The NFL is back, and Sportsnet is breaking down everything you need to know about each of the 32 teams—including why you should or shouldn’t be rooting for them this season—in the month leading up to kickoff on Thursday, Sept. 8. Today, the New England Patriots.
Last year’s record: 12-4
Head coach: Bill Belichick
Core players: Tom Brady (QB), Rob Gronkowski (TE), Jamie Collins (LB), Dont’a Hightower (LB)
2016 is about… Overcoming the Brady suspension. For the first time since the 2008 season, the Patriots will be without star quarterback Tom Brady for a significant portion of the season. The Patriots will open the year with third-year starter Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback as Brady serves his four-game suspension for his involvement in the Deflategate saga that finally came to an end this summer.
Garoppolo has never started an NFL game and has attempted only 31 passes in his two seasons with New England, but the club will need him to hold the fort while Brady is out. New England plays three of their first four games at home, which gives Garoppolo and the Patriots a legitimate chance of going .500 or better during Brady’s absence. That said, they open the season with a tough road game at the Arizona Cardinals.
The Patriots, internally, have been impressed by their primary backup quarterback throughout off-season work and early in training camp. Belichick will have to re-design the team’s offence a bit in order to make things easier on Garoppolo and won’t ask him to handle as much at the line of scrimmage.
They lost… The Patriots have plenty of important contributors in the final year of their contracts, so the club traded emerging pass rusher Chandler Jones to the Arizona Cardinals before the 2016 draft in order to create salary-cap space and avoid losing a quality player for nothing. Jones, 26, was the team’s best outside rusher over the last three years, recording a total of 30 sacks with seven forced fumbles. The defence also lost longtime linebacker Jerod Mayo to retirement and released defensive tackle Dominique Easley, the club’s 2014 first round pick, due to character issues and durability concerns.
On the other side of the ball, the club basically maintained its personnel, with receiver Brandon LaFell being the lone notable departure. LaFell had a big year with New England during their Super Bowl season in 2014, but his production rapidly declined last year. He recorded 515 receiving yards in 2015 but did not score a touchdown.
But they got… The Patriots have been searching for a complement to Rob Gronkowski at tight end since losing Aaron Hernandez, and may have finally found him when they traded for veteran Martellus Bennett from the Chicago Bears. The combination of Bennett and Gronkowski will create a matchup nightmare in the passing game, which could open up other receivers as well, and the former Bear is also regarded as one of the better blocking tight ends in the league.
The Patriots also added depth at receiver by landing Chris Hogan as a restricted free agent to help stretch the field and took a flier on declining veteran Nate Washington, who was a reliable deep-ball weapon earlier in his career.
On defence, the Patriots went back to their roots and added bulk at the line of scrimmage, bringing in defensive tackle Terrance Knighton. The 300-pounder will likely take on some of Vince Wilfork’s old responsibilities in its base packages and will come off the field on passing downs, which is where new addition Chris Long could factor in. The second-overall pick of the 2008 draft signed a bargain deal to replace some of Jones’s snaps at defensive end. The 31-year-old isn’t an elite pass rusher but is a versatile player who can defend the run and pressure the quarterback when healthy, which is a key question mark for Long. The team also added Bears 2012 first-rounder Shea McClellin in free agency, who could be used at defensive end after spending the two years as an off-the-ball linebacker.
Growing from within: We didn’t mention it in the last category but the Patriots also made a huge addition to its coaching staff by bringing back offensive line guru Dante Scarnecchia. He had retired after the 2013 season following a 30-year coaching career in New England, but is back with the club in order to fix their biggest weakness. Scarnecchia will be tasked with trying to build up a slew of young players, such as rookie guard Joe Thuney, guard Shaq Mason, centre Bryan Stork and right guard Jon Cooper (who came over from the Cardinals in the Jones trade).
The decline of the offensive line cost New England last season, which forced the club to decide against renewing the contract of former OL coach Dave DeGuglielmo. Belichick will be looking to see immediate improvement out of the group in 2016.
Why this team? Similar to Gregg Popovich and the recently retired Tim Duncan, the combination of Belichick and Brady has allowed the Patriots to dominate the AFC East for 14 of the last 15 seasons. Heck, Belichick even managed to win double-digit games with Matt Cassel in 2008 so four games of Garoppolo shouldn’t come close to submarining New England’s season. Plus, the Patriots have more depth across their 90-man roster than they’ve had in recent years.
Why not? If the offensive line stinks again and Garoppolo crumbles under the pressure, it could open up the door for the Jets in the AFC East. Outside of that, it’s hard to imagine any reason why New England isn’t in Super Bowl contention.
How much hope? 9/10. Twelve games of Brady is enough. The four-game suspension could even be a blessing in disguise if it means he’s fresher down the stretch.
