I really can’t believe I find myself writing an article about a Patriots win during the 2020 NFL horror season! I guess one can say, it’s 2020 and stranger things are happening right?

Well, in case you missed last night’s game. The New England Patriots came out victorious against a Jets side that actually looked like could whoop our butts. The likes of Frank Gore, Brashard Perriman, and even Joe Flacco looked solid during this game against a Patriots defense that at time looked sluggish in my personal opinion.

However, Cam Newton looked focused to at the beginning of the game and actually throughout it all. The game went down differently, we didn’t see a rushing Cam Newton. Instead, we saw a Cam Newton throwing passes quickly and often which was actually comforting to see. When it came down to it though, the hero last night was actually Nick Folk? 2020 is surely packed with surprises.

FOLK HERO. pic.twitter.com/e482hW9zgg

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 10, 2020

Patriots won 30-27 coming from behind in the 4th quarter.

Moving On From Last Night….

As the season continues, there are some serious challenges ahead and the schedule looks to pack a serious punch for this Patriots team that continues to struggle. Let’s take a quick look at what that schedule looks like, shall we?

Week 10: Home versus Baltimore. First of all, even thinking of facing Lamar Jackson and company scares the hell out of me. The Baltimore Ravens come out from beating a really good defense like the Colts.

Week 11: Away in Houston. While I agree that Houston is still one of the weakest links remaining in the league so far for 2020, let’s not forget they had narrow losses versus really good teams like the Steelers and the Titans. I think Deshaun will have a hell of a game in this one however it is 2020 and anything can happen.

Week 12: Home against the Cardinals. Picture this New England defense trying to control a running Kyler Murray but on top of that one of the best WR’s in the league, DeAndre Hopkins. I think we can all agree this will be an ugly one. Unless, the Patriots just come in looking like they did against Seattle on week 2. At which point, I think that’s best case scenario.

Week 13: On the road against the LA Chargers. I don’t know if this is one we can underestimate. Despite their 2-6 record, Justin Herbert has looked like the real deal and with their offense starting to click better, it could be either a devastating one or a hell of a matchup between Cam and Justin.

Week 14: One the road against the Rams. Personally, this one is tough to predict. With the current COVID-19 protocols in place and this game scheduled on a Thursday. It is likely that the week of practice will need to be skipped, therefore putting the Patriots in a rough situation where they would be traveling cross-country in a 6-day span. A tired Patriots team, yeah that may look real ugly against a Rams team with a 5-3 record.

Week 15:  Welcome to Miami! I said this earlier in the week during a conversation at work, should the Patriots face the same Tua Tagovailoa that showed up against the Cardinals and delivered a hell of a game, we could very well be bound to facing another embarrassing loss to the Dolphins. Let’s not even forget the fact that every time we play the Dolphins, Miami always gives us a difficult game to begin with.

Week 16: At home against Buffalo. Listen, I’ll admit it. I am not a huge Josh Allen guy but damn is doing amazing things on the field. Josh Allen and company just came out of a total showdown against arguably one the best offenses in the NFL with Russell Wilson, DK Metcalf, and Tyler Lockett just to name a few and blew Seattle 44-34. Now, Buffalo sits on top of the AFC East with a 7-2 record. Honestly, this could very easily be an ugly day for New England if the right moves in defense aren’t made.

Week 17: At home against the Jets. Yeah I know, we beat the Jets once we could do it again. Sure! One can think that. However, after having to scramble to comeback and win this game, we could be in for another close one.

So the question here is, do the Patriots consider tanking for the rest of the season with the hopes of securing high draft picks or do they use their cap space to build a better team for 2021-2022 season?

2021 NFL Draft Options For the Pats…

Yesterday on Twitter, an excellent question was raised by my teammates at Couch Guy Sports, the #1 RI podcast, Small State Big Takes.

Hey #GoPats fans:
Are you rooting for the Patriots win tonight against the Jets?

— Small State Big Takes Podcast (@SmallStateTakes) November 9, 2020

After further discussion on the topic, considering the tanking option for the rest of the season at first seemed to me a bit odd but I’ll admit it, it makes sense if you are looking to secure high draft picks in the 2021 NFL Draft.

At first, yeah I don’t ever want to lose to “The God Damn Jets”, that’s just me! However, after some thought, SSBT is onto something special here.

Say Bill Belichick decides to move on from Cam Newton, the Patriots will be in a position where they will need a QB, especially as we can’t rely on Hoyer and Stidham is still a work in progress.  So, the Patriots will have to draft a franchise QB and that could be the likes of someone like Trey Lance or Zach Wilson, options which SSBT brought up and now that I think more into it, I’m sort of on board not going to lie.

Should the Patriots not do much in the draft though, hey! They’ll be riding with $73M in cap space as mentioned yesterday by ESPN’s Adam Schefter…

Hope… pic.twitter.com/Y0HADiajTG

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 10, 2020

In Conclusion….

I am still in shock that we won last night!

Still, I am certainly looking forward to what the 2021 NFL Draft and this cap space will bring for the Patriots. I am ready to move on from 2020 as I’m sure many of us are.

~Diego Galvis (@Diego_TheDJ on Twitter).