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FOXBOROUGH – It’s hard to imagine things getting much uglier than the Patriots’ 15-10 loss at home to Miami on Sunday, but this might only be the start of what’s looking like a historically bad season.
Sure, it’s only the first weekend of October and the Patriots can absolutely turn things around enough to finish with a respectable record, but, it certainly doesn’t look like it’s happening anytime soon.
Special teams is really the only thing the Patriots have going for them right now (even though Joey Slye missed a field goal in the loss after being Mr. Automatic to start his Pats’ career) and Brendan Schooler has quietly become a leader on the team on and off the field. On the field, Schooler had a punt block on Sunday that gave the Patriots the ball at the Miami 23.
The missed field goal came moments later.
Talk about delating.
It’s that type of stuff that can fracture a locker room. One or two thirds of the team holding up its end of the bargain while the other puts out embarrassing performance after embarrassing performance isn’t going to sit well.
“It’s definitely not fun being in the spot we’re in, but, every guy is here for a reason,” Schooler told me in a nearly empty locker room about an hour and a half after the game. “If we didn’t think they were capable of being great, then they wouldn’t be here. So, I think the thing is to just keep the message positive. Keep believing, keep your head down, keep grinding. There’s a whole lot of season left. Anything can happen.
“In this game, all it takes is one little spark and that can become a wildfire.”
The problem is, the offense is so inept at this point that even when someone like Schooler provides that spark with a blocked punt, instead of becoming a wildfire, it simply becomes one of those lame little sparklers that goes out after a while.
When the entire world can see that this offense is setting football back decades, it’s hard even for players to ignore the chatter about the quarterbacks, right?
Maybe, but Schooler insists that it isn’t talked about inside the walls of Gillette Stadium.
“Yeah, we don’t talk about that,” he said adamantly. “That one’s up to the coaches. Whoever they want to put out there, we’re going to back fully. We expect them to get the job done. Whoever it is. That one’s up to the coaches and as players we don’t get paid enough to make those calls.”
It’s felt like a bit of dejavu recently with the team struggling and a young quarterback the center of attention with fans pinning their hopes all on one guy. For the players, it’s a bit of a twilight zone moment after the issues with offense under Matt Patricia and then Bill O’Brien and now, somehow, it’s even worse under Alex Van Pelt.
But, the prospect of being part of the change that eventually gets this right is what drives a lot of players in this league.
“Losing is never fun and you don’t play this game to lose. Whoever is on the field, we all hurt the same when stuff like this happens,” Schooler added. “You’re grateful for these times when you do start turning it around. It’s like ‘look where we were and look how far we’ve come.’ I think personally, we’re on the cusp of getting over that bump. We’re right there.
“It’s just a few plays here and there that we’ve got to clean up. It’s back to the drawing board (Monday). Make the corrections, go through whatever you have to do…have the 24 hour flush rule and get ready for your next opponent.”
The worst part about all of the losing these last few years is what it does to guys mentally during the day-to-day grind. Guys like Schooler who have to scratch and claw each season to maintain their jobs don’t have that problem, but human nature will eventually start to kick in for a lot of guys if the wins don’t start showing up after all the hard work and long hours.
“Everyone’s different,” Schooler said. “My story and how I got here, I’m blessed. I’m so thankful to be here every day and that I get to see this building driving in here. I’m very, very grateful to be able to do this as a job.
“Now, with that being said, you play this game to win and you don’t play it to lose. So, it’s frustrating when this kind of stuff happens. But, it’s about grinding and getting ready for next week’s opponent.”