A glorious Sunday before Christmas in New England. A milky sun, unseasonably warm temperatures, and the New England Patriots are the AFC East Champions for the eleventeenth time in a row.
I'm not sure how Saturday's game could've been any better. No, the Patriots were not perfect. That just doesn't happen in NFL games. Not against Top 5 defenses. Or Top 2 defenses in this case. The Patriots defense actually had the two most significant breakdowns, New England lost a fumble and the turnover battle, but thanks to another 4th quarter comeback from Tom Brady and an offensive unit that seems to be figuring it out at the best possible time, here we are. Again. For the 11th time in a row. AFC East Champs with a first round bye if they win next Sunday at home against the Dolphins.
Unless, of course, the Chiefs stumble in Chicago against the Bears Sunday night.
Too much to hope for?
Yeah.
It would be ideal, if unrealistic of course, as the Patriots would essentially gain a two-week bye, with the opportunity to rest a banged up Julian Edelman, among others, including Jason McCourty and Jonathan Jones. Not to mention Brady's not the old but the new elbow injury.
Jarrett Stidham's first start?
One can dream...
Where was I?
Oh, right. The new normal. A world where the Patriots lose back-to-back games in December, take a long, collective look in the proverbial mirror, then packs all the doubts and disrespect into fusion reactor fuel rods just in time for the playoffs.
A few random, overly optimistic thoughts…
The Patriots three losses have come against likely playoff opponents - Baltimore, Kansas City, Houston - which could actually be a positive. The Patriots have seen those team's best games; those teams, on the other hand, have not seen the Patriots best. Yes. It's a rationalization. Wishful thinking. But. We are talking about Bill Belichick here. Right? Okay. Moving on...
The running game is back and with all the injuries on the offensive line over the course of the season that is something of a miracle. With the return of left tackle Isaiah Wynn, Alex Karras' surprisingly steady play at center, Joe Thuney's money year, Shaq Mason's second half of the season return to form, and the fact Marshall Newhouse looked a lot better at right tackle than he did at left in replacing an injured Marcus Cannon, there's good reason to believe the Patriots will be able to run clock and keep those potent, athletic, RPO-fueled offenses on the sidelines in January. The Patriots held the football for nearly 39 minutes against the Bills. That is flat out owning the line of scrimmage.
The running game, of course, sets up play action. There were a couple of plays in the Bills game where Brady and the running backs completely fooled the cameramen covering the game. Keep in mind these are professionals who have seen hundreds if not thousands of hours of football. It's like a comic on a talk show making the band laugh. The TD pass to TE Matt LaCosse, and the parabola to RB Rex Burkhard - among others - were direct beneficiaries of Brady's legerdemain and the effectiveness of RB Sony Michel toting the rock 21 times for 96 yards.
Brady isn't done yet. Brady looked like Brady for the first time in a long time, completing his first 10 pass attempts, hitting 9 different receivers, and finishing with a slash line of 26/33/271/1/0. Brady being Brady is undoubtedly the single best thing to come out of the Bills game. Improved line play (no sacks), and the improving running game (35 attempts for 143 yards and a TD) had a lot to do with it, of course. It also seems like Josh McDaniels has settled on Julian Edelman (duh), rookie N'Keal Harry (who is looking like the beastly wide receiver the Patriots hoped he would be), and Mohamed Sanu (despite his inconsistent play) as his top three wideouts, with Jakobi Meyers and Philip Dorsett as depth options. For a team searching for an identity - and consistency - I think this is one of those "under the radar" coaching moves that gets little notice but produces big results.
So…
We know from the NFL Top 100 Players series that Bill Belichick loves him some Sun Tzu. Let's end with this, then…
The Patriots have first-hand knowledge of their likely playoff opponents and appear to finally have figured out who they themselves are.
Let's go!
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