FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Deatrich Wise is a gentle giant.

He’s smiley and muscle-bound, 6-foot-5 and 280 pounds. Someone who seems just as happy crushing quarterbacks as he is relaying a G-rated joke. A team captain, and company man.

This is why Wise can often be found behind a podium on Wednesday mornings during the season. He is the exact type of thoughtful representative every NFL team should want front and center, and especially in dark times. But because of his sunny disposition, it’s sometimes hard to get a read on what’s what.

Like, for example, why the New England Patriots defense stinks right now.

“Really, as long as we play together and play to the highest of our ability,” Wise began Wednesday, “I believe we’re unstoppable.”

OK. Sure.

But when Wise is asked about the stakes of the Patriots’ final four games and he doesn’t mince words, I pay attention.

And you should, too.

“If we finish right, we’re telling everybody that the hard work that we put in, it matters,” he said Wednesday. “We’ve had a lot of close games, and we know where we went wrong in those close games. So if we can make sure that we can all come together and win out, not only will it boost the morale for the guys here already, but it will set the tone for next year, as well.”

There it is.

Not quite in black and white, and still carrying a little rose-colored tint. But the significance of the Patriots’ final chapter in 2024 is right there.

Buy-in. Proof of concept. Belief.

Because if the Patriots fail to make progress down the stretch of a tough season, it tells players their hard work doesn’t matter. It says next year might just be one long Groundhog Day. It says the current program, with these players, this staff and their shared culture, isn’t good enough.

The Patriots are fighting for the right to pen and partake in their own future. A future that, for now, looks cloudy.

Not in the sense that Jerod Mayo is necessarily coaching for his job, particularly given owner Robert Kraft once said he decided Mayo would succeed Bill Belichick four and a half years before he actually did. But in the vein that even if Mayo is back with much of this locker room, the Patriots must earn the right to believe better days are not only possible, but coming.

Hunter Henry said as much in his own press conference Wednesday, speaking about the team’s core.

“Obviously it’s gonna be a different team next year in a lot of ways. But there are a lot of guys that are gonna come back, too. And we have a lot of young guys that this year haven’t tasted a lot of winning, so I think (winning) can build a lot of these young guys’ confidence going into next year,” the veteran tight end said. “So that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Confidence is born only from demonstrated ability. This year, the Patriots have demonstrated they have a franchise quarterback in Drake Maye, yes. But they also are having problems developing talent around him, luring elite talent via trades or free agency, and winning close games. Mayo, to his credit, realizes he’s authored some of those issues, but declined to get specific.

“I’m not going to get too much into details there,” he said. “I think, again, my focus is on this week and winning this football game.”

As for Maye, he isn’t excusing himself from the conversation, either, though he was more forthcoming about what the final stretch means to him.

“These last four games of being a starting quarterback, it comes with a lot of responsibility,” Maye said. “Taking a new step, getting in uncomfortable situations … getting experiences for the next year. I think any time you’re facing the Bills twice – we’ll see them a lot down the road, I’m sure, and we’ll have a lot of challenges.

“Any time you face a division opponent like that, (you) get ready for years to come.”

Just like Buffalo did. Remember?

Back in 2018, the Bills went 3-3 at the end of a 6-10 campaign headlined by a raw rookie quarterback. They finished that season by pushing the future Super Bowl champions in Foxborough during an eventual 12-point loss, and then destroying the Dolphins by 25. Back then, Buffalo had no reason to believe Josh Allen would become someone capable of carrying their entire program, let alone a quarterback who one day might make the Hall of Fame.

But that finish inspired belief in the program around Allen, and the Bills earned a wild-card berth the following season. Now, look at them.

Winners of five straight division titles, the Bills are still sprinting with the baton the dynasty-era Patriots handed them.

Will the Patriots ever take it back?

Do they even believe that they can?

If so, it’s time to get a running start.