Are the Pats the worst team in the NFL?

[lexrageorge]

Talent-wise, probably the worst defense in the league right now. Worst OL in the league, and a long way between the Patriots and the 31st ranked OL.

Coaching may be a problem - but they could clean out the entire coaching staff this offseason, and still be looking at several years before having a NFL caliber roster. It's that bad.

 

[Euclis20]

The rebuild might take a few years, but if you fired Bill because of his draft/FA record then you better see something pretty convincing in the the first two seasons to convince yourself that you brought in a better group to bring in players. If you don’t then you can’t waste more time and you need to fire them and move on to Plan C.

And I award Wolf and Mayo zero points for drafting Maye. Worlds safest pick.

Somebody in the building gets credit for him, either drafting or developing. Maye was miles away from Manning or Luck or Lawrence, a generational player everyone knew was going #1 overall and on the fast track to stardom while coming into the league as an NFL ready QB. Maye looked like a top 3 QB who was very, very raw and might need to sit the whole year. Literally every draft has a prospect that looks like Drake Maye. That he's playing and looking competent 6-7 games into the year is literally the only positive to be taken thus far, no reason to not give management credit in the only place where credit is due.

 

[Cellar-Door]

Talent-wise, probably the worst defense in the league right now. Worst OL in the league, and a long way between the Patriots and the 31st ranked OL.

Coaching may be a problem - but they could clean out the entire coaching staff this offseason, and still be looking at several years before having a NFL caliber roster. It's that bad.

Worst defensive talent? This is most of the defense that finished top 10 (and closer to 5 than 10 most places) last year and that a number of very good national writers/analysts expected to be very good (also DVOA projected them top 10). The talent on defense is pretty good, now they are injured, but the issues on D are more execution, scheme and injuries than talent.

 

[Cellar-Door]

Somebody in the building gets credit for him, either drafting or developing. Maye was miles away from Manning or Luck or Lawrence, a generational player everyone knew was going #1 overall and on the fast track to stardom while coming into the league as an NFL ready QB. Maye looked like a top 3 QB who was very, very raw and might need to sit the whole year. Literally every draft has a prospect that looks like Drake Maye. That he's playing and looking competent 6-7 games into the year is literally the only positive to be taken thus far, no reason to not give management credit in the only place where credit is due.

Yeah, Maye was far from a "safe" pick, he was a raw QB, but even if he was.... making the safe pick can be good. How many people complaining about how Maye shouldn't count are the same ones who were mad about the Strange pick, or the Thornton pick, or the Dugger pick, or any of the many times Bill passed up the consensus pick.

 

[luckiestman]

They made the pick they get the credit. If he sucked they would get the blame.

 

[Euclis20]

They made the pick they get the credit. If he sucked they would get the blame.

Exactly. And even if Maye was kind of the obvious 3rd overall pick, the Pats had a widely reported alternative action - the Giants deal would've been the safer move from a management perspective, kicking some of the risk down the road another year. They drafted and developed Maye instead, the one silver lining on this shit sandwich of a season.

 

[NextBigThing8184]

Worst defensive talent? This is most of the defense that finished top 10 (and closer to 5 than 10 most places) last year and that a number of very good national writers/analysts expected to be very good (also DVOA projected them top 10). The talent on defense is pretty good, now they are injured, but the issues on D are more execution, scheme and injuries than talent.

Is the talent on D actually good? Even with a healthy Barmore and Bentley it’s probably a middle of the pack front 7. The edge guys aren’t very good and the rest of the DL are JAG unless you’re buying a big White coming out party in the upcoming weeks. Wise, Godchaux, Ekuale are 30 years old and hardly building block piece. Pharms and Roy are trash heap pickups. The Lb group is apparently one Bentley injury from being garbage, since everyone points to his loss as the single defining moment of the defense’s season. McMillian and Ellis aren’t NFL caliber LB. Tavai has been exposed either due to Bentley’s injury or BB/SB leaving

The secondary is fine, Gonzalez and Dugger are quality starters. Peppers is unknown. Jonathan Jones is getting old and declining. The other DB range from mediocre to awful. I can buy the secondary being top 10 if Peppers is available (assuming no injuries because the depth options are terrible). The front 7 is nowhere near a top 10 unit though.

