Patriots Eyeing Worst Start in 21 Years?
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Curiously, the NFL team that managed only seven points in a season-opening loss amid offensive turmoil is favored in Week 2 - on the road, no less - against a team coming off a scintillating upset of the defending AFC champions.
Oddsmakers, who have established the New England Patriots as 1.5-point favorites over the Steelers Sunday in Pittsburgh, must be accounting for the absence of reigning Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt (chest). But they also might be discounting the Steelers' overtime win over the Bengals in Cincinnati, because they're taking into consideration the last 20 years:
The Patriots have played 20 consecutive seasons without starting 0-2.
New England is 0-1 after a lifeless 20-7 loss to the Miami Dolphins. And, in case you haven't noticed, the author of their impressive 0-2 avoidance - Tom Brady - is no longer in Foxboro.
The gravity of starting 0-2 is real. Only about 12 percent of teams losing their first two games go on to make the playoffs. Even with the NFL's expanded postseason field, last year the seven teams that started 0-2 didn't make it.
Starting 0-2 isn't an absolute a death sentence, as four teams have rallied to play in a Super Bowl. But it usually takes an asterisk, such as Emmitt Smith holding out the first two games for the Dallas Cowboys in 1993 or New England's Drew Bledsoe getting injured in Week 2 in 2001.
Bledsoe, of course, was knocked out of that game by Jets linebacker Mo Lewis, prompting coach Bill Belichick to insert Brady and ... launch a six-Super Bowl dynasty. The Pats lost that game to New York to fall to 0-2, but went 11-3 the rest of the season with Brady as the starter and - with an assist from the infamous Tuck Rule - went on to upset the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.
During Brady's reign, New England never started 0-2. Even when he suffered a torn ACL in the opener in 2008, it started 2-0 behind backup quarterback Matt Cassel.
Under Mac Jones the Pats lost their 2021 opener to the Dolphins, but rebounded for a 25-6 in Week 2 at the Jets. But this year's team seems primed for 0-2.
The only player to score a touchdown - Ty Montgomery - was on Tuesday placed on injured reserve and won't be in uniform Sunday in Pittsburgh. Brady isn't coming back to save these Patriots, nor 2001 0-2-to-glory heroes such as Antowain Smith, Troy Brown, Adam Vinatieri, Richard Seymour, Tedy Bruschi or Ty Law.
Critics predict the Patriots are regressing into a period of mediocrity. A loss Sunday in Pittsburgh would take them to a low point not experienced in the last 20 years.
