Optimism gave way to despair for The New England Patriots who fell to 1-4 this season following their shocking 34-0 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. The Patriots have been on a losing streak this season accumulating one devastating loss after another. Criticism was quick to pour in complete with finger-pointing questioning the very future of the once illustrious team. The post-Tom Brady era has not been a source of pride for the franchise.

With the Patriots at the fag bottom of the AFC East after the departure of Brady, Ben Belichick’s success as a coach has been largely attributed to having the greatest quarterback of all time on his roster. Former Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe had some serious apologies sent Brady’s way on a recent episode of First Take, and he definitely did not mince his words.

Shannon Sharpe’s apology to Tom Brady 

Addressing Belichick’s credibility as a coach Shannon Sharpe opined, “No, I don’t think he is just a coach.” He went on to applaud  Belichick’s achievements over the past two decades as “commendable.” However, he quickly added, “I owe Brady an apology because I don’t think I gave him enough credit,” inverting his praise to a justification of Brady’s pivotal role in Belichick’s success. 

“Brady is the largest eraser,” the 55-year-old Pro Football Hall of Famer continued, “because every mistake the coach made during those two decades Brady could erase it.” Coach Belichick did a great job at designing defensive schemes but he “needed a quarterback to make that play, Brady always made that play,” Sharpe concluded.

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“A regular coach can not have this level of success for two decades” unless he has a quarterback that can match up to Brady’s stature. And quarterback Mac Jones seems to have fallen way short and was benched for the second consecutive week during a lopsided defeat, a decision taken by coach Bill Belichick.

Mac Jones fails to fill Brady’s shoes

Despite being benched twice Mac Jones remains No.1 on the depth chart. However, Jones’s status as the starting quarterback will likely be a subject of debate once more following his disastrous performance, where he completed 12 of 22 passes for 110 yards and threw two interceptions against the Saints. Yet Belichick seems to believe in his abilities and opined during the post-match interviews, “There were a lot of problems. It certainly wasn’t all on him.”

The Patriot’s performance over the past few weeks has set records and not for the right reasons. This is the first time a Belichick-coached Patriots allowed 34 points or more and managed to score three or fewer points in consecutive games. They also hold the record of holding the longest live streak without any conversions. Belichick insisted that he intends to “start all over and get back on a better track than we’re on right now,” and we can only hope it does not get any worse than it already is. 

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