No matter what happens as the trade deadline nears, whether players are shipped out (how's the real estate market, Stephon Gilmore?) or brought in, one or two players in either direction are not going to make a huge difference for the Patriots in 2020. Certainly not with the way they played on Sunday on both sides of the ball against the 49ers. The time for major personnel shifts was over in August. For better or worse, these are your 2020 Patriots for the final 10-plus games.
That's why — as always — any improvement from this Patriots team will have to come from within.
And it starts with the coaches. You can't just wave a magic wand and have Cam Newton play at an MVP level. You can't just snap a finger and play better defense on second down
It has to start with being honest about where the team is. Identifying the problem areas and where they need to go. And then setting a plan for how to get there.
A look at where the Patriots' coaches will have to improve this team, and how to get there:
Starting over with Cam Newton
For signing the player late, having no offseason nor any joint practices or preseason games, Josh McDaniels and Jedd Fisch did a great job laying the foundation for Newton.
Without knowing what to expect from Newton against another team, they wisely started with the running game in the opener against the Dolphins. Being down 11 points at the end of the third quarter caused a needed tilt to the passing game against the Seahawks. And never trailing against the Raiders allowed the Patriots to play their game.
All seemed to be moving in the right direction, even if Newton struggled against the Raiders.
But then Newton tested positive for Covid and missed most of three weeks, and all the slow progress was erased. Now Newton looks lost, no longer has any confidence, and isn't trusting his instincts.
It's up to McDaniels and Fisch to Newton and the offense back together again, and they realize that enormous challenge on the fly during the season.
"There’s no shortcut to this," McDaniels told reporters this week. "Certainly, nobody is happy. It’s my responsibility and I’m accountable to that. We’re going to work as hard as we can to try and make improvements every day in practice. I know Cam will. He’s dedicated to doing that. I know our whole group is. Nobody’s content with what we’ve been able to do recently, and we know we have to make a lot of progress quickly and we’ll be hard at work doing that this week."
McDaniels knows he's going to have to get back to basics. The Patriots have to crawl before they can walk — let alone run – with Newton.
"I think it starts with doing the things that he’s comfortable with and then working those things in practice," McDaniels said. "Again, I don’t think there’s any shortcut to this. I think there’s certainly things that we saw on the film that, you know what, those were good things that we saw on the practice field last week. I think the goal is: If we practice a little sharper, a little crisper each day of the week and we have more success as we go through the season in practice, and then transfer those to the games, that’s always been the formula, regardless of who the receivers are, who the quarterback is, who the tight ends and backs are, who’s blocking for them upfront. You have to do it in practice. Bill has always told us that practice execution becomes game reality. For us, I think there’s a lot of urgency for us to be able to see that this week and transfer that into the game.”