When NFL fans think about pure domination, one of the eras that should be mentioned is the pure domination that the New England Patriots had within the AFC East for nearly two decades. At the hands of Tom Brady and the Patriots, the Buffalo Bills, New York Jets and Miami Dolphins were battling for second place because they just simply could not take the division away while Brady was there. Year after year, the Patriots easily won the division and created the best dynasty that the NFL has ever had. Six Super Bowls, countless division championships and they had some of the best players in NFL history on the team throughout the eras.
Once the end of the 2010s came, the Patriots were heading in a direction that they had not been in for a long time. Brady left the Patriots to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New England never hit a true reset button and are now going into a complete rebuild mode with a new head coach in Jerod Mayo. Since Brady’s departure, the Patriots have had one winning season which included a playoff appearance only to get swamped by the Bills 47-17. New England tried to make it work with Mac Jones and Bill Belichick but it was a disaster after Jones’ rookie season. The Patriots had their worst season since 2000 where they finished 5-11.
Heading into 2024, the Patriots are in a rebuild with a new coach and will begin the development of their rookie quarterback Drake Maye. New England is expected to be one of the worst teams once again next season and have another high draft pick in the first round. Part of rebuilding is to get excited about the future and see which players will be part of a potential great team for the next 5-10 seasons. There are some people who believe the Patriots do not have an exciting future and are actually wasting away their rebuild.
Alex Ballentine from Bleacher Report created a list of teams that are going in the wrong direction of their rebuild and the Patriots made it onto the list along with the Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos, New Orleans Saints and New York Giants.
Bills fans should love this news regarding the Patriots
For a very long time, the Bills were the little brother to the Patriots. Since Brady left the division, the Bills have only lost to the Patriots twice and taken the AFC East away from the Patriots the last four seasons. With New England being listed as a team that is wasting their rebuild, it shows that the Patriots have not done anything beyond impressive to be considered a team on the rise.
They have one of the slowest rosters in the league and have a quarterback who has high potential, but has a lot of errors that need to be corrected before he becomes a full-time starter. While the Patriots will still have an above average defense, they still have a lot of work to do on offense which is a key factor to having a successful team in today’s NFL.