The Patriots are playing a brand of football unseen in the NFL in 85 years.
New England has lost its last three games by scores of 10-6, 10-7 and 6-0. That makes the Patriots the first team since the 1938 Chicago Cardinals to lose three straight games while allowing 10 or fewer points in all three of them.
That’s a rare type of offensive incompetence. Usually, if your defense can hold the opposing team to 10 or fewer points, you’re going to win: NFL teams are 54-0 this season when allowing 10 or fewer points, other than the Patriots in the last three weeks.
Low-scoring slugfests in which teams won by scores like 10-6, 10-7 or 6-0 used to be commonplace in the NFL. But that was a long, long time ago. A student of NFL history like Bill Belichick can surely appreciate the significance of his team doing something unseen since the 1938 Chicago Cardinals. Even if he doesn’t like it.
