They have been disappointing and inconsistent this season.
They will play the season finale on Sunday miles from the playoffs.
Even before the start of the season they were hurt by the key players who opted for the 2020 schedule due to the concerns of COVID-19.
They suffered a series of debilitating injuries during the season.
His quarterback game has been very inconsistent with the future in the position in question seriously.
They have been playing the season with a severe shortage of explosive players in position of skill.
These, of course, are the Jets …
… and the Patriots, too.
The Jets 2-13, with a two-game winning streak and feel, play the 6-9 Tom Brady Patriots, losers of their last three games, in Sunday’s season finale for both teams at the stadium Gillette.
While the Jets are the first Rams ’upset, they were 9-4 at the time, and the Browns, who were 10-4 before last week, the Patriots have lost 24-3 against the Rams, 22-12 against the Dolphins. and 38-9 to the AFC East champions Bills in their last three games.
“It simply came to our notice then. “It’s weird not to see them go to the playoffs,” said Jets defender Henry Anderson Wednesday of the Patriots, who beat the Jets 30-27 in a field goal in the final seconds earlier this season.
“It’s weird, because you’ve gotten used to seeing them play games in January and February,” Jets goalie Greg Van Roten said Wednesday. “Yes, it’s different, but these things happen in the NFL. They are a team like us that suffered a lot of injuries, had a lot of guys that didn’t participate. It’s not an excuse, but it makes things difficult and makes it harder to overcome obstacles.
“It’s been one of those years for a lot of teams.”
The Patriots, however, have turned it into an art form by avoiding “one of those years” for years.
This will be the first season since 2008 that he will not make it to the playoffs and only the second time since 2002. His streak of 11 consecutive AFC East titles stopped this year. Since Bill Belichick took over as coach in 2000, the Patriots have been in nine Super Bowls, winning six.
They did it all, of course, with Tom Brady as quarterback.
This season without Brady has been a revelation, a testament to Brady’s incredible ability to elevate the players around him. The lack of this has made the patriots from extraordinary to ordinary.
The Patriots tried to replace Brady with Cam Newton, the MVP powers of the 2015 season seem to be gone.
In short, it hasn’t worked, turning the Patriots into a team that spent nearly 20 years without having to worry about quarterback position to one of the many in the league who don’t have any reliable ones.
Newton, who has thrown just five touchdown passes in 338 attempts this season with 10 interceptions, has only thrown one TD pass in the last four games. He was invested and replaced by Jarrett Stidham in Monday night’s defeat against the Bills after completing 5 of 10 passes for 34 yards.
Asked this week about the transition without Brady, after a long pause, Belichick replied: “Well … our record is disappointing. Viously, obviously, we are doing things differently than we did before. We just need to act at a higher level. All of us. [We] Keep working to do that. “
Belichick has shown curious unshakable support for Newton this season, despite a series of erratic performances. Instead of playing with the younger Stidham to look at him as a possible starter in the future, Belichick stubbornly continues to jog Newton, as he is expected to do on Sunday against the Jets.
“Cam has worked hard,” Belichick said. “He did everything we asked him to do. It has given us great leadership, toughness and competitiveness. I have a lot of respect for what he has done for us this year. “
But just as Belichick has “a lot of respect” for Newton, the Jets have the same respect for Darnold, who at 23 has shown fantastic stamina in the face of all losers.
The problem for Belichick with Newton, however, is the same as for the Jets and Darnold: the game of the two quarterbacks has not been conducive to winning football.
That leaves the Jets and Patriots in very similar places once this season is over: with a lot of questions about the future of the quarterback position.
This also leaves New England in the impressive position of being essentially the same as the Jets, who for the past 20 years have been the Patriots ’personal boxing sack.
And that should shatter Belichick, the Jets ’contempt is as transparent as a clean, crisp glass sliding door.