Will The Pats Win It All? Five Bold Predictions For The Patriots This Season
With workouts already in session, and training camp around the corner, it’s never too early for some bold predictions. The Patriots are a franchise that is constantly expected to succeed and have a lot of expectations that Brady left behind.
Although anything could happen this season, here are some predictions that can completely change the tides for the Patriots.
Number Five: Mac May Have Sophomore Blues?
With Brady coming back for his 22nd season to win another ring, the pressure grows even higher for Mac Jones. Having a great rookie year, many changes happened to the patriots this offseason, and not necessarily good.
They did sign Devante Parker for him as a weapon so there’s that to look forward to. However, he is now under new coaching with Joe Judge and Matt Patricia in charge of the offense.
Although their old teams didn’t produce great numbers in offense (Giants and Lions) perhaps under the management of Bill Belichick again, they can coach Mac to improve.
It’s not one of the most terrible predictions, however. Mac Jones not only has a harder schedule, but he also has new coaching, more weight on his shoulders to succeed, and now is fighting the other 2021 rookie quarterbacks for best in their draft class.
This isn’t to say Mac Jones will play terribly, but he may not produce the same numbers as last season. He may have fewer yards or fewer touchdowns. There is a reason they call it sophomore blues after all.
Number Four: Top Tier Running Game?
Surely if one of the predictions is Mac won’t be as good as he was, someone has to step up on the offense. This may be the time for the running game to shine.
With James White having a season-ending hip injury last season, that made a huge mark in the screen passing game for the patriots. However, Damien Harris could step up in a big way this season. With 909 yards in 202 Carries with 15 touchdowns, he can be a big threat.
With James White sidelined Rhamondre Stevenson proved to be a productive running back who could add some ability in the passing game. He will be looking to have a strong sophomore year.
Although Harris may not be very fast, he’s very useful as a powerful running back, hard to tackle, and can run through defenders.
If James White proves to be healthy, one of many predictions can be to expect them to rotate them, defenses that are weak will struggle with powerful Harris, and defenses that are slow will struggle against speedy White.
If White can’t be effective New England drafted the fastest running back in the 2022 NFL draft last month, Pierre Strong Jr who could be his replacement in time.
Mac Jones passed the ball a lot last year (except for games when the weather was bad). The one game in Buffalo that the patriots won was solely the running game.
If our running backs show more dominance, we can succeed and potentially take the stress off of Mac’s shoulders.
Number Three: A Player Returning To The Patriots?
With the Patriots slowly declining on defense, it looks like they are a little desperate for some defensive help.
With many defensive stars coming and going on the patriots (including Vince Wilfork making it into the hall of fame), it’s easy to make a prediction that an old player may return.
Jason McCourty was a very underrated player for the patriots. At a time when the Patriots are desperate for cornerbacks, he would make the most sense. For one, McCourty is only getting paid 1.5 million in Miami, which is dirt cheap for Belichick, he may even offer him more. To add to these predictions, he could be getting a longer contract in New England.
Miami is desperate for some running backs, so some predictions may be to throw in is if the Patriots are really desperate for defense they may give up a running back to Miami for him.
It would also be nice to see McCourty reunite with his brother for one last season and potentially break out in a big way. He and Jalen Mills can paint the way for our backfield defense and help shut the door on offensive powerhouses.
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Number Two: Patriots Have The DPOY?
With so many new faces on new teams, being the craziest NFL free agency yet, a prediction to make can be that the DPOY is right in front of us. For the last couple of years, the DPOY award was given to powerhouse linebackers and defensive ends.
TJ Watt won it last year, putting up a ridiculous 64 tackles and 22.5 sacks. Aaron Donald won it in 2020, with 45 tackles and 13.5 sacks. Matthew Judon’s season last year was astounding, with a combined 60 tackles and 12.5 sacks. This was almost as good as Donald’s 2020 season.
It would be interesting for him to put up these same numbers again or better numbers considering he’s had 47 sacks in 6 years.
These predictions may not be that bold, but it would be surprising to see Judon win it considering his competition in the AFC (Mack, Miller, Watt, Garrett, etc.)
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Number One: Patriots Will Win The AFC East?
Although many Patriots players are hoping to just be wild card contenders, it’s not hard to imagine them winning the division this year, let alone having predictions on it.
One thing that has been discussed a lot is the difficulty of the Patriots’ schedule. Although it is on the harder side, most of their challenging games come early on in the season.
The Jets, although they have been building, are still not enough of a threat to be contenders yet. They are missing some key players on defense and some weapons for Wilson.
The Dolphins made some good pickups, extending Jones and Howard and signing Tyreek Hill. However, Tua’s numbers so far prove to be on the low side, with an 88.8 career passer rating.
The main concern will be the Bills. With Von Miller on the team, things got a lot harder for the Pats offense-wise. However, the Bills have lost a lot of key offensive players (Cole Beasley, Matt Breida).
Also, the Bills have little running game, their offense is solely reliant on passing, which puts a lot of pressure on Josh Allen to succeed.
The Bills’ schedule is also much tougher, as they face way more formidable opponents (Titans, Rams, Chiefs, Ravens, Packers, Bengals).
One minor thing worth mentioning is their backup, Mitch Trubisky, was also traded, so if Josh Allen somehow gets injured they won’t have a suitable replacement.
If the Patriots can manage to take one apiece from Buffalo and Miami and beat most of the good teams, one of the predictions made that can be guaranteed is they will take the division with stride.
Conclusion
The Patriots’ season is long far away, and it’s hard to really confirm if any predictions will happen.
However, it’s good to have some hope and think of the patriots as slowly improving. Belichick always has something up his sleeve.
Hopefully, the patriots bounce back and get further in the playoffs and at least some predictions will land.
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