On Thursday’s edition of Zolak & Bertrand, Albert Breer of SI and MMQB compared the hype surrounding the Patriots in the season opener to how the 1994 season started. At this point, the Patriots are simply just another team in the NFL landscape.

• Patriots aren't special anymore

  Albert Breer: The alarming thing to me was on Sunday, it sort of felt like 1994 again. Like, do you remember what that felt like? Like what Patriots games felt like before Bledsoe really kind of got them going and maybe during the [Pete] Carroll era a little bit, like where it was Week one, 1:00, nondescript game from a national perspective, it’s maybe the sixth or seventh most appealing game, you have no idea what they’re going to be. And it just it felt for so long here, every game has felt like a big game and when the Patriots open the season, it feels like a big deal. And it just sort of felt to me like, I can remember when I was a kid, you remember that game like [Drew] Bledsoe and [Dan] Marino and like, I remember like that season you didn’t know how good you guys were going to be. So, like that a pleasant surprise. Like, wow, this is going to be an exciting year. You know what I mean? It sort of reminded me of, like, what the Patriots were before, which tells me they’re not really a marquee franchise anymore and maybe the ratings are reflective of it. And this is the sort of thing that I think gets the attention of ownership. Like the Patriots have been so used to being on the marquee, on the NFL’s marquee for so long and it just struck me on Sunday they weren’t close to that. Like they’re from a national perspective, how many more games were more appealing than the game they were playing in?

• Listen to the full conversation

• Check out the video

  "They're just another team."@AlbertBreer talks with @ZoandBertrand about whether the ownership could get a little antsy if the team is mediocre. pic.twitter.com/1QF6dmhKQQ

  — NBC Sports Boston's Patriots Coverage (@NBCSPatriots) September 15, 2022

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