A field goal’s worth of thoughts on the Patriots …
Abrupt endings arrive more often in the NFL than in other sports. This is not news, of course. The sport’s intrinsic violence abbreviates careers, and when a singularly brutal injury doesn’t end them, the grind often does. It’s part of the bargain for players, and to a far lesser extent fans too. You never know when the career of a favorite player or prospect will end. But you always know it can, at any moment.
The saga of Malcolm Mitchell — who went from potential future cornerstone who was contributing in the present to an ex-Patriot in the matter of basically one season — is not a new one in franchise lore.