BOSTON -- I know. I get it. I really do. Winning. It's the point of everything. Sports, life, politics, whatever -- winning. It's the reason people get out of bed in the morning and it's certainly the reason professional athletes show up to work every day. It's all. About. Winning.
So to sit around the day after an ugly loss in a region that knows a thing or two about winning and focus on the positives is an odd choice. A questionable maneuver at best.
But I don't care. Because Drake Maye is that good.
Yes, the Patriots lost a game that any halfway-decent football team would have won, a 25-24 defeat at the hands of the very mediocre Indianapolis Colts. Embarrassing defense, inexplicable red zone play, a mystifying missed kick and continued suspect coaching plagued the Patriots throughout the game, which somewhat fittingly ended on a bizarre 68-yard field goal attempt that didn't reach the crossbar.
But, well ... the Patriots are not a halfway-decent football team. Given the state of their roster, they're maybe a quarter-decent football team. And even that might be generous. The offensive line is bad. The receivers room is among the worst in the league. Their linebacking corps has not had the depth to withstand one injury. It is what it is.
But at quarterback? At the most important position in team sports? At the hardest spot to secure a franchise-altering player? The Patriots are in business at that spot, thanks to Drake Maye.
The stats tell part of the story. Maye was 24-for-30 (80 percent) for 238 yards (7.9 yards per attempt) with a touchdown and an interception. He also had a touchdown pass negated by an illegal shift that didn't affect the play in any way, and the interception was flat-out dropped by Hunter Henry, and he ran five times for 59 yards, including a 41-yard scamper that never required him to even reach top gear.
He confidently fired darts through tight windows:
He perfectly feathered one in to a spot where only his receiver could catch it for a touchdown:
He wasn't perfect. But he was kind of close.
And at just 22 years old (!), it's remarkable.
Of course, at a certain point, he'll have to be a part of some more wins for all of that to matter. Winning is, after all, the point of the whole thing.
For now, though, the Patriots entered the season with a bottom-five roster, and they're currently living up to expectations as a team. And for all that may be fair game to say about the coaching of Jerod Mayo, DeMarcus Covington and Alex Van Pelt, and for all the valid criticism of Eliot Wolf and the front office, the fact of the matter is that this season was entirely about the development of Drake Maye. And in that regard, everything is going even better than most anyone could have imagined.
Unfortunately for the Patriots, we've got plenty of time to dissect all of the things that didn't quite go according to plan, so let's quickly run through the leftover thoughts.
--The Hunter Henry drop-turned-interception was THE play of the game. I know the 19-play, 80-yard touchdown drive by Indianapolis was excruciating, I know the two-point conversion was killer, and I also know the Joey Slye miss from 25 yards was brutal. They were all major factors. But all Hunter Henry had to do was catch that football, and the Patriots are looking at a lead of either five or seven points entering the fourth quarter, pending the result of the two-point conversion attempt. It would have set the Patriots up to not only win but to potentially win somewhat comfortably. Instead, they didn't take that lead until the midway point of the fourth, setting the table for the Colts to be able to take their time on what proved to be the game-winning drive.
Henry was the best pass catcher for the Patriots on Sunday, but in terms of where this one was won or lost, it's hard to start anywhere other than the drop.
--And though the 19-play, penalty-aided 80-yard game-winning drive was the exclamation point on an ineffective defensive day for New England, it remains difficult to grasp how not one but two Colts players could be left all alone on an entire half of a football field for Indianapolis' first touchdown:
--An unfortunate update for Eliot Wolf is that Ja'Lynn Polk continues to be unable to make any impact on the field. The rookie was targeted once on a first-and-5 where it appeared he had no idea what to do. He started his rookie season decently enough, with eight receptions for 61 yards and a touchdown over his first four weeks. Since then, though, he's caught four passes in eight games for just 26 yards and a touchdown.
He's 22 years old, and he caught 69 passes for 1,159 yards and nine touchdowns for one of the best college teams in the nation last year. So it's probably much too early to declare him permanently unfit for the NFL. But his first impression is not good, with the names of N'Keal Harry, Tyquan Thornton and Chad Jackson being invoked in recent weeks. And with the Patriots having traded out of the spot where the Chargers took Ladd McConkey (58 receptions, 815 yards, four touchdowns for the Chargers), the decision is absolutely a stain on Wolf and the front office at this point in time.
And the ripple effect could be significant, as the Patriots will now have to weigh addressing the complete lack of talent at offensive tackle vs. the need for a game-changing player at the receiver position to work with Maye as they head into an offseason with a top-five pick in their back pocket. They now certainly need both after opting for receiver and missing last year at the top of the second round.
--As for the draft pick watch, the Patriots are currently in position to pick fourth, per Tankathon, which weighs all the little tiebreakers that we needn't obsess about at this point in the year. At 3-10, the Patriots are behind the Giants, Raiders, and Jaguars, all of whom are 2-10. Three teams (Panthers, Jets, Titans) are 3-9, while the Browns are 3-8 (playing on Monday night). The other teams (Saints, Bengals, Bears) are 4-8.
The Jaguars will play the Titans, Jets, Raiders and Titans (again) over the next four weeks. The Raiders and Giants will play the Saints. The Panthers might be out of winnable games, and the Jets coul very well lose out to finish 3-14. And the Bears are very realistically looking at 4-14. All of that is to say ... it's crowded, and there's too much left to shake out for anyone to get overly involved right now. (Give it a few weeks.)
At best, the Patriots will win one more game. Which means at worst, they're probably looking at the No. 7 overall pick. Does that take off any of the sting associated with losing in the fashion they did on Sunday? Maybe. Maybe not. Anthony Richardson doing a hoedown dance and sticking an L in the home crowd's face was tough for all involved.
(And yes, Christian Barmore was obviously held on that game-deciding two-point conversion. What can ya do?)
--Something I'll be watching (because I wonder how much Robert and Jonathan Kraft follow this) is the attendance for the Patriots' final two home games. There was certainly plenty of blue (and a ton of red, as usual) seen in the upper levels of Gillette Stadium on Sunday, as the prospect of dedicating an entire day to the 3-9 Patriots in somewhat-chilly conditions clearly didn't convince the masses to flock to Foxboro like the old days. The get-in price on resale tickets in the hour leading up to kickoff dropped to the single digits.
That's a situation that's unlikely to improve. Following the bye week, they'll play at Arizona and at Buffalo. Both are likely losses, but even if the Patriots randomly steal one of those, they'll be returning to Gillette with -- at best -- a 4-11 record. More likely, they'll be 3-12, hosting the Chargers, who will have close to zero fans traveling from L.A. while battling for playoff positioning. The appeal for local fans to head out in what's likely to be frigid weather on Dec. 28 might be ... Vederian. (We're talking about LOWe, folks.)
And in Week 18 in early January, against a Bills team that very well could be looking to lock down the No. 1 seed in the AFC, the scene at Gillette for the season finale -- much like last year's loss to the Jets on Bill Belichick's and Matthew Slater's final game with the franchise -- will likely be downright dreary.
I don't know what that does in terms of ownership making any decisions, but I'm curious to see how it plays out.