Yes, it’s the New Year. Out with the old, in with the new.

There’s many ways that can be interpreted for the New England Patriots, because the old ended the way it’s been for most of 2023: The offense simply killed its defense in Sunday’s 27-21 very winnable loss at Buffalo.

There’s one constant that has dragged down these Patriots over the course of the season, which mercifully ends this Sunday vs. the Jets at Gillette Stadium: The Patriots give the ball away. Sunday they did it four times in the first half, which puts the at minus-10 in the giveaway-takeaway ratio for the season. The last time they were that bad was in 2005, a season in which they did make the playoffs but lost in the divisional round at Denver.

So now the Patriots will start 2024 – but end the 2023-24 season – at home on Sunday vs. the New York Jets. And you wonder what this coming week will be like; it’s doubtful anything will be made public by head coach Bill Belichick or team owner Robert Kraft concerning the future of Belichick. The HC of the NEP wouldn’t want any distractions from getting his team ready during Jets Week, right? Anything reported will cite anonymous sources, etc.

“We have great leaders on this team, that’s what’s keeping us going,” Patriots defensive end Deitrich Wise, Jr. said. “We have great leaders, great coaches keeping us motivated, keeping us mentally tough.”

And the approach next Sunday? Remember, if the Patriots win, they likely won’t get a top three pick in the April Draft. But don’t tell a player that.

“Give it all you got,” Wise said. “Because we know next year we won’t have the same guys on the team. Give it all we got, play for each other, go out there and ball.”

To their credit, they did that today. The Bills are not as good as they’ve been, Josh Allen looking like his rookie year, forcing throws downfield when receivers who could gain yardage were 5 yards away from him. The Bills should have blown the Patriots out; it was a miracle it was just 20-14 at the half.

But the Patriots’ defense was exhausted at the end Sunday, which is why Buffalo was basically able to run out the clock.

It’s been that way the second half of the season. The Patriots weren’t great defensively the first half of the year, but have been waaaay better than the offense the entire time. Yes, Bailey Zappe showed the ability to make some plays, but three interceptions – one a tipped ball, another a miscommunication, and another a misread – just can’t happen.

“It’s hard,” Zappe said. “You’ve got a long game to go, got a lot more opportunities to go down there and score, kind of flush it, kind of forget about it. It’s football, things like that are going to happen. You’re going to have turnovers, going to have three interceptions in a game, it’s how you respond. …

“There’s just some things I’ve got to fix; trust me, over the course of my career, I’ll get better at that.”

He’ll probably have a career for a few yeas in the NFL, probably a year or two in Foxborough depending on who is running the show and then Zappe will bounce around.

Sunday was just another reminder that some teams may play hard, may be tough mentally, but also play just well enough to lose.

“Obviously a terrible first 20 minutes,” Belichick said. “Our guys really hung in there, battled away, but it was getting to big of a (Bills) lead, we couldn’t quite get it back. … Can’t make those kind of mistakes against Buffalo. … Just not turning it over. Once we did that, we were competitive.”

“We have a great opportunity to finish the year right,” Andrews said, “in front of our home fans.”

Belichick was asked some lame question about ” how do you the Patriot Way” at the end of his postgame presser.

“Yeah,” he responded. “We’re getting ready for the Jets next week.”

Some things never change, and for the Patriots this season, as Sunday was a grim reminder, that’s been the problem.

Tom King may be reached at X @Telegraph_TomK, or via email at tking@nashuatelegraph.com

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