So, the first draft of this article was titled “This is where we thought the Patriots would be”. That was after a humiliating loss the day after Christmas, in a game that felt far more lopsided than the final score would indicate, to the new-rich-kids-on-the-block-whose-parents-bought-them-a-Camaro Buffalo Bills.
The vibe was one of frustration that only a division game can bring, where the classic “just didn’t make as many plays as we needed to” was maybe the only fitting explanation. Then, a few Winter Lagers and a delayed flight or two later, calmer heads had prevailed, and the realization that while all was not lost, maybe the 2021 New England Patriots, for all their improvement as the season went on and trending towards the Belichickian ideal of “play your best football in January” was simply still not finished with their Luke-Skywalker-on-Dagobah-doing-Jedi-stuff phase.