Something to Lose

I hate roller-coaster rides but it appears that's the ticket I bought.

If the playoffs started today, the Patriots would be losing in the first round (probably).

But the playoffs don't start today (we're halfway there), and in a single elimination tournament, just about anything can happen and probably will (you know it, so sing it with me: we're livin' on a prayer). Looks like that "real football" they talk about happening after Thanksgiving might've gotten here a couple of weeks early this year. Saying that every game from here on out is a playoff game for the Pats is maybe just a bit hyperbolic and math is hard, but when you're seventh out of seven teams in the playoff hunt, the clichés come at you hard.

For a couple of weeks now the Patriots have looked like the team that pigskin pundits and bobbleheads, New England's fans, students of Bill Belichick, and seven out of ten dentists all thought they were going to be. Complementary football. All three phases of the game. Led by their defense and a run-first offense, they were built to win games by a field goal and put money in the pockets of bettors taking the under. 

And now, here we are.

But nobody ever said it wasn't going to be semi-tough. And the Patriots will definitely be running the gauntlet through the upcoming schedule. 

They have the bipolar Browns in Foxborough next Sunday. The Browns are coming off a huge win over division rival Bengals. Can you spell letdown? Of course you can!

Then a roadie in the ATL. The Falcons just did something not at all Falcony in winning a game against the Saints. They did everything they could to lose, building, then blowing, a big lead. (Sound familiar?) But then, they came back to kick a game-winning field goal as time expired! (Are we actually sure that really happened? Doesn't sound right.) 

I'm still feeling like those two games are winnable for New England but then they're back at home for the Titans, who looked like the Sardaukar against the Rams Sunday night. Someone please remind Mike Vrabel before the game that Tom Brady does not play for the Patriots any more. Let's hope, too, that New England's coaches have figured out what's wrong with Isaiah Wynn by Thanksgiving (or Trent Brown is back); I fear for Mac Jones' life in this one.

So, I'm saying there's a chance the Patriots are 7-5-0 when they make the trip to Buffalo, to face the Bills, and the poster boy for regressing to the mean, QB man-child Josh Allen. We'll see if the loss to the commedia dell'arte troupe known as the Jaguars serves as a wake up call for the AFC's erstwhile preseason Super Bowl favorites or if they continue to come up small in big moments. I don't know what happened in Buffalo or when it happened but it seems cruel enough to imagine an ill-conceived deal with the Devil was somehow involved. I'd say I hate having the Devil on my sideline but enemy of my enemy and all that. And the Pats do look good in the red throwbacks.

Even if they come out of Buffalo at 7-6-0, they could still get to 10 wins with a 3-1-0 finish against the riddle wrapped in an enigma Colts (road), those accursed (allegedly) Bills again (home), the sneaky terrible Jaguars (home), and an underachieving Dolphins team (in Miami) that may or may not want to win to save their head coach's job.

If we learned anything this past weekend, with Browns hammering the Bengals in Cincinnati, the Broncos dominating the Cowboys in Big D, the Giants winning (does it matter that it was the Raiders?), the Falcons coming up clutch, the Titans bullying the Rams without King Henry, and the Jaguars beating the Bills, it's that Any Given Sunday isn't just an Al Pacino movie.

Football is crazy!

Let's go!