Dallas Cowboys Vs. New England Patriots At Gillette Stadium
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While most followers of the Patriots likely wanted to see Tom Brady live out the rest of this football days in New England, when the six-time Super Bowl champion decided to pack his bags and head south for Tampa, it created a fascinating side story for the 2020 season. At long last, the "chicken or the egg" bar argument was going to unfold before our eyes: Was Bill Belichick actually the mastermind behind the Patriots dynasty or was it largely the brilliance of Brady? Of course, common sense would suggest that it takes two to tango and that New England's two-decade-long run of dominance couldn't be accomplished by just one piece of the Brady-Belichick duo, but I digress. Even if it didn't determine who was the key to New England's dynasty, however, it was going to be interesting to see who would win the divorce. 

By looking at things from a thousand feet in the air, you'd likely come away with the notion that Tom Brady, armed with his new cast of weapons with the Buccaneers, was doing just that in Tampa in Year 1. His club is 7-4 and currently in the thick of the playoff picture in the NFC. Meanwhile, the Patriots are 4-6 on the year and in third place in the AFC East. Advantage Brady, right? Well, not exactly. 

At the start of the season, I set my benchmark of what would be considered a successful season for both Belichick's Patriots and Brady's Bucs. For New England, it was maintaining the status quo within the AFC East. With Buffalo and even Miami now owning sizable leads in that regard, Bill Belichick's club has certainly fallen short to this point as any playoffs hopes are hanging by a thread. 

But make no mistake about it, it hasn't been a walk in the park for Brady either as he's underperformed during his first season in Tampa. The latest example of that came in Week 11 against the Rams where Brady and the Bucs fell to 1-3 in primetime this season. In that loss to L.A., Brady struggled mightily with the deep ball, throwing two interceptions, including the game-ceiling pick in the fourth quarter. Again, that's just one recent nugget to point to that illuminates Brady's bumpy start in Tampa. 

Would you be surprised to learn that the Patriots (363.8 yards) are averaging more yards of total offense than the Buccaneers (357.8) entering Week 12? It's true. Tampa Bay is also tied with the Denver Broncos for the league lead in poor throws (83) this season. 

Now, this isn't meant to simply dump of Brady as he continues to mesh with the Buccaneers, but simply point out that it hasn't exactly been the seamless transition that everyone expected. Heck, after Tampa Bay acquired Leonard Fournette and got Rob Gronkowski out of retirement, folks were thinking Brady was going to unleash wrath only seen by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. It just hasn't materialized, which also has murmurs of tension between Brady and Bruce Arians bubbling to the surface but that's a story for a different day. The bar I set for Tampa Bay was a trip to the NFC Championship. Given the talent on the roster, there's still time to accomplish just that. By how things have looked recently, however, I'm not sure any playoff team (outside of the NFC East) would be afraid to take them on, which wasn't how the league viewed this super team last summer.  

Brady and Belichick are both likely coming to the realization that things were a lot easier when they had the greatest figure to ever manage his position to lean on. 

Before we jump into the rest of the topics surrounding the Patriots, here's how you can watch them take on the Arizona Cardinals at Gillette Stadium on Sunday. 

How to watch 

Date: Sunday, Nov. 29 | Time: 1 p.m. ET
Location: Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, MA)
TV: FOX | Stream: fuboTV (try for free)
Follow: CBS Sports App

A Matt Patricia reunion? 

The Detroit Lions cut bait with head coach Matt Patricia on Saturday, marking another piece from the Bill Belichick coaching tree falling short as he tries to make the jump up to head coach. Patricia signed on with the Lions back in 2018 after spending over a decade inside the Patriots organization, rising through the coaching ranks. While his 13-29-1 record as the Lions head coach was enough for Detroit ownership to show him the door, Patricia still has a strong football mind that will be useful somewhere in the league. 