 

[cshea]

Well we aren’t the Jets

 

[shoosh77]

Still time to get worst-er. They should be listening to any offers on Jones, Uche, basically any ufa’s at the end of the year. Focus on Maye’s development at the cost of everything else this season and ensuring top of each round draft picks.

 

[streeter88]

I keep writing the same post then deleting it - mainly because it’s been said already. But I am looking forward to when the Patriots can run a disciplined game plan for more than just one drive, bounce back from setbacks (or come from behind), adjust game plans when they aren’t working, and play some brand of complementary football. This level of competence is probably beyond the capability of the current team and their coaching staff.

But I hope they can grow into it -- Drake Maye is already showing some positive results after two whole games. Edit: and just maybe making his OL look a tiny bit better.

 

[Was (Not Wasdin)]

I was wrong on Maye. I wanted them to trade for more picks, and I didn’t want Maye to play because I thought he’d be a disaster. Now I want them to bubble wrap him so he doesn’t get hurt.

Even with the QB in place, which we might have, this is a 3-4 more draft rebuild, and that’s with nailing a bunch of high picks. Miss on those, and it’s “trade Maye in 2027 and restart the rebuild”.

Comparing the Pats to the Commanders is a mistake. I would have swapped the Pats roster and draft picks in place at the end of last year for the Commanders’ in a cocaine heartbeat. The Commanders had guys at multiple positions way better than anyone on the Pats.

Absent overpays, I don’t think they are going to get top tier FAs to come here until the team is vastly improved at all levels.

 

[moondog80]

Seems like a crowded field of terrible teams this year with the Pats, Carolina, Cleveland, Giants, Jets, Titans, Jags, Raiders, Rams, and Dolphins all capable of landing a top 3 pick. Carolina may be a special level of terrible.

 

[Curt S Loew]

Well we aren’t the Jets

Something to always be thankful for. I'm adding it to Thanksgiving grace this year.

 

[soxpatscelts1524]

Yeah, Maye was far from a "safe" pick, he was a raw QB, but even if he was.... making the safe pick can be good. How many people complaining about how Maye shouldn't count are the same ones who were mad about the Strange pick, or the Thornton pick, or the Dugger pick, or any of the many times Bill passed up the consensus pick.

I think there's a considerable difference between a "safe" pick and a heavily consensus pick. Maye certainly wasn't a safe pick, but he absolutely was the consensus pick. It's very rare to see QB-needy teams pass up on a consensus top QB prospect that is mocked by most media people at the top of the draft. While I'm glad Wolf took Maye, it's hard to assign him too much credit as in "he should keep his job" when if you replaced Wolf, 90%+ of GM candidates out there would do the same thing. There's no point in giving him credit for something that the vast majority of GMs will do, as if you're debating to replace him with someone else, the answer is probably that they'd have taken the same guy at 3, so that's a wash.

 

[epraz]

FWIW, Barnwell only includes the Pats as an honorable mention (along with MIA and NYJ) in his rankings of "Who Has it Worst" in the NFL.

 

[Cellar-Door]

FWIW, Barnwell only includes the Pats as an honorable mention (along with MIA and NYJ) in his rankings of "Who Has it Worst" in the NFL.

I agree, in part because he put "and beyond", Drake Maye looking like he does automatically vaults you over other bad teams who have no QB solution.

 

[NextBigThing8184]

I was wrong on Maye. I wanted them to trade for more picks, and I didn’t want Maye to play because I thought he’d be a disaster. Now I want them to bubble wrap him so he doesn’t get hurt.

Even with the QB in place, which we might have, this is a 3-4 more draft rebuild, and that’s with nailing a bunch of high picks. Miss on those, and it’s “trade Maye in 2027 and restart the rebuild”.

Comparing the Pats to the Commanders is a mistake. I would have swapped the Pats roster and draft picks in place at the end of last year for the Commanders’ in a cocaine heartbeat. The Commanders had guys at multiple positions way better than anyone on the Pats.

Absent overpays, I don’t think they are going to get top tier FAs to come here until the team is vastly improved at all levels.

Other than McLaurin, who are these guys on the 2023 Commanders who were “way better [than anyone the Pats have]”? Should also cut the other way where the Pats had a lot more talent in places Washington didn’t.

