Great Expectations

So, I’ve read the first of what I assume will be many articles making the case that anything short of a Super Bowl win will be a failure for the 2014 Patriots.

Hasn’t that been the case for the last ten years? As I recall, even the 2013 Patriots, with five starters on IR, was subject to its unfair share of criticism for only getting to the AFC Championship.

For our friends in Buffalo and Cleveland and a dozen other NFL cities, let’s acknowledge that this is one of those good problems to have. Super Bowl expectations do not weigh heavy on the shoulders of Doug Marrone or Mike Pettine. Not that they don’t have problems of their own. I’m sure they would gladly trade their problems for the “anything short of a Super Bowl” problem.

The Patriots have lost  just two starters on IR this year; Jerod Mayo and Stevan Ridley. Mayo’s loss has been offset by the Pro Bowl-level play of Dont’a Hightower and Jamie Collins and the trades for Akeem Ayers and Jonathan Casillas. Ridley has barely been missed thanks to the play of Jonas Gray and the pick-up of LeGarrette Blount. But I’m burying the lede here. The big difference for New England this year over last is that Rob Gronkowski is healthy.

At the risk of stating the painfully obvious, Gronk is every bit as important an offensive weapon as Dez Bryant is to the Cowboys, Demaryius Thomas is to the Broncos, Jordy Nelson is to the Packers or Calvin Johnson is to the Lions. After a slow start in September – to be expected coming off an ACL injury – and a Week 17 spent in a hyperbaric chamber at a secure, undisclosed location, Gronkowski finished 15^th in receiving yardage. He tied for 8^th in receiving 1^st downs (60 of his 82 receptions), finished 11^th in YAC, tied for 10^th in catches of 20+ yards and tied for 4^th in receiving touchdowns, with 12 scores in his 15 games.   

He is still too fast for linebackers and too big for safeties. He demands a double-team and has the athleticism to make spectacular catches in traffic. He tips the field, opening up space for Julian Edelman, Brandon LaFell and Shane Vereen. And he blocks.

Do not even talk to me about Jimmy Graham. He is not a tight end. Just stop it. The discussion regarding the best tight end in the NFL begins and ends with Rob Gronkowski. That’s it. That’s the list.

As a pro football fan and more specifically as a New England Patriots fan, I have been waiting for the chance to see a healthy Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski in the playoffs. Gronk’s name belongs on the list of most receiving TDs in a single season, playoffs.

Gronk isn’t the only reason for optimism. There’s a championship caliber defense lining up on the other side of the ball for the Patriots for the first time since 2004. They have one of the better special teams units in the NFL and perhaps the best kicker in the league should a game come down to a field goal. And they have Tom Brady.

Black Monday Musings

I have to say, it doesn’t look like it could’ve turned out much better for the Patriots. Rex Ryan has lost his job, Joe Philbin has kept his and the Bills don’t have a 1^st round pick in 2015, having traded that pick away to draft the third or fourth best wide receiver in the 2014 draft. The Jets will be rebuilding, we can pencil the Dolphins in for another 8-8-0 season and the Bills will be hoping their defense can carry Kyle Orton EJ Manuel to the Super Bowl.

EJ Manuel.

Jay Cutler, anyone?

The Road to Glendale

Bill Belichick may not want to talk about it but I do; the road to Glendale goes through Foxborough!

How We Got Here…

Thanks to the Denver Broncos apparent lack of interest in having the Seahawks kick their asses on international television second year in a row, the Patriots Week 17 matchup with the Buffalo Bills has been rendered moot. The Broncos lost not only their Monday night game against the primetime-phobic Cincinnati Bengals, they ceded the #1 seed to the Pats and other than the 3^rd quarter flurry, looked unambiguously unimpressive in the process. Peyton Manning’s four interceptions had pigskin pundits and bobbleheads revisiting Manning’s multiple neck surgeries, his 38 years on this planet and puzzling over the mental errors committed by one of the game’s most cerebral quarterbacks.

It seems to me Manning has been given a far more reverential eulogy following the Queen City Catastrophe than the dismissive notices handed Tom Brady after the Monday Night Massacre in Kansas City. As a Pats fan I get that I’m probably just a bit too sensitive to the worshipful tone of pigskin pundits and bobbleheads as they discuss Peyton Manning and his awesomely awesome awesomeness. Critiques of Brady when the Patriots were 2-2-0 were as clinical and decisive as an autopsy. Brady was done. Belichick should try to hornswoggle some rube GM into forking over a 1^st round pick for Brady’s corpse and hand the ball to Jimmy Garoppolo. Pigskin pundits and bobbleheads seem confused and nostalgic in their reactions to Manning’s descent into mediocrity over the second half of the season, a fall that reached terminal velocity with his four interceptions Monday night. Brady was done. Manning’s performance is worrisome.

It’s just one game but it was startling seeing Manning look so very much like Jay Cutler.

For weeks, the talk has been all about New England’s need to secure home field for the playoffs, to avoid a repeat of 2013 and an conference championship game in Denver. The consensus opinion seemed to be that whoever secured the #1 seed in the AFC – be it the Broncos or the Patriots – would have the inside track to Glendale and Super Bowl XLIX.

After last Monday night’s game, it’s hard to imagine a healthy New England roster (I’m looking at you, Rob Gronkowski) would’ve had any problem winning in Denver.

Yes, I’m glad we won’t need to find out.

Week 17 Decisions…

To play or not to play, that is the internet meme. Sure, this game has no implications as far as the playoffs go but it isn’t completely meaningless. Tickets have been sold. And re-gifted to the brother-in-law. This is professional football, after all. Player incentives in six and seven figures based on performance and playing time metrics hang in the balance.

