If we’re being honest about it, you could make a pretty good argument that the New England Patriots are one of the most boom-or-bust teams in the entire NFL this season. Outside of maybe Miami, Denver, and San Francisco, if we traveled back to the future and told our future selves that the 2022 Patriots rattled off 12 wins, we’d probably nod along and figure, “Ah, well, Bill Belichick remains elite, Mac Jones took that second-year leap, and everyone’s playing like we all know they’re capable of playing at their best.”
On the other hand, if we told our future selves that the Patriots went 5-12, 2023 us would probably figure, “Hey, brutal schedule, Josh McDaniels finally actually left this time, it’s another 2009, time for a new generation and the young guys are still finding their own path”, and then our past selves would really, really want to know if the Red Sox ended up keeping Xander Bogaerts and/or Raffy Devers.