Image courtesy of Elise Amendola/AP Photo

Even when the Patriots win, it’s not fun anymore.

I know I sound like a ‘spoiled young fan” but that couldn’t be further from the truth. If 179 yards of total offense and nine completions from your starting quarterback on Sunday was somehow visually pleasing – or even worse gives you confidence that this team can still be competitive in January – no one can save you.

The Patriots beat the Arizona Cardinals 20-17  on an impressive 50-yard field goal from Nick Folk as time expired. The win got the Pats to 5-6 and technically still keeps them in the playoff hunt, but it’s hard to say the Patriots “won” this game, it was more like Arizona giving it away. The officiating crew should also be credited with a huge assist as well.

New England continues to look like one of those mediocre teams this fan base (myself included) mocked for the last 20 years. Inconsistent quarterback play, dumb penalties late in games, a remarkable lack of talent on offense, it was all glaring on Sunday.

Bill Belichick even sounded like a high school coach complimenting a bunch of rag-tag overachievers after squeaking out a win over a Cardinals team that only had 298 yards of total offense itself.

“You’ve just got to give these guys a lot of credit for how hard they work every day, how hard they prepare,” Belichick said. “The game couldn’t have started much worse than it did, but just kept battling for 60 minutes. The players showed a lot of mental toughness and just determination.”

With 8:02 left in the game, Kenyan Drake capped a 16-play drive – a drive aided by two defensive holding calls in the end zone – with a 1-yard TD run to tie the game at 17-17. Eight plays later Can Newton threw a horrendous interception and Arizona took over at the New England 47 with just 4:27 left in the game.

Kyler Murray (23/34, 170, 1 INT) could only get the Cardinal down to the Patriots’ 27, and Zane Gonzalez missed a 45-yard field goal, giving the Pats a new life with the ball at their own 35 and 1:47 on the clock.

Newton picked up a huge 3rd-and-13 with a run, and then drew a flag for a late hit out of bounds, an extremely questionable call since he was a runner. Four plays later, Folk buried the 50-yard field goal for the somewhat stunning win.

“I’d rather have an ugly win than a pretty loss,” Newton (84 yards passing, 2 INT’s) said. “I don’t know if that even exists, we didn’t play our best game offensively, but you know, when we needed it, we got the job done and that’s all that counts.”

Things couldn’t have started any uglier for the Patriots on Sunday, as Newton was picked off three plays into the game and Arizona quickly went up 7-0 on a short Drake TD run. Arizona made it 10-0 before James White had a 7-yard TD run on 4th-and-2 early in the second quarter to cut it to 10-7.

Arizona went on a 15-play, 71-yard march that chewed up the final 6:57 of the half. After a TD catch was called back, the Cardinals eventually faced a 4th-and-goal from the half-yard line and were stuffed by Adam Butler – who had a huge day – and a host of other Patriots, wasting an opportunity to push the lead to six or even 10 heading into the locker rooms.

The New England defense forced a punt on the first possession of the third quarter and Gunner Olszewski appeared to have an 82-yard punt return touchdown, but Anfernee Jennings was called for an illegal block, another extremely questionable call.

New England ended up taking over at the Arizona 39 and had a nice response, moving downfield in eight plays plays and eventually making it 10-10 with a short Folk field goal. Adrian Philips came up with an interception moments later at the Arizona 31, and New England soon took a 17-10 lead on a 1-yard White TD run, setting up the crazy fourth quarter.

The Pats opened up as slight underdogs in Vegas for their game against the Chargers and rookie quarterback Justin Herbert next week, and with good reason. Keenan Allen, Austin Ekler and Hunter Henry are lurking, and I’m not sure this offense can keep up with them. The sad reality is the New England Patriots are no longer a team to be feared.

They’re just like everybody else in the pit of mediocrity now.