The meaningful portion of the Patriots 2020 season ended Sunday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium.
New England’s so-called “path” to the playoffs detoured into a drowning demise in the Atlantic Ocean off of south Florida as the Patriots defense was literally run over in a 22-12 loss to the Dolphins.
Yup, one of the NFL’s worst rushing “attacks” churned out 250 yards and three touchdowns on the ground on their own path to victory.
To quote the great Porky Pig, “That’s all, folks!”
Bill Belichick’s team will now miss the postseason for the first time since 2008.
New England will fail to have a winning record for the first time since 2000, a 5-11 campaign in Belichick’s first fall running the show in Foxborough.
In terms of the tangible goals, all is lost for the now 6-8 Patriots.
“Oh it sucks,” Patriots captain Devin McCourty said. “But it is what it is. It’s the reality of the situation.”
But that doesn’t mean all has to be lost and given up on in the final two weeks of action against AFC East foes at Gillette Stadium.
Some – yup, me! – had argued that the winning culture in Foxborough wouldn’t allow Belichick to make a change at the most important position in all of sports with even a sliver of postseason hope remaining, even with Cam Newton playing the quarterback position at an alarmingly ugly level.
Well, that’s not an issue anymore.
Now, just the way Belichick rightfully acknowledged that blowouts in a recent two-game trip through L.A. were realistically over – one a dominating win over the Chargers the other a dismal demolition at the hands of the Rams – by inserting Jarrett Stidham at quarterback with time still on the clock, the coach can do the same with what is now essentially mop-up time left on the season.
Plenty of outsiders – yup, me! – think it is time for the once presumed Tom Brady heir Stidham to get the starting nod at quarterback over the final two weeks against the AFC East division champion Bills and doormat Jets.
Find out what Stidham has. See what he can do. Figure out if he’s part of the future or part of the many offseason changes that need to be dealt with in the coming months. Collect intel the way you might with a would-be draft prospect. Put it on tape. Take notes.
The tangible goals of the season are lost. But the intangible value of getting Stidham 100-plus live reps in real game action over the next couple weeks might just bring value to what is otherwise essentially 120 meaningless minutes of fruitless football.
And Belichick may in fact have actually left the door open ever so slightly for a change in his postgame comments after his team’s latest listless loss.
Remember, less than two weeks earlier after getting blown out in L.A., Belichick was Mr. “Cam is our quarterback.”
But after getting outplayed by first-round QB Tua Tagovailoa – the first rookie starter to beat the Patriots since the Jets’ Geno Smith in 2013 – and outcoached by former assistant Brian Flores for the second time in as many Decembers, Belichick was asked if the most recent failure changes his message to his team at all moving forward with the playoffs off the table.
“No, not too much,” Belichick said.
But maybe some? Like the message as to who will be starting under center for example? Could it finally be Stidham’s time?
Oh, and that idea of undermining the winning culture built over two decades or “losing the locker room,” it certainly doesn’t sound like one of New England’s true longtime leaders sees that as a concern one way or the other.
“I don’t even have a comment towards that,” McCourty said, sounding prepared for personnel changes of all kinds in the coming weeks. “Whoever they put out there, obviously all across the board, is who they put out there.
We all have a job to go out there and compete. So whoever they put out at any position, we’ll go out there and play. Like I said, when you are not in the playoffs things change. And if things change, shoot that could me mean not being out there, I don’t know. But I’m going to continue to do what I do. I take pride, personally, in working hard and going out there and competing. I think each guy does.”
McCourty went on to say, “How we want to be remembered for the rest of this year comes down to these last two weeks…we have a lot of guys out here that still want to prove themselves, still want to try be players in this league.”
Stidham would certainly fall into that category, even if the second-year former fourth-round pick’s only NFL chances to date have come in relief duty. Whether he’s truly earned his shot or not in the unseen reps on the practice field may be debatable, but that it’s time to find out what Stidham’s got is not.
After his eighth game of the year without a touchdown pass, not even Newton was sure he’d get to finish what he’s started over the final two weeks of the season.
“I don’t know, man,” Newton said with an awkward laugh. “I’m just going to keep doing what I’m asked to do and for me I just have to keep getting better, keep doing what’s asked of me and go over and beyond and try to learn the system each and every week. I know we’re still in the latter part of the season, but still trying to learn as much as possible.”
The Patriots should have learned all they need to know about Newton at this point. It’s time to do the same with Stidham, at least as much as can be ascertained in two games.
If Stidham is part of the future, that would be great.
If Stidham is destined to be part of the forgettable past, that’s OK too.
But if Stidham is part of the never-got-a-shot so that Newton can pick up a couple more starts?
That just doesn’t make any sense.