More importantly, we cannot put the entire roster in bubble wrap with a “Do Not Open Till The Divisional Round” tag. Forty-six players will dress for this Sunday’s game. It’s like a rule or something.

Tom Brady will be playing because he’s Tom Brady.  Ideally – from my perspective – Brady doesn’t play at all but that doesn’t seem possible let alone likely. So, taking the impossible out of the equation, let’s say the ideal scenario has New England starting fast on offense and Brady taking a seat following the first series in the 3^rd quarter. Brady and Vince Wilfork can share Jimmy Garoppolo jokes, do their Rob Gronkowski impressions for each other, discuss long-term investment strategies.

Darrelle Revis will play. He and Brady are cut from the same cloth.

Rob Gronkowski will start because he promised he would play all 16 games this season and Belichick will make sure he gets to keep that promise. I hold my breath every time Gronkowski is smashing and dashing through opposing secondaries, nervously checking the edges of the TV screen for T.J. Ward, only allowing myself to exhale when Gronk is walking back to the huddle – or spiking the ball in the end zone. I’m hoping for a lot of Tim Wright this Sunday.

The lame and the halt are numerous; how much of this has to do with Bill Belichick’s perverse attention to detail with his injury reports is open to debate, of course. Still, the extra week of rest that could be afforded to Julian Edelman, Dan Connolly and others would not only help those players get healthy for the playoffs, it would give their backups valuable reps in game action. I don’t think the extra week of downtime is going to hurt Edelman or anyone else listed as questionable.

The Prognosis

Yes, the Steelers are on a roll, the Chargers are flat out insane and Peyton Manning is still Peyton Manning. Mostly. Whatever. If the Patriots play their best football in all three phases they can’t be beaten by any team in the AFC. They still have to do that, of course, but does anyone think it’s a long shot? It’s the opposite of a long shot. Okay, maybe it’s not the exact opposite but it’s at least 165 degrees off of a long shot.

And the Super Bowl?

A Patriots-Seahawks match up would print money. The last team to win back-to-back Lombardi’s trying to stop the team attempting that same feat. Brady and Russell Wilson. Gronk. The enigma that is Marshawn Lynch. Darrelle Revis and Richard Sherman. Wow. Would there even be room for Peter Carroll’s New England years? That could be the most analyzed, most watched, most bet Super Bowl ever.

Do I think the Patriots can beat the Seahawks on a neutral site? Yes, I do. Would I rather see the Patriots face the Packers? Well, it would be nice to see New England avenge the loss in Green Bay as a sweetener to seal the deal but winning a Super Bowl really doesn’t require a free dessert, does it?

Why do I feel like it’s going to be Dallas?

Losing to the Patriots.

The Year That Was Called 2014

2014. It won’t be over till the fat lady sings but she’s warming up in the wings…

Once More With Feeling

Dan Connolly MVP?

Dan Connolly MVP.

99 Problems But The MVP Ain't One

The drumbeat for an MVP for Rob Gronkowski started a few weeks ago. Given the Patriots hostile takeover of the AFC correlated to Gronk’s return to form, it wasn’t a ridiculous proposition. Like J.J. Watt, however, nobody seemed to give Gronk much of a chance to actually win, not with Aaron Rodgers, DeMarco Murray and the Ghost of Peyton Manning putting up big numbers. Lately, some local pigskin pundits and bobbleheads have taken a look at Gronkowski’s award-season credentials, with Christopher Price of WEEI and Field Yates of ESPN (Insider Content) making the case for the big Polish sausage aficionado as Patriots MVP. Not all of the locals agree with Gronk’s candidacy, of course. Some, like Jerry Thornton, also of WEEI, think the real MVP of the Patriots is Darrelle Revis while Tom E. Curran of CSNNE doesn’t think Revis is just the MVP of the Patriots, he thinks he’s the MVP of the league.

Tom Brady? 

Anyone?

Unanswered Points

You’d have to think the Dolphins were feeling pretty good at halftime. They had dominated the first 30 minutes of play. The Patriots seemed to crumble at the end of the half, playing poorly in all three phases of the game to set up Miami for the spectacular one-handed TD grab by Mike Wallace and a one-point, 14-13 deficit. Everyone remembered what happened in the second half of the Week 1 game in Miami, right?

Yeah. Everyone remembered.

Baby Steps

I think I read somewhere that if everything breaks right this Sunday, the Patriots could not only win the AFC East but secure the #1 seed and home field for the playoffs as well. By “everything” I mean the Broncos losing at San Diego, the Colts losing to the Texans at home, the Bengals losing at Cleveland and… You know, it would be great if the Pats could just win the AFC East this Sunday.

Baby steps.

My First F-Bomb

There’s a scene in “A Christmas Story” where Ralphie is helping his dad change a spare tire. As Ralphie’s dad is attempting to break his own personal record for fastest flat tire change, the lug nuts are knocked into the air, and as they arc in slow motion out into the darkness Ralphie says, “fuuuudge.”

Only he didn’t say fudge…

Fair warning, I won’t be saying fudge after the break, either…

Destiny is Transactional

The Patriots control their own destiny. Sort of. I’m sure their opponents will have something to say about it but if New England wins out, they will have the #1 seed and home field throughout the playoffs.

But you knew that.

The Clubhouse Turn

We’ve got four games to go. Here’s where we are, every NFL team in 25 words or less.

Okay, sometimes more than 25. 

When I hate. 

I’m only human.

Losing or Not

Losing is terrible. Everything that’s good about winning is nowhere to be found in losing. Losing is depressing. It sucks. It hurts like a kick in the balls. Okay, it doesn’t hurt that badly (having experienced both I feel safe in making this judgment) but it’s close. So, why do I feel so good today?