Did someone say déjà vu?
Patriots fans and media pundits, let’s not repeat history. There once was a quarterback named Mac Jones who had a promising start to his career with the New England Patriots in 2021. Then a whole lot of bad football play happened, the media and fan base piled on, and the former first-round draft pick was never the same in Foxborough. He was traded away in 2024.
This season has been bad, and I think a lot of factors are contributing to that (injuries, new players on the roster, and perhaps a Super Bowl hangover), but what we shouldn’t do is become part of the problem. Drake Maye is struggling at quarterback; there’s no way around it, but are we helping by becoming rabid over a problem he and his teammates and coaches are well aware of?
Remember last year when people were calling Maye our savior and anointing him as the next Tom Brady? Let’s learn from what we did to Mac Jones and be better. By the end of his brief tenure here, Jones’s self-esteem and confidence were shot, and dare I say, the fan base and media were part of the problem.
Brianna Silva
Peabody