NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 2022 WIN PREDICTION

BY ADAM GREENE

There was no way to prepare for the New England Patriots’ return to the postseason in 2021 and, in spite of all of human civilization rooting against it, it happened. The team opened their campaign drafting Mac Jones out of Alabama in the first round to be their new franchise quarterback and won that one. No rookie QB had a better season than the former Crimson Tide signal caller.

It looked promising for a while, the chance that Super Genius Bill Belichick would once again be forced to watch the playoffs from under his favorite bridge while picking Billy goat bones from his teeth. New England stumbling out to a 1-3 start thanks to getting smacked around by the Miami Dolphins, the New Orleans Saints and their old quarterback that Belichick ran off from the team, Tom Brady and his new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The franchise that just so happened to have won the Super Bowl the season before. We all hated that too, but what are you going to do?

A win over the Houston Texans didn’t help because they were immediately booted by the Dallas Cowboys in overtime. The Patriots opened the year 2-4 and all was right with the world.

But, much like the kingdoms of Middle Earth when receiving the rings of power, we were all deceived. The Patriots reeled off a seven-game winning streak, not only knocking off bad teams like the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers, but sticking a 27-24 loss on the Los Angeles Chargers that I still can’t explain.

Worse even than that, they beat the Buffalo Bills 14-10 in a weather game in Buffalo where they outperformed the home team in its own stadium. It was embarrassing for the Bills and should have been. It was also the last high point of New England’s season. They dropped their next two, a 27-17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts and a 33-21 revenge beat down by the Bills that was just the beginning of the domination that team would unleash upon the Pats.

They dropped their finale against the Dolphins for the season sweep, but had already landed a playoff spot. One they quickly vacated by surrendering the worst defensive performance in modern playoff history in a 47-17 shellacking by the Bills in the Wild Card round. Buffalo scored a touchdown on every possession in the game, with the exception of kneel downs at the end of both halves.

Jones finished his rookie year with a 67.6 completion percentage, throwing for 3,01 yards, 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Damien Harris rushed for 929 yards and 15 touchdowns.

The defense finished No. 2 in points allowed and No. 4 in yards allowed. Matt Judon led the team with 12.5 sacks.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

Last season: 10-7

Odds: Over 8.5 wins (-120), Under 8.5 wins (+110)

2022 NFL Draft: Cole Strange, OG, UT-Chattanooga (Round 1), Tyquan Thornton, WR, Baylor (Round 2), Marcus Jones, CB, Houston (Round 3), Jack Jones, CB, Arizona State (Round 4), Pierre Strong, RB, South Dakota State (Round 4), Bailey Zappe, QB, Western Kentucky (Round 4), Kevin Harris, RB, South Carolina (Round 6), Sam Roberts, DT, Northwest Missouri State (Round 6), Chasen Hines, Center, LSU (Round 6), Andrew Stueber, OT, Michigan (Round 7)

2022 Additions: Mack Wilson, LB (trade), Ty Montgomery, WR (free agent), Jabril Peppers, Safety (free agent), Terrence Mitchell, CB (free agent), Lil’jordan Humphrey, WR (free agent)

Projected Starters

Offense

QB: Mac Jones

RB: Damien Harris

WR: DeVante Parker

WR: Jakobi Meyers

WR: Kendrick Bourne

TE: Hunter Henry

LT: Trent Brown

LG: Cole Strange

C: David Andrews

RG: Mike Onwenu

RT: Isaiah Wynn

Defense

LDE: Deatrich Wise, Jr.

NT: Davon Godchaux

RDE: Lawrence Guy

WLB: Matthew Judon

LILB: Ja’Whaun Bentley

RILB: Mack Wilson

SLB: Josh Uche

CB: Terrence Mitchell

CB: Jalen Mills

SS: Kyle Dugger

FS: Devin McCourty

Special Teams

PK: Nick Folk

P: Jake Bailey

PR: Jakobi Meyers

KR: Ty Montgomery

PREVIEW

The calamitous mess that will be the 2022 New England Patriots officially began when longtime offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels decided he’d had enough of Boston and needed to really lean into that Las Vegas vacation he’d put off for so long. In the place of one of the best and most creative offensive minds in the league, the Super Genius himself, Bill Belichick, brought in a shaved chimpanzee and one of those Russian tundra wooly mammoth mummies to take over.

Wait.. (checks notes).. it turns out I was mistaken. It’s former New York Giants head coach Joe Judge and former Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia. Together, that braintrust will run the offense and, if the practice and preseason is any indication, it will be a dumpster fire of dirty diapers. Bill probably would have been better off going with the chimp and dead mammoth. At least they’d leave less rogue hairballs and half-eaten salami and limburger hoagies hidden around the offices.

This will be a disaster and for those of us outside of New England, pretty fun to watch. The Pats open up with two road games at the Dolphins and at the Pittsburgh Steelers before hosting the Baltimore Ravens. After that, they have a date at Lambeu field against the Green Bay Packers. That’s an 0-4 start right there.

They get a reprieve when they host the Detroit Lions, but I’m not super confident in that win. They next play at Cleveland and the Browns, even without Deshaun Watson, have a far superior roster to New England so that’s probably a toss up. After that, they host the Chicago Bears and play at the Jets before a sure fire absolute crushing defeat by the Indianapolis Colts.

As they head into the bye, I have them 4-5 at best, but probably 3-6. Back from the break, they face the Jets again, but here’s the final stretch — At the Minnesota Vikings, the Bills, at the Arizona Cardinals, at the Las Vegas Raiders, the Cincinnati Bengals, the Dolphins and at the Bills. I can’t see them wining a game out of that seven, especially if Kyler Murray gets his PS5 taken away before their Dec. 12 match up.

Bill Belichick is a first ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer, but here, in the twilight of his career, the impact that Tom Brady, the greatest QB to ever lace up his cleats or under-inflate a football, had on that accomplishment is going to be made clearer with each passing season.

Final record prediction: 5-12

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter @TheFirstMan.

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