FOXBOROUGH - If there ever was such a thing as the "Patriot Way," it is safe to say it is now dead and gone (those in the organization both loved and hated that saying. An odd dichotomy but par for the course here in Foxborough). In its place stands a team that has buckled repeatedly this season en route to a 2-7 start that no one expected, especially not the people who have built this roster and those who coach this team.
"I feel like we've been close all year," team captain Matthew Slater told me in hushed tones post-game. "But close isn't good enough in this league. We can say whatever we want about, 'Hey, we're there, we're right there.' We're not. This is hard. Especially for someone who has been a part of this place when it was on top. But what are you going to do? Just keep competing."
"Very frustrated," said Hunter Henry. "Kind of everybody is in that locker room. Feel like I've been saying it every week. We put a lot of work in. It's frustrating. It hurts. Yeah. It's tough."
This team can't get out of its own way. That would be tolerable if it was a one-time thing. It is not. The Pats have been doing it week in and week out for most of the season. They were once again plagued by dumb penalties - none worse than the special teams gaffe by Mack Wilson that gave the Commanders a fresh set of downs in the closing minutes - a critical turnover (it severely diminished any hopes of a comeback), and mental errors that are not limited to just one position group or unit. It's all of them. Again.
"We know where we are messing up, and we know that we are beating ourselves," said Deatrich Wise. "In most of the games that we play, it's a lot of things that we're doing wrong and not capitalizing on opportunities that we have. Once we stop beating ourselves (pause) - our goal is to not beat ourselves, and that's what pushes us."
"You know, look (sigh), I sit up here and say, and I believe it," said David Andrews, repeating an all-too-familiar refrain this season. "And that's why I say it. It's on us. We had opportunities not just in the two-minute but opportunities to make a play or an impact and we just didn't really do that. Again, you gotta look in the mirror and go back to work. It's not going to break my spirit; it's not going to break our spirit. We're going to take tonight and come back tomorrow."
JuJu Smith-Schuster - who's had a challenging transition to New England - stood in front of a massive group of reporters and cameras and owned the offense's final play, a ball that he should have caught that instead went through his hands and into the waiting arms of a defender to squash a last-gasp comeback.
"Middle of the field was open," he told us. "Ran an in-cut. It was a good ball. It went through my hands. Interception. Game over."
"It's all on me. He (Mac Jones) put the ball in a good position. I just got to make the catch. Secure it. Now, we're in field goal range. Obviously, I didn't do that. Fell short."
Much of the locker room (except two - we'll get to them in a second) faced the media in some cases long before the head coach did. When Bill Belichick finally strode the podium, he actually assumed more of a positive tone than in recent weeks, pointing to his team having a chance in that 4th quarter.
"Had a chance at the end. Just couldn't make enough plays," he said. "Disappointing result. Just got to do a better job of making the plays when we have opportunities to make them. It's as simple as that. That's really about it; I mean, it's all the way across the board. All three units."
For nearly his entire football life as the boss of these Patriots, Belichick had this penchant for getting his team to improve as the season dragged on. In contrast, other teams peaked and cratered as September and October turned to November and December. Tom Brady obviously was a massive part of that growth year in and year out, but the mistakes that other teams made were not the ones that Belichick's teams made, or if they did, it was always early in the season and rarely, if ever, late. But that's not how these final years of his reign have gone.
The Pats frittered away the number-one seed in Mac's rookie year and got beat by 30 points in the playoffs. Last year, with the two hammerheads coaching the offense, the disjointed Pats nearly splintered, finishing with a losing record and out of the playoffs after several stupefying losses (none worse than at Vegas). This year, five of the seven defeats have been remarkably similar. This team makes you think there's a chance when, in reality, it's just a mirage: a cold drink at the end of a long run on a hot summer's day, except that glass is filled with scalding hot coffee. The Patriots, you see, have become the teams they regularly embarrassed.
"A little bit," said Slater when I asked if he felt like the shoe's now on the other foot. "It's disappointing. That's been our advantage for two decades. But that's the past. We're not doing it now. We got a long way to go."
As for the duo mentioned above - both J.C. Jackson and Jack Jones curiously began the game on the sidelines. Jones sat out the entirety of the first quarter, while Jackson had a seat for the first two series.
Jackson was dressed and at his locker when the media entered but told inquiring minds, "I'm not talking," and walked out.
Jones, like Jackson, returned from whatever exile this was and played a fair amount of snaps the rest of the way, but unlike his fellow cornerback, he never even appeared in the locker room; his locker half-opened but with no signs of life. Jones did post a video of himself singing on Instagram (stories), but I can't decipher what, if anything, that was all about. He also liked this post on X:
Yikes.
As for Belichick's take on the situation, he was asked if the two were benched to start the game.
"No."
When pressed as to why Shaun Wade, who started in their place, didn't get back into the game after the first quarter, Belichick interrupted the questioner.
"Everybody played. They all played."
He's not wrong. They all did. But from top to bottom, it hasn't been good enough, not for the players or the coaches who coach them. These aren't the Patriots you knew and respected. No. This is an unrecognizable but sadly consistent group, failing to find success and watching another season fade away.