They have been disappointing and inconsistent this season.
They will play the end of Sunday’s season already miles from the playoff dispute.
They were hurt even before the season started, by key players who chose to leave the 2020 schedule because of concerns about COVID-19.
They suffered a series of debilitating injuries during the season.
His quarterback game has been very inconsistent with the future in the position in question.
They have been playing the season with a serious lack of players with explosive abilities.
These, of course, are the Jets …
… And the Patriots too.
The 2-13 Jets, running a winning streak of two games and very well-being, face 6-9 Tom Brady-less Patriots, losers from their last three games, at the end of Sunday’s season for both teams at Gillette Stadium.
While the Jets are new surprises for the Rams, who were 9-4 at the time, and the Browns, who were 10-4 last week, the Patriots lost 24-3 to the Rams, 22-12 to the Dolphins and 38-9 for East AFC Bills champion in their last three games.
“It is definitely different. … It’s weird not to see them go into the playoffs, ” said Jets’ defensive side, Henry Anderson, on Wednesday over the Patriots – who beat the Jets 30-27, in a field goal in the closing seconds at the start this season.
“It’s bizarre, because you kind of got used to seeing them play in January and February,” said Jets guard Greg Van Roten on Wednesday. “Yes, it’s different, but these things happen in the NFL. It is a team like ours, which had many injuries, many players chose to leave. It is not an excuse, but it makes things more difficult, it makes obstacles more difficult to overcome.
“It was one of those years for many teams. ”
The Patriots, however, made this an art form by avoiding “one of those years” for years.
This will be the first season since 2008 that they will not be in the playoffs and only the second time since 2002. The sequence of 11 consecutive AFC Leste titles has been interrupted this year. Since Bill Belichick took over as his coach in 2000, the Patriots have gone to nine Super Bowls, winning six of them.
They did all this, of course, with Tom Brady as a defender.
This season without Brady was a revelation, testament to Brady’s incredible ability to elevate players around him. Failure to do so made the Patriots from extraordinary to common.
The Patriots tried to replace Brady with Cam Newton, whose MVP powers of the 2015 season seem to be long gone.
In short, it didn’t work, transforming the Patriots from a team that has spent almost 20 years without having to worry about the position of defender in one of the many around the league that doesn’t have a reliable team.
Newton, who launched just five touchdown passes in 338 attempts this season to make 10 interceptions, has only launched a TD pass in the last four games. He was eliminated and replaced by Jarrett Stidham in Monday night’s sudden loss to the Bills after completing 5 of 10 passes for 34 yards.
Asked this week how the transition went without Brady, after a long pause, Belichick replied: “Well … our album is disappointing. Obviously, we are doing things differently than we did in the past. We just need to perform at a higher level. All of us. [We] keep working to do that. ”
Belichick showed a curious and unwavering support to Newton this season, despite several irregular performances. Instead of playing the younger Stidham to see him as a possible starter in the future, Belichick stubbornly continues to trot Newton out – as he hopes to do on Sunday against the Jets.
“Cam worked hard, ” said Belichick. “He did everything we asked him to do. He gave us great leadership, resistance and competitiveness. I have a lot of respect for what he did for us this year. ”
But just as Belichick has “a lot of respect” for Newton, the Jets have the same respect for Darnold, who at 23 showed great resilience in the face of all defeats.
The problem for Belichick with Newton, however, is the same as for the Jets and Darnold: the game of both defenders has not been conducive to winning in football.
This leaves the Jets and Patriots in very similar places when this season ends: with many questions about the future of the defender’s position.
It also leaves New England in a surprising position to be essentially the same as the Jets, who for the past 20 years have been the Patriots’ personal punching bag.
And that irritates Belichick, whose disdain for Jets is as transparent as a sliding glass door that squeaks.