Living a Pigskin Dream

Don't pinch me, because I think I'm dreaming.

I'm from away but I think I've always been a New Englander at heart. New England is a place where the farms grow rocks, a place that has two seasons - winter and black fly - a place where the people who live there know a sunny day in February means there's a nor'easter on the way. Because there's always a nor'easter on the way. Do we enjoy that sunny day? Not really. We're too busy making sure there are fresh batteries in the flashlights, plenty of candles for when those batteries die, and enough toilet paper and bottled water stacked in the mud room for at least a week (two, just to be safe). We should be plowed out by then.

Which is just my way of saying that even during the Tom Brady era I was always waiting for that pigskin nor'easter to blow everything up. This is no different, and yet, somehow it is.

I suppose it's because I feel like I'm playing with house money.

Any success after Brady and six Super Bowl wins was going to feel like that. You knew at some point it had to end and - as all things do - end badly. It would be a chance for me to grow as a person; I could at least pretend to be gracious. End it did, of course and 2020 gave me that chance to pretend to be gracious but I'll admit the forced smile on my face did not feel good. My face hurt, in fact. 

Three to five years.

That's what I'd thought. Three to five years of watching the Bills and Dolphins battle for the AFC East division crown with only the Jets to make me feel good about my pigskin heroes. After 7-9-0 last year and a 2-4-0 start to the 2021 season, it felt like that nor'easter I'd always known was coming would definitely blow for those three to five years. Maybe longer.

Today, it's a sunny autumn day in New England. The Patriots are on a five game winning streak, thanks to a dominating defense, a smashmouth run-first offense, and a special teams unit that makes kicks and tips the field. Bill Belichick has renewed his lease on the space he's renting in every other head coaches' cerebellum. They still haven't played their best game, yet, as they ascend to that "team nobody wants to play" level. If they haven't gotten there already, an upset win in their next game against the Titans might just do the trick. 

Maybe I am dreaming.

Could it all fall apart tomorrow (the metaphorical, not the literal tomorrow)?

Hello! Joe New England here, standing armpit deep in heavy, wet, blowing snow! (Again, metaphorically, not literally. Not for another month or two, anyway.) Were you not paying attention? Of course it can all fall apart tomorrow! 

The Patriots next four games look more like a nightmare than a dream. The AFC's current #1 seed in the Titans, the AFC East-leading Bills, the Colts, who will likely be desperate for a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, and the Bills again. 

That's the forecast for a pigskin nor'easter.

For today, though, the dream of that sunny day in February is still alive.

Hey, maybe that pigskin nor'easter will just blow out to sea.

It could happen.

Don't pinch me.