NFL Insider Discusses the Patriots' Tough Season Ahead

The New England Patriots could be staring at an 0-4 start.

It really could be that bad.

There is a lot working against this franchise and it has nothing to do with the off-field issues of their head coach. Now, if this season goes completely off the rails and that coach, Mike Vrabel, can’t reel it in and the owner gets a little miffed about the time he missed in the offseason tending to his personal issues and missing time at the draft, you could start to concoct some scenarios where 2026 really takes a turn for the worse.

(They host the Steelers next week and then travel to Jacksonville and Buffalo, so, yeah, life can come at you fast).

Plenty of people around this league believe that nothing is going to come easy for the Patriots this season, and a lot is working against them and they are going to have a heck of a time overcoming it. This isn’t about overreacting to a road loss to the Super Bowl champs on the road while they raise a banner, it’s about the fact the rest of the top of the AFC appears to have made gains and New England hasn’t and it’s highly unlikely they will have the same injury luck and they are definitely facing a far more daunting schedule.

Expecting young quarterback Drake Maye to have as good a season, against markedly tougher defenses, strikes many around the league as naive. And if that happens, look out. Because when evaluators study this roster at the other positions where games are truly won and lost – downfield playmakers, pass rushers, offensive tackles – this team doesn’t check enough boxes.

"I don’t think they have enough talent on the OL (offensive line) and DL (defensive line) to do what they did last year," the advance scout told me. "The schedule is going to test them way more than last year … They never really had to play from behind. Game script will be a lot different for them and the pass protection will get exposed if they are chasing games."

One GM suggested something similar: "They are coming back to earth."

Maye was trying to do too much in Week 1 – having not had to chase a game as the scout put it - and Seattle’s defense can certainly expose the flaws of even the best teams. Still, starting the season with three interceptions – some egregious – is hardly the best way to punctuate Week 1. No one will be taking them lightly. And the team that loses the Super Bowl tends to suffer the following year.

Might not be a curse, but it tends to be real.

"I don’t think they’re going to recover," said one longtime NFL personnel executive. "Maye lost them the game at the end. I don’t like where he is. They aren’t playing a last place schedule. Keep your eye on that one. I think it’s going to get weird there."

On the bright side, the pass rush showed more juice than many expected. And they kept it close. Then again, Seattle QB Sam Darnold only played one series, and Dre’Mont Jones is not going to be a game wrecker and the Patriots better avoid an 0-2 start, because that could double, quickly.