AP photo Patriots QB Cam Newton leaves the field after Sunday's 24-21 loss in Buffalo.

We are offering a faint glimmer of hope for New England Patriots fans.

Go back to the 1994 season, the first year under the Kraft ownership. They had a lot of hope after winning a couple of games at the end of 1993, the first year with Bill Parcells as head coach.

Hopes were high for 1994. However, nine weeks in New England stood at 3-6, and no one was thinking playoffs.

But what do you know, the Patriots ran the table and finished 10-6, and made the playoffs for the first time since the 1986 season.

Could that same thing happen this year? It’s likely New England could have that same 3-6 record after nine weeks, because they should beat the New York Jets next Monday night but then lose to the Baltimore Ravens at Gillette Stadium in a Sunday night affair (as of now).

But it’s highly, highly unlikely they can run the table, although there’s no heavyweights in the stretch. After Baltimore, at Houston is winnable. Home vs. Arizona on Thanksgiving weekend, not as winnable as it looked earlier, because of how both have played. The Cardinals are taking the next step under second year QB Kyler Murray.

Then comes the dreaded Los Angeles trip, back to back road games at the Chargers. A split? That possibly leaves 8-8 as the best record. The remaining AFC East games are after that, at Miami then home vs. Buffalo and then the Jets.

Just remember, an extra team makes the playoffs this year in each conference. It opens the door for an 8-8 team to get in. But right now, there are nine teams above .500 in the AFC and the Patriots aren’t even close to that.

Of course, we can look ahead. Patriots coach Bill Belichick never will allow his players to do that.

“Well the situation we’re in is that we play the Jets this week,” he said on Monday, “and that’s what we can do this week, is we can have a good week and prepare for the Jets and do everything we can to win.

“I don’t know what would change that. Like if our record was different, I’m not sure how we would approach it differently.”

Why is the record the way it is? The Patriots have drafted poorly, lost key players to the virus opt-out, injuries, poor play at the quarterback position, no playmaking receivers, and a defense that can’t stop the run. The Patriots gave up 190 yards on the ground Sunday to the Bills, who were ranked 29th in the NFL in rushing. Ouch.

“Well, I mean, we need to do a lot of things better defensively,” Belichick said, “offensively and in the kicking game. So, we’ll continue to work on all those areas and try to improve them. So yeah, we can get better at everything – coaching, playing, offense, defense, special teams, all areas.”

That’s the one thing Belichick will never do, single out anything with his team as a weakness. No good coach would do that, with the risk of losing the locker room. But the weaknesses are obvious.

Belichick is coaching this team differently. He plays it safe in some situations (settling for a field goal before end of first half yesterday) and then takes a gamble to try to spark things (on-sides kick). Both decisions should be heavily scrutinized, but would they have made a big difference? Are the Patriots good enough to win or lose close games on key coaching moves?

Not really. And of course everyone is waiting to see if Belichick throws up the white flag and sells off a player or two (Stephon Gilmore?). When asked about the team’s poor tackling, the solution he said is “Better fundamentals. All the tackling fundamentals that are involved. It’s a long list – leverage, tackling, technique, finish.”

Do the Patriots have it in them for a turnaround? They’re not a good football team right now. After nine games, neither was the 1994 team. But while this team has aging veterans and a quarterback, Cam Newton, who is trying to ressurrect his career, that team had an up and coming young quarterback named Drew Bledsoe and a few of the building blocks that took the Patriots to the Super Bowl two years later. That ’94 team ironically, lost to Belichick’s Cleveland Browns in the playoffs.

“We’re getting better,” Belichick said during an interview last week, “but we need to get better faster.”

In other words, something has to change – quickly. But that’s fairly obvious. What’s not obvious is the future after this season.

THIS WEEK’S RANKINGS:

AFC: 1.Kansas City (7-1). 2. Pittsburgh (7-0). 3. Tennessee (5-2). 4. Baltimore (5-2). 5. Buffalo (6-2)

NFC: 1. Seattle (6-1). 2. Tampa Bay (5-2) 3. Green Bay (5-3). 4. New Orleans (5-2). Arizona (5-2)