Another Next Man Up

If this is Tuesday, the Patriots must be putting another player on the Injured Reserve list.

Okay, it hasn't been quite that bad.

Still. Dominique Easley. I'm gonna miss him.

 

Sounds like LeGarrette Blount is not so much day-to-day as week-to-week. Back in time for the playoffs is the optimistic view. We'll see. Signing Montee Ball isn't exactly a vote of confidence. Not that we aren't hoping Ball won't be the next veteran reclamation project mad pigskin scientist Bill Belichick takes down to his basement lab where he's turns him into a reliable rotational player because we are. We won't say it but we hope that two weeks from now Montee Ball winds up having a 200-yard rushing day in New York City, uh, I mean somewhere in swamps of Jersey.

Anyway. Football. Player gonna get hurt. That's the game.

I'd like to think this, like everything else in life, will regress to the mean. I'd also like to wear a sword to the ball and dance with the fairest maiden in all the land. My last name would be Charming. Michael Charming. Wait! You forgot your shoe!

Maybe everything will be fine. Or okay, at least. Akiem Hicks looked pretty good against the Texans. They didn't even dress Sealver Siliga and he was a key contributor in 2014. They're going to miss Easley, though, don't get me wrong. He was playing well. It's a shame, really. 

Next!

As for Blount, he hasn't been put on IR so maybe he comes back along with Jules Edelman and Dont'a Hightower and every other dinged up player on the Pats. This is a team that needs that bye week in the worst possible way.

They could use a big game against the Titans this Sunday, too. The kind of game that features shots of Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Chandler Jones on the sidelines during the 4th quarter, helmets off, gloves off, yucking it up while Jimmy Garoppolo is going deep off play-action to Keshaun Martin on a slant and go. Brady throws for 300 yards and 4 TDs in a little over three quarters of work. Game over. Out.

We'll see. The one thing we should all have learned by now that there's no explaining the NFL.

But here we are. The Patriots control their own destiny! This assumes they have the wherewithal to win their next their next three games, of course. From what I read, two out of three will probably be enough to get New England a bye and maybe even keep the #1 seed. There are multiple possible futures in play here, a matrix of variables.

Okay, so that roadie in Jersey is looking like it's going to be the kind of game that makes you glad you bought that home defibrillator. The Titans are terrible and the Dolphins are done but the Jets have a shot at a Wild Card and they've been playing well. And they kind of hate the Patriots. 

A little bit. 

I'm counting on this being that game Ryan Fitzpatrick has every now and then, a five turnover kind of game (three interceptions and two fumbles). Come on, Ryan Fitzpatrick. 

Be you!

This Patriots defense could make that happen, of course, even without Easley, Hightower and Devon McCourty. They'll be really good when Hightower and McCourty get back on the field.

A lot depends on the Broncos and Bengals, too.

Broncos fans had to be hoping this crazy Brock Osweiler, Overnight Pigskin Sensation thing was going to last. Now, Manning throwing four interceptions against the Bengals seems as inevitable as the Steelers turning Osweiller into a quarterback who looks like he's making just his sixth start as a pro while Ben Roethlisberger provides the less than attractive optics as he shreds Denver's vaunted defense. After the Bengals debacle, Manning bounces back with a deceptively good performance to beat the Chargers. Deceptively, in the sense that it's the Chargers and the Chargers are terrible. 

Hello, Wild Card loss at home, as Osweiler relieves a broken Peyton Manning but the comeback falls short.

You know it's going to happen.

The Bengals defense should be able to carry AJ McCarron while Andy Dalton's thumb heals up. In fact, and yes I am counting on Peyton Manning playing terribly in his Week 16 return to action, Cincinnati should win out, facing the 49ers up next on the road (but really, does it matter?) and at home Week 17 against the Deflategate Karma-crippled Ravens. 

W. W. W.

Check that two out of three scenario for the Patriots. They'll need to win out to stay a game ahead of the Bengals for the #1 seed. Home field. That's important. 

I guess I should hope the Broncos bounce back from the gut punch loss to the Steelers and beat the Bengals as Peyton Manning makes a triumphant return, winning yet another regular season game while throwing for 400 yards and 5 TD. 

Can't deny the man is good on the small stage.

Ah well. The Broncos and Bengals will take care of themselves. Best to just let those things go, I guess, and…

Control your own destiny!

Why does that always involve the Jets?