Patriots Paths vs. Dolphins: Do or Die; Season, System on Line?

New England can win Sunday and stay alive, or lose be very, very dead.

A New Year's lit by miracle. Or a 2023 drenched in morose.

That's the crossroad facing the New England Patriots Sunday at Gillette Stadium. Beat the Miami Dolphins, and keep their hopes alive for an unlikely winning streak that will bear a playoff berth. Or lose, and face the harsh reality that not only is the dynasty dead, but the current plan to resurrect it may also be as well.

"I'll leave the big-picture stuff to you guys," Bill Belichick said this week. "My focus is on the Miami Dolphins."

On Jan. 5, 2020, the Pats hosted the Tennessee Titans in a Wild Card playoff game. In a dense Foxboro fog, they jumped to a 13-7 lead but couldn't hold the lead because they couldn't control Derrick Henry. And for the final 32 minutes the offense was shut out and stymied, the final nail in the coffin coming on Tom Brady's stunning Pick Six to linebacker (and former Patriot) Logan Ryan in the 20-13 loss.

Since that day, the kings have deteriorated into commoners. Without Brady the last three seasons, the Patriots are 24-25 with a lone playoff game they lost by 30 points.

If New England wins Sunday, it will improve to 8-8 and have a de facto playoff game in Week 18 at the Buffalo Bills. Win again, and they're in. The narrative would be how the three-time Coach of the Year and future Hall of Famer Belichick quieted the critics, and how the Pats navigated numerous potholes to salvage a successful season.

But lose and ...

*Belichick will be an over-the-hill dinosaur with a losing record and only one playoff win in nine seasons without Brady.

*Mac Jones will be a "dirty" player, and a quarterback without a clean-cut future.

*Jerod Mayo will be going?

*Bill O'Brien will be arriving?

*Bailey Zappe will be deserving?

*Robert Kraft's patience will be constantly gauged.

Like all NFL teams, these Patriots have endured their share of adversity. Some of it bad luck - the ankle injury in Week 3 to Jones that accidentally ignited a quarterback controversy. Some of it self-inflicted - the lunatic lateral that lost a game in Las Vegas and last week's fumble inside the 5-yard line in the final minute that lost a game to the Bengals.

By late Sunday afternoon we'll get our diagnosis.

The Patriots will be alive.

Or very much dead.

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