I believe the only starters Washington is returning other than McLaurin are the two DT (Allen and Payne), Sam Cosmi, Andrew Wylie, Ben Saint-Juste and Brian Robinson.

The Pats had a significant talent advantage on D (though Allen and Payne are both good, I don’t think they’re significantly better than Godchaux and Barmore). Onwenu and Andrews are equivalent if not better than Cosmi/Wylie. Robinson and Stevenson are mostly a wash. Gonzalez and Jon Jones are both better than Saint-Juste. Both the Pats safeties were much much better than anyone on last year’s Washington roster. The Pats LB and edge (including Judon) were much better coming into the 2024 off-season

Washington had an advantage at one WR spot (the rest of their WR and TE group was a mess)

I’m sure you could nitpick in one or two places but on balance the Pats had a better base of talent. McLaurin is awesome but he’s not enough to make up for the discrepancies on D and most of the rest of the offense is a wash. There’s a reason Washington turned over 65% of their roster in the off-season. It was barren and devoid of guys who could play even decently at the NFL level. They would have killed to have a couple of Jennings, Bentley, Peppers, Wise types on D.

Saying they had multiple guys “way better” than the Pats is a stretch and the idea that their roster, on aggregate, was better than the Pats is ludicrous.

 

[Deathofthebambino]

Even fully healthy this is a bottom 5 roster. On it are 3 players I could envision being cogs on a playoff team or SB contender.

Maye, Gonzalez, White. That's all the young talent to look forward to.

Man, you're selling Bryce Baringer way too short. LOL

 

[Deathofthebambino]

Other than McLaurin, who are these guys on the 2023 Commanders who were “way better [than anyone the Pats have]”? Should also cut the other way where the Pats had a lot more talent in places Washington didn’t.

I believe the only starters Washington is returning other than McLaurin are the two DT (Allen and Payne), Sam Cosmi, Andrew Wylie, Ben Saint-Juste and Brian Robinson.

The Pats had a significant talent advantage on D (though Allen and Payne are both good, I don’t think they’re significantly better than Godchaux and Barmore). Onwenu and Andrews are equivalent if not better than Cosmi/Wylie. Robinson and Stevenson are mostly a wash. Gonzalez and Jon Jones are both better than Saint-Juste. Both the Pats safeties were much much better than anyone on last year’s Washington roster. The Pats LB and edge (including Judon) were much better coming into the 2024 off-season

Washington had an advantage at one WR spot (the rest of their WR and TE group was a mess)

I’m sure you could nitpick in one or two places but on balance the Pats had a better base of talent. McLaurin is awesome but he’s not enough to make up for the discrepancies on D and most of the rest of the offense is a wash. There’s a reason Washington turned over 65% of their roster in the off-season. It was barren and devoid of guys who could play even decently at the NFL level. They would have killed to have a couple of Jennings, Bentley, Peppers, Wise types on D.

Saying they had multiple guys “way better” than the Pats is a stretch and the idea that their roster, on aggregate, was better than the Pats is ludicrous.

I would have also taken Redskins roster last year over the Pats, but it's definitely close.

That said, I think folks need to pump the brakes a bit on Washington. So far this season, they've beaten the Bengals (a team the Pats beat), the Cardinals (if folks think the Pats defense is bad, go watch that shitshow), and three teams vying for the #1 pick (Giants, Browns and Panthers). They got pounded by Tampa Bay in week one and lost to the Ravens (were down 10 in the last 3 minutes before kicking a field goal). Now Daniels is starting to take some shots, and given he got dinged up, we'll see if that slows his roll on running a bit after they come out of the bye week.

 

[Was (Not Wasdin)]

Other than McLaurin, who are these guys on the 2023 Commanders who were “way better [than anyone the Pats have]”? Should also cut the other way where the Pats had a lot more talent in places Washington didn’t.

I believe the only starters Washington is returning other than McLaurin are the two DT (Allen and Payne), Sam Cosmi, Andrew Wylie, Ben Saint-Juste and Brian Robinson.

