Another New England Patriots season is upon us

We’re eight days out from kickoff and I, for one, expect the Patriots to get destroyed by the Seahawks once again. After that? Hard to say. Last year’s team overperformed to such a degree that this year is bound to be a disappointment. It turns out that it’s very hard to win back-to-back AFC championships. Back-to-back divisional titles? Maybe.

There’s no doubt that the wide receiver corps is vastly improved. AJ Brown is easily the best WR this team has had since Randy Moss, and I expect him to have a rebound year. Romeo Doubs is an improvement at WR2, and the other holdovers from last year all offer value. I’ll miss Kayshon Boutte. He was responsible for several of Drake Maye’s best touchdown passes. But I understand why the team felt they had to make the move.

Running back and tight end positions are more or less the same as last year. Hunter Henry has been rock-solid as a Patriot, and Maye’s most dependable target. I’d like to see Treveyon Henderson be a little more consistent than last year, but as the number-two guy at his position a repeat of 2025 would be fine.

Once again, the offense comes down entirely to the line. Will Campbell got badly exposed in the postseason. It’s true that he had looked a lot better earlier in the season before his MCL sprain, but it’s also true that the likes of Will Anderson and DeMarcus Lawrence absolutely ate him alive. He’s going to have to be better than he was at any point last year. But so will everyone protecting Drake Maye.

As for Maye, I really did think the numbers broke his way for MVP last year, even as I acknowledge that he is my sole remaining source of light in this dark existence. He was almost comically efficient, not throwing the ball very much but throwing with accuracy and distance every time he did. He was a full yard clear of Stafford in yards per attempt. The other QBs who threw for comparable yardage needed, in most cases, about 100 more attempts to do so. That’s crazy.

I predicted earlier that Maye’s headline numbers would pop a lot more this year, and I still believe that to be the case. He’s only had one 300+ passing game in his career, and I expect him to post several of those this season — not to mention at least one over 400 (and probably more than one). AJ Brown is going to help a lot with that. But, again, unless the O-line gets its shit together this could all be wishful thinking.

As for the defense, they were the strength of the team last year. No reason to think they won’t be excellent this year as well, even though K’Lavon Chaisson has not really been replaced. Their line remains stout and disruptive, and their secondary is elite. (We’ll ignore Christian Gonzalez’s contract issues for now.) The linebacker corps may be unheralded compared to the other defensive groups, but there was a clear difference last year with and without Robert Spillane, so if he stays healthy they should be good as well.

All this is to say that I think the Patriots have a real shot at repeating as AFC East champions. Buffalo may be as iffy as they’ve ever been, but then again I’ve been saying that for years. But I’m not totally sure that I see the Pats making quite as deep a run again this year. They had an extremely fortunate run in the playoffs against teams that were even more offensively inept than they were, at least until they ran headlong into the Seahawks. Still, anything can happen!

We’ll resume your regularly scheduled doomposting shortly.