Time Warp Tales of Glory
The calendars in our minds are not in synch with the actual calendar we use to mark time in physical reality. We're always a little behind, and sometimes a lot behind.
This is most apparent during the months of maximum season change. I woke up this morning at 6:30 a.m. and was surprised to find it was still almost totally dark outside. October mornings have increasingly later dawns and have had them my entire life. Still, in my head, it was September, or maybe August. Next March, when the calendar shifts again, I'll be surprised, even before daylight savings time, when it's still light out at 5:30 p.m. Isn't it still January.
And of course, the most notable calendar delusion is the universal human conviction that we're all about five years younger (sometimes more, in some unfortunate cases a lot more) than our actual ages. Which brings us to Patriots fans and the team's large media-industrial complex. In those minds, the Pats exist in 2019 at the latest. It might be a franchise with issues, it might be a declining great NFL power, but a great power it remains.
Lose to the Lions tomorrow? Impossible. Detroit is a traditional and ongoing losers, and the home team is the mighty Pats. Third string quarterback or no, they will win by virtue of all those wins they piled up in the GW Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations. Which could happen, but history and destiny will have nothing to do with it. Detroit's dead last in the NFL defense is the most likely reason.
By the same token, we are confidently told that New England is entering "the soft underbelly" of its schedule, that it is an inherently superior outfit to the Browns, Beats, Jets, and Colts, their next four opponents prior to their bye week. It is, we are told, entirely reasonable to expect the Pats to go 4-1 or even run the table in the next five games.
Again, this could happen, because the NFL is always a random walk, and it's been more random so far this season than most. But it should be noted that as of today, the Browns, Bears, Jets and Colts all have better records than the 1-3 Pats. Why aren't they assuming a New England game is one they can and should win?
Well, they likely are. All NFL teams go into a game assuming they can win. Sometimes the assumption is very fragile, and five minutes of game action is enough to dispel it. This happened quite often to Pats' opponents back in the day, the day (days, months, years) Tom Brady was their quarterback. It has yet to happen in the 7/8ths of one game Bailey Zappe has been their quarterback.
The idea that Brady may be gone, but the Pats' innate superiority remains is about the dumbest notion I've come across in 50 years of following then covering then following Boston sports. It's absurd on its face. Subtract Patrick Mahomes from the Chiefs, or Aaron Rodgers from the Packers. Are they the same powers? Rodgers disproved that in the first half of last Sunday's game.
There's nothing intrinsically terrible about the Patriots' situation in 2022. They are devoid of stars, except maybe Matthew Judon, but have loads of OK to very solid starters on the roster. They are capable of beating almost any opponent if they play to the best of their abilities, and even more capable of losing to any team if they don't. In short, they are pretty much like 15 to 20 other teams, sturdy citizens of the NFL's middle class.
Trouble is, in the NFL, even the middle class lives Sunday paycheck to Sunday paycheck. Unexpected disaster is always more possible than easy triumph. The Patriots can't afford to assume anything will come to them through past performance. They can only perform when and if they can.
See New England for what it is, a team in flux, not exactly rebuilding but not exactly not. A team facing about the worst disaster that can befall any NFL team, the loss of its starting and backup quarterbacks to injury. If they beat the Lions, don't take it as evidence all is well. If they lose, don't take it as meaning all is lost. But please, please, stop thinking victory is the Pats' destiny against any team. They don't have any destiny yet.
posted by Michael Gee @ 10:17 AM
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