The Pats had a significant talent advantage on D (though Allen and Payne are both good, I don’t think they’re significantly better than Godchaux and Barmore). Onwenu and Andrews are equivalent if not better than Cosmi/Wylie. Robinson and Stevenson are mostly a wash. Gonzalez and Jon Jones are both better than Saint-Juste. Both the Pats safeties were much much better than anyone on last year’s Washington roster. The Pats LB and edge (including Judon) were much better coming into the 2024 off-season

Washington had an advantage at one WR spot (the rest of their WR and TE group was a mess)

I’m sure you could nitpick in one or two places but on balance the Pats had a better base of talent. McLaurin is awesome but he’s not enough to make up for the discrepancies on D and most of the rest of the offense is a wash. There’s a reason Washington turned over 65% of their roster in the off-season. It was barren and devoid of guys who could play even decently at the NFL level. They would have killed to have a couple of Jennings, Bentley, Peppers, Wise types on D.

Saying they had multiple guys “way better” than the Pats is a stretch and the idea that their roster, on aggregate, was better than the Pats is ludicrous.

McLaurin, even at 29, is light years better than anyone on the Pats roster.

Cosmi is a top 5 guard. Maybe Onwenu would be there if he stayed at guard, but he's been at tackle and hasnt been great. Cosmi and Wylie are the right side of a line that has had one of the better rushing attacks all season.

I'd take Robinson over Stevenson any day of the week-happy to have anyone else weigh in. I just dont think Stevenson gives you any explosive play capability.

Barmore may be better than either of Allen or Payne, but as a tandem I think they are better. They are both top 30 guys on the interior DL. Pats interior DL is terrible without Barmore.

Gonzalez has talent, but he has not been playing well at all. maybe it is just the suck of the defense around him. I dont think there is anyone in the Pats LB/Edge group that is/was that good that it tips the scales in their favor.

The biggest loss is the coaching. BB had a bunch of JAGs playing like a top 10 unit. without him they are JAGs.

 

[soxpatscelts1524]

McLaurin, even at 29, is light years better than anyone on the Pats roster.

Cosmi is a top 5 guard. Maybe Onwenu would be there if he stayed at guard, but he's been at tackle and hasnt been great. Cosmi and Wylie are the right side of a line that has had one of the better rushing attacks all season.

I'd take Robinson over Stevenson any day of the week-happy to have anyone else weigh in. I just dont think Stevenson gives you any explosive play capability.

Barmore may be better than either of Allen or Payne, but as a tandem I think they are better. They are both top 30 guys on the interior DL. Pats interior DL is terrible without Barmore.

Gonzalez has talent, but he has not been playing well at all. maybe it is just the suck of the defense around him. I dont think there is anyone in the Pats LB/Edge group that is/was that good that it tips the scales in their favor.

The biggest loss is the coaching. BB had a bunch of JAGs playing like a top 10 unit. without him they are JAGs.

This is basically nitpicking though. The Commanders had a horrible secondary beyond belief. You can pick out areas where they were better than us, sure, but last year their team was the same as ours talent-wise.

The reason for their turnaround is that Jayden Daniels has been playing like the best QB in the league, and they did a much better job in the offseason than us. They didn't have some massive well of talent to draw from already on the roster.

 

[Cellar-Door]

I would have also taken Redskins roster last year over the Pats, but it's definitely close.

That said, I think folks need to pump the brakes a bit on Washington. So far this season, they've beaten the Bengals (a team the Pats beat), the Cardinals (if folks think the Pats defense is bad, go watch that shitshow), and three teams vying for the #1 pick (Giants, Browns and Panthers). They got pounded by Tampa Bay in week one and lost to the Ravens (were down 10 in the last 3 minutes before kicking a field goal). Now Daniels is starting to take some shots, and given he got dinged up, we'll see if that slows his roll on running a bit after they come out of the bye week.

WAS's success seems to be:
1. Daniels is having an insanely good start (and he's a true running threat which really helps bad rosters)
2. They have been insanely healthy
3. Weak schedule
4. They are just outscoring teams, which usually doesn't last. Their D is really bad.

