FOXBORO – It’s that time of the year when people are thinking about – and some are even decidedly making – New Year’s resolutions.
For fans tailgating before Sunday afternoon’s divisional match up between the New England Patriots and the Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium, many of their resolutions had something to do with the hometown team’s success – although what exactly they were ran the gamut from a game-day victory against the Buffalo Bills (to whom the Patriots fell in a 33-21 defeat), to a Patriots Super Bowl LVI victory in February.
“I sleep better at night … I literally sleep better at night when the Patriots are doing well,” said Samuel Patrick, 33, a bartender from Norwood. “So because I do life better when I get sleep, for selfish reasons my New Year’s resolution is that I will send all the good energy I can in the Patriots’ direction and that they at least make it to the Super Bowl – and hopefully win it.”
For Jessica Parks, 19, an esthetician from Pawtucket, her New Year’s resolution came with a caveat: If the Patriots had beaten the Bills on Sunday, she would have eaten a healthier, plant-based diet in 2022.
When asked before the game if she will still eat healthy in the new year if the Patriots end up losing on Sunday, she said, “Probably, but don’t say that … you’ll jinx it.”
The stakes were high for Sunday’s AFC East showdown. The Patriots had been on a seven-game winning streak, but lost 17-27 to the Indianapolis Colts last week, which gave the team a nine and five standing. With Sunday’s loss, the Patriots are now nine and six – the same number of wins and losses as the Bills – and the two teams are tied for first place in the AFC East. Both teams have two division battles remaining in the regular season.
Less than three weeks ago, amidst snow and wind, the Patriots defeated the Bills 14-10 in Buffalo. And while weather was not necessarily a factor in Sunday’s game (temperatures hovered in the mid-30s), a poor Patriots performance was, according to players and head coach Bill Belichick who, at a post-game press conference, blamed themselves for the loss.
“I think we just need to execute better. It really just wasn’t our day. But there’s no excuses and there’s really nothing to talk about,” said quarterback Mac Jones. “I didn’t play great. I can play better and I can lead better. It starts with me, so we’ll just have to look in the mirror and address what we can – and just keep working to get better every day.”
Center David Andrews, one of the Patriots’ captains, said “…it really just comes down to execution and we didn’t do a good enough job of that today.”
Belichick said, “We have to find a way to do better.”
“Well, kind of a little bit like last week … [there’s] not a lot to say here. Obviously Buffalo made more plays than we did today, played better than we did, [and] coached better than we did,” he said. “We just didn’t perform well enough to really have a good chance to win the game.”
When asked if he had any New Year’s resolutions he’d like to share, Belichick said, “No, not right now,” but added, “maybe next week.”
Wide receiver Jackobi Meyers, who said, “I can sit up here and talk all day about yada-yada-yada, but at the end of the day, we just got to go produce, you know? Talk less and play more,” was also asked if he had any New Year’s resolutions.
“I’m just kind of focused on winning games right now. That’s not my big focus at the time,” he said during the post-game press conference. “I like the question, though.”
