This is going to be an unpopular an down voted post. But at least I'm be consistent with what I've always preached.
I really am finding the general narrative and conversation on this board starting to be reminiscent of fan boards from teams that the Pats crushed time and time again only a few years ago when we were one of the top dogs. There seems to be this massive dissonance between what is takes to contend in the current NFL and exactly where we are.
So let me be 100% clear on where the Pats offense is. The answer is.... not. even. close. Meyers, Bourne, Agholor, Henry, Smith Harris and White Are we being serious right now? None of these guys are a #1 or even #2 option on a legit championship offense these days. And the days of trying to cobble together a bunch of #3 weapons and playing small ball offense to squeak out back to back to back low scoring victories in the playoffs are over.
The only reason it worked for us in the past is because we had the greatest QB of all time to elevate the guys around him. Mac Jones will not be doing that. Even if he turns out to be great, he won't be that level of great. Last year in some ways lured the Pats and patsfans into a false sense of security. We somehow managed to have the 6th best PPG offense in the NFL. But lets be honest. It wasn't a good offense. In 3 blow out wins they scored 149 points. In the other 14? They were average at best. There was a huge amount of inconsistency in this offense last year, and I wouldn't expect those huge blow out wins to happen like they did last year. Maybe one... but three was, i believe, a statistical irregularity where they just happened to face 3 teams that came out completely flat, where most years you get maybe 1.
They ended up 15th in YPG, and that's probably more where they belonged offensively speaking. And a lot of that was due to their defense helping a often struggling offense score points. We managed to go 10-7, but when the games really counted, we got shown our place in the WC round with a quick and decisive exit by a real contender in Buffalo.
I don't mean to come down too hard on our team, or the fans hopes for it. But we need to be realistic. We need great players on this offense. And A RB like Harris being our best player is a serious problem. Without top offensive PASSING CATCHING weapons we aren't going anywhere. Period.
And if BB can't do it. Then he isn't the coach I want on this team anymore. So I very much hope he can figure it out, cause i like every thing else he brings.
If you are okay with quick exits in the playoffs though, we can keep trying to cobble wins together with good defense and B level offensive talent, but when the rubber meets the road, the lack of play makers will bite us. Personally with the current 14 team format, and now needing to win 4 games in a row unless you have the #1 seed, I am not at all interested in just making the playoffs and shrugging when it then falls apart when our run game gets stopped an our WRs can't win 1v1,