“It’ll take us years to contend”

[Joey007]

Remember the people before the season who insisted this to be true? That it was silly to expect even a postseason bid this year, because this team was going to be a 3-5 year rebuild?

Welcome to 2025. You get the right QB, right coach. Anything can happen. This isn’t the John McKay era anymore. Rebuilds don’t take 5 years.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I find it's usually best to keep expectations reasonable when you're coming off a 4-13 season.

That being said, there's always a few writers who like to say things like "The Patriots are going to the Super Bowl" at the start of the season. Heck, we see that in the Jets press every year. They know people will forget if they're wrong but will remind the hell out of people if they're right (well, at least in theory for the Jets.)

So there will always be the "anything less than a Super Bowl is a failure even if we're coming off a last place finish with a brand new coach" crowd out there - but for my part I would have been prepared to call 10 wins a HUGE success for the first year and I officially predicted 9 wins.

10 wins to me would make us a contender and I know there were a lot of folks here who expected that at the very least, getting us back t respectability so we wouldn't be snubbed by free agents in the off season.

All the rest of this season is gravy as Maye and the roster will only get better in future seasons. It would still be best not to adopt a "anything less than a Super Bowl is a failure" even now, as we have a solid foundation for the next dynasty regardless of how they finish this season!

 

[Ring 6]

Remember the people before the season who insisted this to be true? That it was silly to expect even a postseason bid this year, because this team was going to be a 3-5 year rebuild?

Welcome to 2025. You get the right QB, right coach. Anything can happen. This isn’t the John McKay era anymore. Rebuilds don’t take 5 years.

Oh I remember. I told them all it’s happening now.

 

[Ring 6]

I find it's usually best to keep expectations reasonable when you're coming off a 4-13 season.

That being said, there's always a few writers who like to say things like "The Patriots are going to the Super Bowl" at the start of the season. Heck, we see that in the Jets press every year. They know people will forget if they're wrong but will remind the hell out of people if they're right (well, at least in theory for the Jets.)

So there will always be the "anything less than a Super Bowl is a failure even if we're coming off a last place finish with a brand new coach" crowd out there - but for my part I would have been prepared to call 10 wins a HUGE success for the first year and I officially predicted 9 wins.

10 wins to me would make us a contender and I know there were a lot of folks here who expected that at the very least, getting us back t respectability so we wouldn't be snubbed by free agents in the off season.

All the rest of this season is gravy as Maye and the roster will only get better in future seasons. It would still be best not to adopt a "anything less than a Super Bowl is a failure" even now, as we have a solid foundation for the next dynasty regardless of how they finish this season!

Whole heartedly disagree. Lowering expectations now because you feel good about the future makes no sense at all to me.
I have never understood why people think it’s better to go through life with low expectations to maybe be surprised than to have high expectations and enjoy the ride more.

 

[WhatJustHappened]

FA's will want to come here next year, so that's a massive change for the better.

 

[mgteich]

Remember the people before the season who insisted this to be true? That it was silly to expect even a postseason bid this year, because this team was going to be a 3-5 year rebuild?

Welcome to 2025. You get the right QB, right coach. Anything can happen. This isn’t the John McKay era anymore. Rebuilds don’t take 5 years.

The right QB and coach do not come close to the factors that led to where we are.

Other factors include

a GREAT free agency
a GREAT set of new coaches
a GREAT draft
a very weak schedule
great performance/contributions from almost all the new players
even really good late pickups like Durden

 

[ViperGTS]

Remember the people before the season who insisted this to be true? That it was silly to expect even a postseason bid this year, because this team was going to be a 3-5 year rebuild?

Welcome to 2025. You get the right QB, right coach. Anything can happen. This isn’t the John McKay era anymore. Rebuilds don’t take 5 years.

If some people on this board and others had their way, the team would be 8-9, 9-8 or a bit worse year after year. I got in so many disagreements with posters over just wanting to lose, and lose hard for a QB in '24. When I cheered Rylands miss, I was told that I wasn't a real fan.

There was no chance this team would take 3-5 years for a rebuild. They just needed the right staff and holy **** did they ever get one.

