It's crazy. Brady just had his worst game of the year and I actually feel better about New England's Super Bowl hopes.
As the Patriots sit at 12-2-0, winners of the AFC East, the destiny controller held firmly in their hands, pigskin pundits and bobbleheads (and basement-dwelling trolls) continue to question New England's Super Bowl bona fides. It isn't that the Patriots are great or even good, you see, so much as their opponents are terrible, horrible, no good and very bad. Tomato cans, in the parlance of townie scribe and professional curmudgeon Dan Shaughnessy.
After a cup of coffee and some contemplation, a few thoughts…
Isn't that the point?
Should the Patriots have to apologize for being better constructed, managed and coached than other teams? For having better scouting and analytics? For having a roster that goes 2 and 3 deep to sustain them through the slings and arrows and inevitable injuries that come with playing football? For having smarter players who consistently do their jobs within a framework that allows for opponent-specific game plans week to week?
Aside from Tom Brady and the injured Rob Gronkowski, the Patriots don't have any of best players in the league. Okay, maybe Malcolm Butler is a Top 5 player at his position (by anyone not named Emmanuel Sanders, anyway) but you aren't going to find Julian Edelman or Chris Hogan on anyone's list of the Top 10 wide receivers in the NFL. LeGarrette Blount doesn't even get much love from Patriots Nation let alone the national media. Even after right tackle Marcus Cannon erased Von Miller last Sunday, the Mayor of Dunkin's and the rest of us regular customers are having a hard time thinking of Cannon as the Patriots best offensive lineman. New England's defense is a roster of "one man's trash is another man's treasure" pick ups. Alan Branch, Jabaal Sheard, Rob Ninkovich, Chris Long, Kyle Van Noy, Shea McClellin and Eric Rowe all began their careers elsewhere; too old and injured, underperforming their draft status, not worth another contract or unable to crack the starting line up for other teams. They are joined by Dion Lewis, Chris Hogan and LeGarrette Blount on offense. Recent waiver claim Michael Floyd was the 6th former 1st round draft pick Bill Belichick added to the Patriots roster in 2016. Pigskin equivalents of couches left by the curb with a piece of paper pinned to the cushion with "FREE!" scrawled on it and Belichick was only too happy to drive over with his pickup truck and carry them away. After a quick steam clean and some reupholstering they're now a lovely living room set.
Should New England have to make an act of contrition because they have the best head coach, best staff and the best quarterback in the league?
Roger Goodell and the Other 31 Owners seemed to think so.
It didn't matter. They totally missed the point. Had they forgotten 2008? Bill Belichick and the Patriots won't let the loss of a single player - even Tom Brady - stop them from doing their best to win football games. Suspending Brady (without cause) for four games was supposed to level the playing field? If I may quote Emmanuel Sanders, "Child, please." Stealing September from Tom Brady did nothing to improve the other teams in the AFC East or elsewhere west of the Connecticut River.
Are the gridiron cognoscenti conveniently forgetting how hard it is to win a game in the NFL?
New England's sustained, historic excellence during the Belichick era may give the illusion that it's easy but consider the emotional breakdown from the Broncos after Sunday's 16-3 loss. Denver is the defending Super Bowl champions. They expected to win. They needed to win. After holding Tom Brady without a completion in the 1st quarter I'm sure they were confident they would win. If told before the game they would hold the Patriots to 16 points I'm sure they would've assumed they would come out winners. Instead, the Broncos were beaten; out-game planned, out-coached, out-smarted, out-hustled, out-hit. That has to hurt and not just physically. In retrospect, it isn't surprising that harsh words were said; it's surprising players didn't come to blows in the locker room.
Do the pigskin pundits and bobbleheads ignore the fact that every opponent treats Patriots games like their personal Super Bowl?
New England gets everyone's best. Seattle came to Foxborough and won 31-24. Two weeks later they traveled to Tampa and lost 14-5. Wait-What? Yes, that happened. That's the difference between how teams prepare for the Patriots and the way they prepare for every other team in the NFL. New England is the standard against which all other teams measure themselves, even teams like the Seahawks.
The Patriots will still probably need to win out to avoid the tiebreaker with the Raiders and secure home field throughout the playoffs. (They ain't all tomato cans, I guess.) That would mean the fifth 14+ wins season during the Bill Belichick era. I'm guessing that would probably be a record because just about everything Belichick, Brady and the Patriots do these days is some kind of record.
Huh.
Maybe they are good.
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