Welcome back to my new series, as I begin to take control of the 2019 New England Patriots, with rules in place that prevent from signing any player that has no history with this franchise, in addition to being unable to draft anyone in the first round. My plan was to check in from midway through the first season, but I accidentally went one game too far, so we've played 9 games rather than 8. The Patriots are currently 4-5, which is good enough for 2nd place in the weak AFC East. But the results on the field are not the big happening to talk about in Foxborough.
The Trade
The first thing I thought about when starting this series was what we would do at quarterback. Since I can't draft anyone in the first round, the idea of bringing in an elite prospect to replace Tom Brady was a pipedream. Acquiring any established signal caller would be difficult, as there were only a couple good options of guys that had played on the team in the past, and would be good enough to fill Brady's shoes in the future. I looked at trading our first round pick for Jimmy Garoppolo, the obvious pick as a former Patriot who's overall rating (82) is the 11th best in the league. But a trade for Jimmy G would get us stuck with his massive contract, which would seem him get paid over 25 million dollars for the next 3 years, all of which would see him nearing 30, the timeframe when players start to decline in Madden. Instead, the smarter choice was Jacoby Brissett, who is a year younger than Garoppolo, and much easier to acquire thanks to his 67 overall rating. I gave up our first round pick, which remember, is completely useless in this series, plus outside linebacker Jamie Collins, to get the deal done. With that, Brady went to the bench, and Brissett has now taken the starting role, backed up by rookie Jarrett Stidham.
Our First 9 Results
The trade for Brissett occurred in Week 6, meaning Brady started in simulated games for the first 5 weeks. It started well enough, with three straight wins, including a 42-7 drubbing of the Miami Dolphins, but two-score losses to the Bills and Washington Football Team then followed, before Brissett took over, starting with a shootout loss to the Giants. I began playing the games from there, losing to the Jets in a 13-10 defensive slugfest, before rebounding with a solid win over the Browns. The final game played was our worst of the season, as a visit to Baltimore resulted in Lamar Jackson running wild on our defense in a 27-3 blowout loss.
Stat Leaders
To keep you up to date with how the team's been playing, I plan on having each midseason and end of season post having a spot to showcase the leader in each statistic. Take a look at what we've done thus far:
Passing Yards
Jacoby Brissett (2,164)
Passing Touchdowns
Jacoby Brissett (12)
Interceptions
Jacoby Brissett (8)
Rushing Yards
Sony Michel (478, 3.9 per carry)
Rushing Touchdowns
Sony Michel (4)
Receptions
Julian Edelman (53)
Receiving Yards
Julian Edelman (588)
Receiving Touchdowns
Julian Edelman (4)
Tackles
Kyle Van Noy (62)
Tackles For Loss
Lawrence Guy (9)
Sacks
Kyle Van Noy (6)
Interceptions
Devin McCourty (4)
Pass Deflections
Devin McCourty (5)
Forced Fumbles
Dont'a Hightower and Elandon Roberts (1)
In total, we rank 19th in offense, and 15th in defense, so very mediocre numbers to match our very mediocre. We'll see if I can do a bit better with the guys in our remaining 7 games. I'll see you back again here when Year 1 is complete.
- Henry
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