 

[Toofy]

Let it sink we hit powerball this year . It's very rare for teams like patriots to be up and running in 1 season .

Rookie QB beconing top 5 QB - check

Got the best coach on market - check

Got the best offensive coordinator for rookie QB - check

All free agent signings worked - check

Limited injuries for majority of season - check

All rookie draft picks work - check

Easiest schedule and opponents losing significant players to injury - check

 

[Toofy]

The whole world is conspiring to get us the 7th ring.

All we need now is self belief and the luck and superior game day performance to extend for next few months

 

[Pape]

Remember the people before the season who insisted this to be true? That it was silly to expect even a postseason bid this year, because this team was going to be a 3-5 year rebuild?

Welcome to 2025. You get the right QB, right coach. Anything can happen. This isn’t the John McKay era anymore. Rebuilds don’t take 5 years.

Preseason expectations ? count me in the low expectations group...

Never been happier to be wrong

 

[PP2]

Never dreamed we'd be #1 in the power rankings this soon.

 

[Ring 6]

FA's will want to come here next year, so that's a massive change for the better.

They wanted to come here this year

 

[Ross12]

What’s interesting is that while all of their free agent signings worked out, they didn’t necessarily have their pick of the litter. After their big success this year, they will become a free agent destination in 2026, which will let them better stock the roster at the top and middle and end up with better overall depth. This will also help in contract negotiations on extensions.

So yeah, I think that while the schedule will be tougher in 2026, they will be able to compensate for that with key signings.

 

[VrabelJr]

Rebuilds don’t take as long because “de-builds” are also happening faster than ever. Teams are incredibly unstable this season. We’re on an upswing at the perfect time.

 

[Ring 6]

What’s interesting is that while all of their free agent signings worked out, they didn’t necessarily have their pick of the litter. After their big success this year, they will become a free agent destination in 2026, which will let them better stock the roster at the top and middle and end up with better overall depth. This will also help in contract negotiations on extensions.

So yeah, I think that while the schedule will be tougher in 2026, they will be able to compensate for that with key signings.

Who did they pursue that they didn’t get? Godwin, but that had nothing to do with the Patriots, he just wanted to stay put in Tampa.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

The Pats are actually the current favorites to win the Super Bowl in the NY Times simulations. That's partly because the NFC teams have a tougher time getting there, so the top NFC teams split the odds among each other. (Thus if the Pats actually made it to the Super Bowl, they would very likely be underdogs). Also they are currently most likely to get a 1st-rd. bye, which greatly improves their odds.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

I think, whether explicitly stated or not, there was always a caveat anytime people said this of "unless Drake Maye becomes an MVP caliber quarterback instantly". You really can't understate the way Maye has EXPLODED onto the scene this year and how abnormal that is. If he was progressing on a more "normal" trajectory this team wouldn't be contending like it is and I don't think too many people were ready to go THAT FAR in projecting his season.

 

[farn]

Remember the people before the season who insisted this to be true? That it was silly to expect even a postseason bid this year, because this team was going to be a 3-5 year rebuild?

Welcome to 2025. You get the right QB, right coach. Anything can happen. This isn’t the John McKay era anymore. Rebuilds don’t take 5 years.

Remember ? I was him ! Haha. 11-2 ? Didn’t even see that coming pre 2030. What a turnaround.

 

[Ross12]

Who did they pursue that they didn’t get? Godwin, but that had nothing to do with the Patriots, he just wanted to stay put in Tampa.

I don’t know if we’d necessarily know every name. It is somewhat of an assumption.

 

[Joey007]

If some people on this board and others had their way, the team would be 8-9, 9-8 or a bit worse year after year. I got in so many disagreements with posters over just wanting to lose, and lose hard for a QB in '24. When I cheered Rylands miss, I was told that I wasn't a real fan.

There was no chance this team would take 3-5 years for a rebuild. They just needed the right staff and holy **** did they ever get one.

That was my second point. So many posters in here thought we should actually pass on Maye because the roster wasn’t ready.

Could you imagine where we’d be right now if they were running the team?