Football, Fatherhood, and Fools: Your 2026 New England Patriots Season Preview

Well, son of mine. It’s time for your first full football season. You arrived partway through last season, and everyone was doting on you as you eased into existence in the outside world. You didn’t have to lift a finger to get whatever you wanted, at all hours of the day. Yes, true, you still don’t have to lift a finger to get whatever you want, whenever you want it, but you’re also starting to develop opinions on things now, and this is a habit that we need to stamp out of you at all costs before it gets out of control. 

This is to say that last year, as you rode the wave of your first few months of your life, your father was also riding the wave of a historic season by his beloved New England Patriots; it was truly fun to watch last year’s team play football… Right up until the Super Bowl, that is, when it all came crashing down at once. 

We now, as a father and son duo, find ourselves confronted with several issues all at once: Where do we go from here? 

Now that you’re nine months old, you are joyously determined to kill yourself at all costs, as crawling about the house does not provide enough danger anymore. If you’re not trying to pull yourself up onto every couch, table, stool, and drawer, you’re busy trying to get up (or even worse, down) the stairs. When all the moving about finally bores you after several hours of being a whirling dervish, there’s always trying to take the electrical outlet covers out of the sockets as well, or chewing on (unplugged) power cables. Why are you the way that you are, my son? Is this some sort of divine providence sent as a metaphor for all the things I must be subjected to as a father, as a man, or perhaps most poetic of all, as a football fan? 

Perhaps your innate (though paradoxically cheery) infant death drive is the perfect reminder to me that nothing in this life is ever going to be easy. Furthermore, I think the football metaphor for your development rings truer still. I remember you as a wee three-month-old. Looking back on it now, you were a lump. You just lay there, passively observing the world around you, occasionally crying for milk and sometimes slowly moving your fingers around as you tried to figure out what exactly they were and to whom they belonged. In retrospect, it was so easy to take care of you at this time – minus perhaps the sleeping aspect… It was honestly like playing the Jets seventeen times a year. Sure, the odd thing will happen here and there such as an especially egregious poop or uncomfortable outfit, but the overall end result was never really going to be in doubt. I truly did not realize how good I had it. 

Then you kept growing, and all of a sudden… Sitting up. And then rolling over. And then commando crawling. And finally, full-blown, relentless attack mode. Seeing you tearing across that hardwood floor at full speed on hands and knees in sync for the first time in early July terrified me in the same manner I’m confident the Germans felt when they laid eyes on British tanks for the first time at Cambrai in 1917. And now here I am. Worn out, beaten down, humbled and taunted daily, and yet always wanting to get even more, even as I constantly get metaphorically (and literally) run over by the people I love dearly. Yes, my son, there’s no way you could’ve ever been anything but a Patriots fan in this life, considering the way that you consistently bring me joy, confusion, and exhaustion in equal parts. So as such, it’s time to take the training wheels off and fully indoctrinate you into what human existence as a whole – and Pats fandom – really means in this family. 

First, consider the 2025 team. It was a group that perhaps could have used a bit more talent in places, particularly on the lines, but demonstrated significant chemistry early on and executed extremely well against all the teams they were supposed to beat once they got on a roll. Last year’s playoff run needed a fair bit of luck to help the team get to the Super Bowl in the first place – such as a decimated Chargers O-line, a freak Bo Nix broken ankle, and a well-timed snowstorm in the second half of the AFCCG… But again, the team seized on these opportunities and made the most of them. Then they got their asses handed to them by a far superior Seahawks team. While still extremely disappointed after such a surprising run, I can also realistically say that I wasn’t shocked by the end result of the Super Bowl. 

There are lots of things this team could build on for the year ahead. Rhamondre Stevenson had a bit of a bounce-back year last year, where he improved his rushing yards from 3.9 to 4.6 yards per carry, while also catching more passes out of the backfield; most importantly, he went from 7 fumbles in 2024 to just three in 2025. TreVeyon Henderson also rounded into form as a platoon back by the end of the season, and I hope the team can find ways to use him more. The secondary was strong, and the defense as a whole figured out how to put the clamps on at the most key, pivotal times of the game against teams worse- or evenly-matched throughout the year. 

