New England Patriots NFL Season Recap

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Round One of the biggest sports divorce in history is over. Or at least the first round. And the GOAT of quarterbacks beat the GOAT of coaches. At least for the time being. Tom Brady is back in his usual spot as a quarterback in the NFL Playoffs. There is only one small difference. Instead of leading the New England Patriots into postseason battle with head coach Bill Belichick, Brady will do that for head coach Bruce Arians and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. For Belichick that must be a difficult pill to swallow. His desperate gamble with Cam Newton was low cost and low risk. But it failed miserably. Most important of all, it outed The Hoodie’s failure at acquiring playmakers and a competent quarterback to replace Brady. The 2020 season was an utter failure for New England.

New England Patriots Season Recap

The New England Patriots finished with a final record of 7-9 straight up and against the spread with 5-11 under the total. NFL metrics showed the Patriots with offensive rankings of 27th for total offense, 30th for passing, 4th for rushing, 27th for scoring, and 15th for turnovers. Defensively the Patriots ranked better at 15th for total defense, 9th against the pass, 26th against the rush, 7th for points allowed, and 11th for takeaways. New England finished in third place in the AFC East behind the Miami Dolphins and division champion Buffalo Bills.

The 2020 NFL season began in a promising fashion for the Patriots. They suffocated the Miami Dolphins 21-11 in the season opener at home.

And then they played a memorable NBC Sunday Night Football thriller at the Seattle Seahawks in week two. But Seattle proved to be too much in a 35-30 win. In the loss, Cam Newton peaked as Patriots quarterback. Newton passed for 397 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 47 more yards and 2 touchdowns. At that point, the pajama boy media swooned and proclaimed the 2015 NFL MVP the answer to Belichick’s quarterback quandary.

Week three was an impressive 36-20 home win over the Oakland Raiders. New England was 2-1 while Tampa Bay was struggling. The fanboys in the media said Belichick was winning the divorce. Instead, that was the last day of joy in New England for the 2020 season. A four-game losing streak followed. The Patriots were never the same.

As the season wore on NFL defenses easily cracked the Cam Newton code. He was rendered helpless by mid-October. In Newton’s defense, he faced the same challenge that Tom Brady confronted the season before. Newton lacked a supporting cast that could break games open. There was no deep threat wide receivers. Nor was there a consistent workhorse running back.

Defensively the Patriots remained a solid team. With a complimentary offense, it could have been among the best. But the burden of having to carry the team for any success wore down the defense. By the end of the season, they had nothing left to give.

Cam Newton finished with a pedestrian 82.9 quarterback rating. He threw only 8 touchdown passes with 10 interceptions. He was sacked 31 times. Cam was second on the Patriots for rushing with 592 yards, 4.3 yards per rush, and 12 touchdowns. Problematic was that much of that yardage was born from desperation. Early in the season, it was asked why everyone was so dumb at not picking up Newton. But after one month it became obvious. He has poor mechanics and can’t carry a team. Brady, with the same lackluster lineup, got much more out of it.

The Patriots top two receivers, Jakobi Meyers and Damiere Boyd, both averaged under 13 yards per catch.

Top running backs Damien Harris and Sony Michel were averaging 5.0 yards per rush or better. But their durability was not reliable.

Cornerback JC Jackson had a strong season with 9 interceptions.

As the offseason unfolds Belichick has got to find a quarterback and a bomb threat to throw the ball too. He also has to fortify his depth after several players opted out of the season.

For decades the Patriots were pro sports’ model franchise. This year they were exposed as unprepared and out of their element.

New England Patriots Schedule & Results

Patriots Past Seasons (2000)

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