Could that be in Foxborough? It wouldn't come as too much of a surprise to see a possible reunion between Patricia and the Patriots almost in a similar fashion to how things shook out for Josh McDaniels following his failed tenures in Denver and St. Louis. After he was let go by the Rams, McDaniels joined the Patriots during the 2011 payoffs as an offensive consultant, a gig that ultimately helped lead him to reclaim the offensive coordinator job. While getting the DC position may be a bit of a stretch for Patricia, he could jump on New England's staff as a defensive consultant to help him get back on his feet. 

Sony Michel's return

Bill Belichick told reporters this week that running back Sony Michel should be "ready to go" against the Arizona Cardinals, marking his first action since landing on injured reserve following Week 3. While it's safe to assume that Damien Harris has established himself enough in New England's backfield to keep the starting job, Sony Michel should be a solid injection to a group that just lost Rex Burkhead for the season. 

"He's got fresh legs. And we were anticipating him and just to have so much firepower in that running back room, man," Cam Newton told reporters this week of Michel's looming return. "Obviously it's devastating to hear about Burky but for us, you can't replace a guy like that. And Sony bringing something that a lot of running backs don't have -- that may be experience, that may be beat playability, that may be just his understanding this offense, and we're going need all of that here moving forward."

With Harris as the lead back and James White taking the bulk of the passing-down work, it will be fascinating to see how Michel is deployed as he takes on a new role within this backfield. 

Isaiah Wynn head to injured reserve

Starting left tackle Isaiah Wynn will miss at least the next three games after the team elected to place him on injured reserve. Wynn suffered a knee injury late in the fourth quarter of Sunday's loss to the Texans. He did not practice all week and was later ruled out for Week 12 before the club ultimately decided to put him on the shelf. When fully intact, New England's offensive line has been the backbone of the offense this season, paving the way for a running game that near the top of the league. 

With Wynn now sidelined, it will be interesting to see how the Patriots elect to reshuffle their deck of starting offensive linemen. They could simply plug-and-play Jermaine Eluemunor or rookie Justin Herron (who was just activated off IR) to replace Wynn at left tackle. The other option that we've seen before, however, is kicking left guard Joe Thuney out to tackle. Thuney has already shown versatility along the line this season, slotting in a center while David Andrews was injured. 

Kingsbury flashed potential during Patriots tenure

Another former Patriot turned head coach is set to walk into Foxborough in the form of Kliff Kingsbury. The current Cardinals head coach was a former sixth-round draft choice of the Patriots back in 2003, adding some depth behind Tom Brady, Damon Huard, and Rohan Davey. While his tenure in New England only lasted one season, Kingsbury does have a Super Bowl XXXVIII ring to his name along with a wealth of knowledge. 

He told reporters this week that he learned more about football in New England than "probably anywhere in my life" during that lone 2003 season. Bill Belichick even indicated that Kingsbury's potential as a head coach flashed early on.  

"Kliff's a smart guy," said Belichick. "Had a really good football background. Played a different style of offense than what we had here, but very willing to learn. Did a lot of extra things, learned our offense, studied film, studied opponent defenses, just learned a lot about football. He did some projects for us and things like that. He was very good at those and you could tell he's smart and understood the game, understood concepts. He was not a guy you had to tell anything more than once, and he picked up a lot of things on his own. So, he was very, very good to have around on the team and work with."

Former Pats HOF semifinalists

The 25 semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Calls of 2021 were announced this week and the Patriots were pretty well represented. The two most notable were safety Rodney Harrison and defensive lineman Richard Seymour.

Seymour arrived in Foxborough in 2001 and was instantly a dynamic force along the defensive line, helping the franchise win its first three Super Bowl titles. As for Harrison, he arrived in 2003 and was another instant impact player added to that New England secondary. Both players won multiple Super Bowls with the organization and are currently members of the Patriots Hall of Fame. 

Torry Holt, John Lynch, Fred Taylor and Reggie Wayne are some other players that had brief stays in New England, who also were named a semifinalist for the class headlined by longtime Patriots rival Peyton Manning.