 

[Jungleland]

Between Maye, 4 top 100 picks including likely 3 and 35, and the cap space, I think they're at worst low-middle of the pack on medium term outlook. They're obviously one of the worst teams this season and there are a ton of holes to fill before they're a real contender, but my concern over their talent evaluation (with Wolf seemingly blowing rounds 2-7 in his first crack at the draft) is the bigger reason for me to doubt they can be good in a year or two than the actual roster itself. If Maye is for real and continues to develop, some better health luck and a top 5 pick on a WR or LT is going to have them looking dangerous on that side of the ball in a hurry imo.

It's damning with faint praise to say they aren't burdened by any horrible contracts, but that and Maye passing the test so far are alone reason to think you'd rather be them than a sizable chunk of teams.

 

[pappymojo]

Skipping whether they are the worst team in the NFL, to look at some of the worst teams in the NFL and where they stand for next year.


Patriots (1-6) Drake Maye at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R3, R4, R5, R7, R7, R7 | 2025 Effective Cap Space: $116,946,194

Raiders (2-5): Gardner Minshew and Aiden O'Connell at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7 | 2025 Effective Cap Space: $103,186,847

Panthers (1-6): Bryce Young and Andy Dalton at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R5, R6, R7, R7 | 2025 Effective Cap Space: $23,902,974

Jets (2-5): Aaron Rodgers at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R6 | 2025 Effective Cap Space: $40,125,666

Browns (1-6): Deshaun Watson at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R4, R6, R6, R6, R6 | 2025 Effective Cap Space: ($18,616,003)

Dolphins (2-4): Tua Tagovailoa at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R4, R5, R5, R7, R7 | 2025 Effective Cap Space ($11,718,816)

Titans (1-5): Will Levis at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R4, R5, R6, R7 | 2025 Effective Cap Space $51,112,143

Saints (2-5): Derek Carr at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R4, R6, R6 | 2025 Effective Cap Space ($89,208,526)

Giants (2-5): Daniel Jones at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R7, R7 | 2025 Effective Cap Space $30,382,470

Jaguars (2-5): Trevor Lawrence at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R3, R4, R4, R5, R6, R6, R7 | 2025 Effective Cap Space $47,480,400

Rams (2-4): Matthew Stafford at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R3, R4, R6, R6, R6 | 2025 Effective Cap Space $49,037,768

Broncos (4-3): Bo Nix at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R4, R6, R6 | 2025 Effective Cap Space $56,685,144



Accounting for QB age and injury history, draft picks and salary cap, I'm not feeling too bad about the Patriots especially if we end up with a top 2 draft pick.

 

[cshea]

On field they may be the worst team but their situation and outlook isn’t. If this was a “rank the vacancies” type thing I think they’d be attractive. But there are no vacancies.

 

[NextBigThing8184]

Skipping whether they are the worst team in the NFL, to look at some of the worst teams in the NFL and where they stand for next year.


Patriots (1-6) Drake Maye at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R3, R4, R5, R7, R7, R7 | 2025 Effective Cap Space: $116,946,194

Raiders (2-5): Gardner Minshew and Aiden O'Connell at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7 | 2025 Effective Cap Space: $103,186,847

Panthers (1-6): Bryce Young and Andy Dalton at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R5, R6, R7, R7 | 2025 Effective Cap Space: $23,902,974

Jets (2-5): Aaron Rodgers at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R6 | 2025 Effective Cap Space: $40,125,666

Browns (1-6): Deshaun Watson at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R4, R6, R6, R6, R6 | 2025 Effective Cap Space: ($18,616,003)

Dolphins (2-4): Tua Tagovailoa at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R4, R5, R5, R7, R7 | 2025 Effective Cap Space ($11,718,816)

Titans (1-5): Will Levis at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R4, R5, R6, R7 | 2025 Effective Cap Space $51,112,143

Saints (2-5): Derek Carr at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R4, R6, R6 | 2025 Effective Cap Space ($89,208,526)

Giants (2-5): Daniel Jones at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R7, R7 | 2025 Effective Cap Space $30,382,470

Jaguars (2-5): Trevor Lawrence at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R3, R4, R4, R5, R6, R6, R7 | 2025 Effective Cap Space $47,480,400

Rams (2-4): Matthew Stafford at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R3, R4, R6, R6, R6 | 2025 Effective Cap Space $49,037,768

Broncos (4-3): Bo Nix at QB | 2025 Draft Picks: R1, R2, R3, R4, R6, R6 | 2025 Effective Cap Space $56,685,144



Accounting for QB age and injury history, draft picks and salary cap, I'm not feeling too bad about the Patriots especially if we end up with a top 2 draft pick.