I think that trading for AJ Brown was not only desperately necessary, but honestly a perfect fit for this team’s roster. With Romeo Doubs and Pop Douglas in as the other two starters, I think this receiver group is one of the best the team has seen in quite some time, even though I think trading Kayshon Boutte probably wasn’t needed. That’s a real luxury for Drake Maye to have a true litany of guys to throw to on the field – something none of his predecessors between him and Tom Brady really ever got to enjoy. 

Ultimately, I think this team is going to live and die by their offensive line play once again. I didn’t love it last year. Garrett Bradbury got exposed at center last year, especially as a run blocker, and now he’s off to Chicago. Will Campbell did play through a big knee injury, which is never easy to do as a left tackle, but I think he’d be better off long term at guard. Jared Wilson will slide over to take the center position this year, at least to start, beating out Ben Brown; I’m still not sold that this is going to be a stellar group. While Drake Maye sure made something out of a whole lot of nothing back in 2024, his play took a dip in last season’s playoffs when an ailing, overmatched line got beat up by the pass rush and collapsed too early. So expectations will be higher on everyone this year. 

This year’s schedule is also going to be much, much harder than last year’s edition. Having to start the year against the team who just beat you in the Super Bowl, and on the road in Seattle, really adds some insult to injury. The NFC North is also not to be overlooked. The Lions seem likely to rebound from a poor showing last year, while the Packers and Bears are really rounding into teams that appear to have a chance to go deep. The Vikings are a mixed bag but could also potentially be a spoiler team. Throw in the fact that you’re also going up against the AFC West – with an excellent Broncos team and the Chiefs, who will probably use the league’s inner machinations to their advantage to return to the playoffs this year, cannot ever be overlooked. 

The Seahawks season opener is almost certainly going to be a loss, and those eight other games have all the potential to go 4-4. That means that to get to that magic ten-win threshold and a likely playoff berth, they’ll have to beat the Dolphins twice, the Jets twice, and two out of three of the Steelers, Raiders, and Jaguars. Certainly not out of the question, but a much tougher road to travel than last year’s schedule. 

Finally, my son, if there’s a lesson that can be learned in all of the off-season drama of Mike Vrabel and Diana Russini: Just don’t do that. And finally, if you do, don’t BS everyone by skipping a day of work and claiming you’re just going to family therapy instead to amend for it. We all saw extremely clearly what was going on there. It’s not like going to confessional and doing your Our Fathers and Hail Marys. I know you don’t know what those are yet, but you’re going to very soon. Being Catholic and being a Patriots fan go together like peanut butter & jelly, particularly when there’s too many different flavours out there and nobody can really say for certain if they’re logical, or perhaps even edible right now. We’ve all seen what RFK Jr.’s done to public health recently. 

My son, I can now say with certainty as I look ahead to the start of football season, and my twelve months of parental leave with you, that if I was to die at some near juncture, it would be from one of three things: your relentless determination to put yourself in harm’s way, the germs unknown to modern medicine that you are likely to bring home from nearby playgroup, and/or finally, this goddamn football team. A Super Bowl appearance last year was an unexpected treat. Losing it, while not a shock, was still a kick in the nuts. And that might be the best it’s going to be for a little while, so I need to emotionally ready myself for this new reality.  

I just need to keep telling myself: love works in mysterious ways. Even in all those times when I’m frustrated and exhausted beyond belief, I promise that I’ll never stop loving you. As both a parent and a football fan, sometimes I just need to take thirty seconds to myself and go find a quiet room where I can scream without anybody noticing. And most of all, I hope that I’ll be able to teach you these ways of living one day soon too. Misery loves company – particularly when there’s so much of it that it’s no longer misery anymore. That’s healthy behaviour to indoctrinate someone into these belief systems from an early age, right? 

You’re the best, kid. Go you. Go Pats. Time to go strap on your helmet. 

Banner image taken from here.