These Patriots Are No Juggernaut, and They’re Also No Underdog

Still, New England is in a great position to end its seven-year drought of not advancing to the Super Bowl playing complementary football.

Patriots quarterback Drake Maye threw for 179 yards and three touchdowns in New England's divisional round win over the Texans on Sunday. | David Butler II-Imagn Images

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: The Patriots have an ideal path to the Super Bowl.

It wasn’t that long ago that Tom Brady and Bill Belichick benefited from subpar competition in the AFC East to rack up enough wins to skip wild-card weekend for nearly an entire decade—the Patriots had a first-round bye for nine consecutive seasons, from 2010 to ’18. 

Brady’s Patriots advanced to the Super Bowl nine times, and yes, some playoff roads were easier than others. But let’s not forget that in 2017, Case Keenum, Blake Bortles, Nick Foles and Brady were the final four quarterbacks but the greatest quarterback of all time didn’t hoist the Lombardi Trophy that postseason. 

So, we shouldn’t assume that these current Patriots, led by second-year quarterback Drake Maye, will waltz to the Super Bowl just because Jarrett Stidham will fill in for the injured Bo Nix next week in Denver to possibly end Patriots fans’ long seven-year wait of not advancing to the big game. (Fans of the Bills, Jets and Dolphins likely don’t appreciate my sarcasm.)

This new group of Patriots aren’t used to being in this position after dismantling the Texans, 28–16, on Sunday to advance to next week’s AFC championship game. But they’re not getting the underdog treatment because of the team’s previous success that still feels recent, and coach Mike Vrabel was around when New England won three Super Bowls in four years in the early 2000s.  

There’s familiarity, but these Patriots are no juggernaut and they’re also not an underdog—the Greatest Show on Turf won’t be standing in their way, which was the case for a 24-year-old Brady when he won his first of seven rings. 

While it’s difficult to assess what these Patriots are doing suddenly after a legendary 20-year run with Brady and Belichick, and in Vrabel’s first season after taking over a four-win team, we can at least say this team has earned the position that they’re in and have not benefited from an easy playoff path. There’s also nothing easy about winning a playoff game at Mile High Stadium. 

Forget for a second that Stidham, the Patriots’ fourth-round pick in 2019, will be the next opponent and that the Patriots had somewhat of a favorable schedule to win the AFC East. There was no bye week for the 23-year-old Maye, who had to face two of the best defenses in the league before being one victory away from the Super Bowl. There was plenty of chatter regarding the Texans’ defense, perhaps one good enough to be legendary. But Maye managed to brush off the hits and turnovers like he did against Jesse Minter’s Chargers’ defense the week before, producing enough points to not squander a stellar performance from his defense. 

The 'no one believes in us' team

Maybe the Patriots should take on the role of the “no one believes in us” team because Vrabel’s defense hasn’t gotten enough attention this season. (These Patriots would play that role better than the 2010s Patriots, who didn’t seem believable at the time after all the winning they had done.) Defensive tackles Milton Williams and Christian Barmore have terrorized Justin Herbert and C.J. Stroud the past two weeks, and Christian Gonzalez’s elite coverage skills is allowing his secondary teammates to fly to the ball. New England had five takeaways and forced Stroud into four interceptions on Sunday. 

This Patriots defense could again get lost because the Broncos’ defense can be just as good as Houston’s—another reason why this group likely won’t have a cakewalk to the Super Bowl. It bodes well that Maye has made clutch throws against the game’s best defenses the past two weeks, including the 32-yard touchdown strike to Kayshon Boutte, who made a sensational one-handed grab to give New England a 12-point advantage in the fourth quarter. Maye went 16-of-27 for 179 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. 

Maye and his pass catchers appear ready for their next challenge of needing to win on the road, perhaps in the most hostile environment in the NFL. And while I don’t know whether this team is a juggernaut or an underdog, I do know this team excels at complementary football. Maye has put aside MVP heroics for efficient performances, letting his defense do the heavy lifting. 

There was a time in Brady’s career when he was more of a game manager than the best quarterback in the league. Brady leaned on his teammates to win those first three titles, along with Vrabel and the rest of the Patriots. 

Now, Vrabel has imprinted that mindset in these current Patriots, who are one game away from the Super Bowl.

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