Accounting for QB age, salary cap space and draft picks in hand for future years, it looks pretty good

That’s assuming you think Kraft,
Mayo and Wolf/Groh can get the team moving in the right direction and aren’t going to waste a big chunk of Drake Maye’s rookie contract (or worse, fail to develop him fully by surrounding him with terrible coaches and talent)

 

[NextBigThing8184]

McLaurin, even at 29, is light years better than anyone on the Pats roster.

Cosmi is a top 5 guard. Maybe Onwenu would be there if he stayed at guard, but he's been at tackle and hasnt been great. Cosmi and Wylie are the right side of a line that has had one of the better rushing attacks all season.

I'd take Robinson over Stevenson any day of the week-happy to have anyone else weigh in. I just dont think Stevenson gives you any explosive play capability.

Barmore may be better than either of Allen or Payne, but as a tandem I think they are better. They are both top 30 guys on the interior DL. Pats interior DL is terrible without Barmore.

Gonzalez has talent, but he has not been playing well at all. maybe it is just the suck of the defense around him. I dont think there is anyone in the Pats LB/Edge group that is/was that good that it tips the scales in their favor.

The biggest loss is the coaching. BB had a bunch of JAGs playing like a top 10 unit. without him they are JAGs.

McLaurin is light years better than anyone on the Pats roster or specifically any WR?

I maintain that the aggregate talent level between the two rosters was fairly similar entering the off-season. The Pats had plenty of talent advantages on D, whereas Washington has one big one (one WR spot)

If you combined the February 2024 Patriots and Commanders rosters, I would guess you’d get 35 Patriots to 25 Commanders and as good as McLaurin is, he’s not Jerry Rice level good enough to make up for 5-6 other roster spots. He just isn’t.

 

[BusRaker]

As much as I want o believe the Pats are the worst team in the NFL ...

OPPONENT	RESULT
1​	Sun, Sep 8	@ New Orleans	L47-10
2​	Sun, Sep 15	vs Los Angeles	L26-3
3​	Sun, Sep 22	@ Las Vegas	W36-22
4​	Sun, Sep 29	vs Cincinnati	L34-24
5​	Sun, Oct 6	@ Chicago	L36-10
6​	Sun, Oct 13	vs Atlanta	L38-20
7​	Sun, Oct 20	@ Washington	L40-7

 

[quint]

Nahh, they’ll beat the Jets next week.

Have some faith in Aaron Rodgers.

I said who's house?

RUNS HOUSE

Who's house? RUNS HOUSE!

Maartin

"Say what?" MAATIN

 

[E5 Yaz]

 

[Eddie Jurak]

Guess not.

 

[Devizier]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VCdJyOAQYM

 

[P'tucket rhymes with...]

The darker side of parity. The Dolphins are the only team on the list that I would bet money on playing their way out of the top (or bottom) 10, as long as Tua remains oriented to place and purpose. The rest are a miasma of mediocrity.

 

[Pandemonium67]

Next week at Tennessee suddenly looks winnable.

 

[NomarsFool]

It's just amazing how often the lousy teams will play each other this season.

 

[Remagellan]

Next week at Tennessee suddenly looks winnable.

That's the battle for second place in this race. Carolina has to be the worst team. They already know they don't have their QB, and still don't know if they have their coach. The only thing their fans can be sure of is they have one of the worst owners in the league.

 

[BaseballJones]

It's just amazing how often the lousy teams will play each other this season.

In a very weird way, it's kind of fun. Like a playoff system for loser-ville.

 

[Philip Jeff Frye]

It's just amazing how often the lousy teams will play each other this season.

Saw an ad yesterday promoting the upcoming Giants-Panthers game in Munich. I thought the NFL was trying to get Europeans interested in their product, but apparently I'm mistaken.

 

[chilidawg]

It's just amazing how often the lousy teams will play each other this season.

7 teams, almost half the conference, in the AFC with 2 or fewer wins. And 3 in the division. There's lots of bad teams, so we get to play each other plenty.

