Coping With Loss: Indianapolis Colts Edition

At 2-8, even if the New England Patriots somehow run the table and finish at 9-8, it’s still highly likely they’d need some help to get into the playoffs.

Heh. Playoffs.

Figured I’d start today’s Coping With Loss by giving you all a hearty chuckle.

1. Meh: This was such a comical loss that it’s almost funny at this point. When you think you’ve seen it all, the 2023 Patriots find new ways to stink up the joint. They’re all just bouncing off us all at this point, and in a weird way I’ve kind of turned the corner and learned to enjoy it when they lose in such an insane fashion.

2. Running game and Demario Douglas: Both backs ran very well yesterday, and as atrocious as the offensive line was in pass blocking, they did a great job opening up lanes for the running game. Rhamondre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliot were also effective as receivers. And Demario Douglas remains the lone bright spot in the receiving room.

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3. Bye week: Now that we have this loss out of the way, we can all turn our attention to a nice, relaxing week off from watching this team. The bye week used to represent a time to take a breather from the stress of gearing up for the upcoming playoffs (remember how the Patriots season never really started until January?) and make sure some key guys on the team got healthy.

This year, I’m just excited that I won’t be writing a Coping With Loss article next Tuesday and I don’t need to watch football at all this week. And seeing as how the week before Thanksgiving is a total wash anyway, it’s like I have two weeks off. I’ll take it.

4. Interesting conversations: This bye week isn’t going to be short on storylines, I can tell you that. Is it going to be Bailey Zappe going forward? Will Mac Jones get another shot? Is it time for the Will Grier era in New England? For a team that went two full decades without a quarterback controversy, we now have a full blown one, and not a good one either.

This week off will be nothing if not interesting from a narrative standpoint.

5. Draft pick: The Patriots gained some ground this past week and New England now has the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. With their next game coming up against the 2-8 New York Giants, there are going to be a lot of confused fans in the stands for that one with no idea who to root for.

And did you know that you can order spaghetti at McDonald’s in the Philippenes? The McSpaghetti comes with a side of McDo fried chicken. It’s no McRib, but then again, few things are.