Rome was not built in a day, and neither was the New England Patriots dynasty. It took years of embarrassment in prior Super Bowls and coaching changes before a sixth-round, 199th pick ever showed up at old Foxborough Stadium.

That was then, this is now, and right now it’s the Drake Maye-led Patriots on the field every week. There’s a change in the air and hopefulness all around Gillette Stadium right now. To get to the mountain top again, the success of that process may be somewhat inconsistent.

The Patriots can clearly compete, as evidenced by their two losses, both of which were by a touchdown, and their one win by six points. Even in the Week 3 loss to the Steelers, they had a potential chance to tie the game and send it to overtime at one point.

They’re a team stuck in some doldrums right now, and they need to shake their way out of it. A decision needs to be made at running back. Head coach Mike Vrabel has even acknowledged the issues in terms of fumbles, as has running back Rhamondre Stevenson.

Patriots Insider over at NBC Boston, Phil Perry, reported that “Not all progress is linear” when writing about the Patriots’ first three weeks.

“It wasn’t realistic to expect Drake Maye to improve upon his Week 2 gem in Miami,” he wrote.

It’s a fair statement with a young quarterback who is trying to catch his footing. Maye can take two steps forward one week and one step back the next. He had four incomplete passes against the Dolphins. Against the Steelers, he was sacked five times with one interception. However, he was also 28 of his 37 attempts for 268 yards and a touchdown with a passer rating of 102.1

You take the good with the bad when you have a second-year quarterback whose rookie season was wasted due to circumstances beyond his control.

Mike Vrabel noted Maye’s up-and-down playing in Week 3 in the postgame press conference.

“A lot of good,” Vrabel said. “A lot of good. And unfortunately some decisions that have to be better. I’m sure we’ll have to protect him better. And just understanding that you don’t have to win it all on one play. There’s opportunities to move on and save the day the next play.”

“There’s a lot of good things in there, just some decision making that we need to have be better for him and for himself.”

Are the Patriots inconsistent right now? Well, sort of. They’ve found themselves in a position to tie and potentially win late in their two losses so far this season, but failed. With a 1-2 record, they now move on to Week 4’s matchup against the 1-2 Carolina Panthers.

Early predictions this past offseason saw the Pats going at best 3-1 or 2-2 in September. They can still salvage that theory with a win this week at home.