Over the last two decades, Bill Belichick’s “the real football season starts after Thanksgiving” has been repeated constantly throughout New England. With his Patriots teams far more often than not competing for playoff positioning, that meant that the season was about to heat up and the stakes due to increase every week.
The times have changed quite a bit. Last season — Belichick’s last with the Patriots — saw the team at 2-8 and virtually out of postseason contention. Under his successor Jerod Mayo, little has changed: the Patriots are 3-9 and are guaranteed to finish a third straight season with a losing record.