Are there other fan bases that gnaw on their own ankles as if their foot was caught in a bear trap of doom and despair after a 30-17 win? There aren’t, am I right? It’s just us, the good citizens of Patriots Nation, isn’t it? I thought so.
Before the 49ers game, I noted that the Patriots couldn’t win big enough to avoid post-game leads of “Granted, it was only the 49ers but…” and sadly I was not disappointed. Thanks to a garbage time TD this was one of those “not as close as the score would indicate” kind of games but, yeah, it was only the 49ers. Were the Patriots perfect? No.
Have we forgotten what a stone cold bitch perfection is?
Maybe I’m being overly optimistic about the defense and maybe I don’t even need to be. It will be the rare opponent that can hold the Patriots offense under 30 points. I know, I get it; blah blah Belichick blah blah defensive genius blah blah blah. Child, please! Bill Belichick was gifted Tom Brady once upon a sixth round pick and you want to criticize him for building his team around the greatest quarterback of all time?
I’m probably in the pigskin minority here but I’m good with New England winning 34-33. Okay, I’m better with them winning 41-3 but point differential (other than head to head) isn’t a playoff seeding tiebreaker. At the end of the regular season, wins against the 49ers, Browns and Bengals or a Steelers minus Ben Roethlisberger won’t be discounted. Winning by 1 is as good as winning by 40. Winning 41-40 is as good as winning 41-3.
Where was I? Oh, right. Irrational optimism.
There’s still plenty of talent on the Patriots defense. Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia didn’t get stupid all of a sudden. New England will be fine on the defensive side of the line of scrimmage and fine will be good enough.
Because the Patriots have an offense that is much, much better than good enough.
The offensive line is solid. They have three effective running backs in LeGarrette Blount, James White and Dion Lewis. They have two of the best tight ends in the NFL with Gronk and Martysaurus Rex. The wide receivers tend to be discounted because there isn’t an Antonio Brown/Julio Jones-level talent in the position group but they are deep and well-suited to the Patriots offense; Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola, Chris Hogan and rookie Malcolm Mitchell give Brady options underneath and downfield.
Gronk and Hogan are averaging over 20 yards per reception. He hasn’t had as many opportunities by rookie wideout Mitchell is averaging over 17 yards per reception.
The top seven pass catchers for the Patriots all have a reception of 30+ yards; Hogan (60), Bennett (58), Mitchell (56), Gronkowski (53), White (36), Edelman (33) and Amendola (32). I expect we’ll add Lewis to that list in a couple of weeks.
You could argue other teams have better weapons but no other team has Brady.
The only reason I want the defense to get better than good enough is so I can have more Tom Brady.
I had four games of Brady’s career stolen from me. I’ll never get that back but I’ll settle for two or three more possessions per game over the rest of the season. Moments like Brady’s TD pass to Mitchell in the 49ers game are special. I’m looking forward to more of those. Tom Terrific is 39-years old going on 29. He’s putting every other quarterback who ever played the game in the rear view and pulling away. I refuse to be distracted by local pigskin pundits and bobbleheads chattering about the defense, cherry-picking blown coverages, questioning the moves that sent Chandler Jones to the Cardinals and Jamie Collins to the Browns, both of whom will be watching the playoffs from their couches come January but I refuse to let them harsh my buzz.
I’m going to enjoy this ride.
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