The New England Patriots have had a very tough start to the 2026-27 NFL season, something many didn’t expect coming into the year.
While the Patriots weren’t favorites to win a Super Bowl, they still seemed like a team that would win nine to 10 games. For whatever reason, the Patriots just haven’t been able to do that, and a lot of the blame has fallen on Drake Maye.
Maye definitely needs to improve, but the Patriots have struggled for plenty of reasons on both sides of the ball.
Recently, when speaking about why he thinks Maye doesn’t deserve all the blame, Patriots legend Rob Gronkowski put the blame on the pass catchers.
He also said guys need to create more separation.
“The wide receivers need to step it up. The tight end position needs to step it up,” Gronkowski told RotoWire.
“They’re getting blanketed on many of the routes. They got to create more separation.”
Entering the season, there were definitely questions about whether the wide receiver room would be as good as many hoped.
Unfortunately for the Patriots, who went out and landed A.J. Brown during the offseason, that’s a reality that the team has to face with him being injured.
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