Lucky or Good?

Is luck a thing? If so, is it a thing that seeks balance; a thing that will shove that horseshoe up your ass sideways at the worst possible moment?

On the whole, things have gone pretty well for the Patriots this season. Yes, Tom Brady had September stolen from him but New England still went 3-1-0 in those games. They had the fewest players on IR ever in the Bill Belichick era but one of those players is Rob Gronkowski, one of the 10 best players in the NFL. Historically, the loss of Gronkowski has cost the Patriots offense 7 points a game. And yet, they went 8-0-0 without Gronk. No doubt that winning streak was aided by the not very good opponents the Patriots faced in securing the #1 seed with their 14-2-0 regular season record. Well, that's what I heard...

In some respects, the Patriots' good luck in 2016 has clearly been the residue of design. The offseason acquisitions of Martellus Bennett and Chris Hogan certainly helped mitigate Gronk's semi-annual trip to IR. The return of Dante Scarnecchia revitalized an offensive line that kept Brady clean and fueled New England's underrated running game (check out the comp Mike Reiss provides at #7 in his Sunday "Quick Hits" post). James White got better. Luck or good coaching from Ivan Fears? Dion Lewis came back. James Develin came back. Julian Edelman played all 16. Rookie WR Malcolm Mitchell looks a lot like Deion Branch. Belichick took a chance on WR Michael Floyd, who played like a man who has something to prove (and he does) in his first significant action in Miami.

Belichick shed arguably the two best players from the 2015 defense - Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins - and somehow Matt Patricia coordinated one of the Patriots Top 3 scoring defenses of the last 16 seasons. Once again, Belichick took players who had disappointed their previous employers - Shea McClellin, Kyle Van Noy, Chris Long, Eric Rowe - added a few lightly regarded rookies - Elandon Roberts, Vincent Valentine, Trey Flowers (on his redshirt freshman year) - and somehow New England got better on defense. That's happened too many times to come down to luck. Of course, it helps when you have a core to build around with players like Devin McCourty, Dont'a Hightower and Malcolm Butler.

But okay...

Maybe some luck was involved.

And maybe what goes around, comes around.

Maybe the universe does seek balance in all things.

West of the Connecticut River, you may think Deflategate, with Brady's suspension, the fines and the loss of draft picks was all about returning the pigskin 'verse to balance. New England had lost a 1st round pick and Belichick and the team were fined for Spygate but that somehow wasn't enough. The Patriots nefarious attempts to play all their playoff games in Foxborough where underinflated footballs were a foregone (and scientific) inevitability was proof the Spygate punishment had not been enough to bring New England to heel.

East of the Connecticut River, here in Patriots Nation, Spygate is settled law (it was seven years in the rear view when the 2014 AFCCG was played) and Deflategate looks like Roger Goodell as Richard III in a lackluster regional theater performance with the other 31 owners doing everything and whatever they could to tip the scales in their favor; to disadvantage the Patriots. For those defending the wall, Deflategate is institutional cheating. It's an example of what is coming to be known as "Trumpism;" the triumph of a fake news narrative (Cheating Patriots) over facts and science (the Ideal Gas Law, aka, why that low inflation indicator on your car's dashboard comes on in the winter).

The Jets were supposed to build on their 10-6-0 near miss of the playoffs in 2015 and edge the Patriots for the now "up for grabs" AFC East. New England would go 0-4-0 without Brady. 10-6-0 and a Wild Card spot for the Patriots at best. No home game in Foxborough. No underinflated footballs.

No Super Bowl.

Apparently, the gridiron gods were not amused.

Or maybe the Patriots are just that good.