 

[dynomite]

7 teams, almost half the conference, in the AFC with 2 or fewer wins. And 3 in the division. There's lots of bad teams, so we get to play each other plenty.

It's hilarious, especially when we go back to read what people were saying about the AFC East in preseason. From NFL.com's preseason ranking of Division strength:

3) AFC East
My, how times have changed. We spent two decades penciling the Patriots in as annual division winners, and all we can seemingly bank on now is that the Patriots won't win this division. Depending on who you ask, the AFC East either belongs to the Dolphins ... or the Jets ... or the Bills. Yes, it's that divided. On paper, the Jets have the tools and talent necessary to seize first place, but as we learned in 2023, they need health on their side. Miami has managed to make the playoffs in each of the last two seasons but finished behind Buffalo both times -- and hasn't won a division title since 2008. The Bills might present the most uncertainty of the three, especially after they said goodbye to Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde this offseason (then lost Matt Milano to another injury). This is setting up as a legitimate three-team race with no clear favorite, and it could become one of the more fascinating battles as the season progresses. Look at that: I made it this far without even mentioning Aaron Rodgers. He could generate plenty of excitement with the Jets on his own.

 

[DJnVa]

There's a decent change the Pats are actually in 2nd place after next week's games.

Beat the Titans, Bills beat Dolphins, Texans beat Jets.

That's crazy.

 

[SMU_Sox]

In a very weird way, it's kind of fun. Like a playoff system for loser-ville.

Brought to you by Dr. Pepper Zero.

 

[NomarsFool]

It's also funny because that Pats-Colts game in Frankfurt last season might have been one of the worst football games I've ever seen, unless I'm getting confused with the Pats-Jets game last season. There were so many non-entertaining games last season they conflate together.

 

[Van Everyman]

It's hilarious, especially when we go back to read what people were saying about the AFC East in preseason. From NFL.com's preseason ranking of Division strength:

Look at that: I made it this far without even mentioning Aaron Rodgers. He could generate plenty of excitement with the Jets on his own.

"Excitement" is a word ...

 

[E5 Yaz]

Saw an ad yesterday promoting the upcoming Giants-Panthers game in Munich. I thought the NFL was trying to get Europeans interested in their product, but apparently I'm mistaken.

Germans love Wagner; they’ll love this

 

[mauf]

That's the battle for second place in this race. Carolina has to be the worst team. They already know they don't have their QB, and still don't know if they have their coach. The only thing their fans can be sure of is they have one of the worst owners in the league.

Building on this, there have been six games this season decided by 30 points or more. Carolina is the only team to be on the losing end of two of those. (The Rams, Jaguars, Cowboys and Titans have been hit once each.) The race for #31 is wide open, and the Patriots are one of several teams in the running, but the Panthers have a strong hold on #32.

 

[johnmd20]

Building on this, there have been six games this season decided by 30 points or more. Carolina is the only team to be on the losing end of two of those. (The Rams, Jaguars, Cowboys and Titans have been hit once each.) The race for #31 is wide open, and the Patriots are one of several teams in the running, but the Panthers have a strong hold on #32.

This is a fact. The Panthers are good at nothing. With Young, the offense is comical. With Dalton, it's a little better than comical. And their defense stinks.

They are undoubtedly the worst team in the NFL. The Patriots have been in a couple of games and won a couple of games. They aren't in the same galaxy as the Panthers.

 

[54thMA]

Saw an ad yesterday promoting the upcoming Giants-Panthers game in Munich. I thought the NFL was trying to get Europeans interested in their product, but apparently I'm mistaken.

That's what the Germans get for bombing Pearl Harbor.

 

[Eric Fernsten's Disco Mustache]

That's what the Germans get for bombing Pearl Harbor.

Very good

 

[Trapaholic]

Don't look now, but the Patriots have 3-4 more games where they actually have a chance to win:

Titans
Colts
Dolphins
Cardinals (?)

I do not watch nearly as much NFL as other people here. To me it looks like the Browns got a little better by losing Watson and having Winston at QB. New Orleans is cratering, and Carolina is Carolina. The Patriots may end up with the exact same record as 3 or 4 other teams, but I am hoping that their worst football is behind them and the arrow will be pointing up even with another dismal record.