spend next spring and at this point are trending toward a top-5 draft pick, but many are wondering very much aloud if Belichick will even be around for the offseason team-building process.
On one hand, Belichick’s legacy is bulletproof. He will always have his six Super Bowl rings and GOAT-ish reputation. But, his failure to win a playoff game post-Brady and the way the team has cratered in recent weeks – the 38-3 loss in Dallas was the worst of Belichick’s career, while last Sunday’s 34-0 defeat was the worst home shutout in Patriots franchise history – has the 71-year-old’s current capabilities understandably in question. As hard as it is to envision Belichick being let go midseason from the team he’s led to so much success for two-plus decades, it’s now getting harder and harder to envision him being given yet another year at the helm of ship that’s sinking fast.
Owner Robert Kraft: While Kraft is the least visible of the faces of the Patriots franchise these days, not having to face the fans through the media each and every week like his scuffling coach and quarterback, he certainly has to be feeling the pressure of losing unlike any other time in his ownership. It’s hard to imagine that the ugly loss to the Cowboys in Jerry Jones’ world sat well with Kraft. Or that he reacted well to seeing fans leave early a week ago in his recently refurbished home stadium.
Kraft has been very vocal in recent offseasons about getting back to winning, getting back to the playoffs and expecting his team to be a contender. None of that has come to fruition for a team that lacks star power or even entertainment value at this point.
The view from the ownership level is an ugly one right now.
Any coach not named Bill Belichick probably would have been fired after last season’s dysfunction with the decisions on the coaching staff.
Any coach not named Bill Belichick might have been fired after consecutive “worst ever” losses to that painful combined tune of 72-3.
But the coach of the Patriots is named Bill Belichick. He does have as much cache and productive history as any that’s ever walked an NFL sideline, even if his age is showing and he fields what appears to be a poorly-coached team on a weekly basis.
While Jones and Belichick are focused simply on winning on the field, Kraft has to focus both on winning on the field but also winning in the business landscape. The long term stability of his franchise has to be a consideration at a time when fans’ loyalty and financial investment can be fleeting.
So which member of the Patriots organization has the most pressure on them right now? While all of them is the easy and correct answer, a very unofficial “X” poll put the bull’s-eye squarely on Belichick with 60-percent of respondents saying he was currently under the most pressure. That was followed by 30-percent for Jones, just 8 percent for Kraft and 2 percent for Other.
The pressure is building in New England. Not the kind that creates diamonds, but the type that bursts pipes. More specifically, the kind that can destroy football teams.
Pressure on Jones. Pressure on Belichick. And pressure like he’s never dealt with before on Kraft.
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