Too Soon?

 Is it too soon to get excited about this 2021 New England Patriots football team?

If it is, I'm way ahead of schedule. 

I do hate it, though, when the Patriots have to play a team coming off an embarrassing loss, and I would say any loss to the Texans qualifies as such. I believe the Patriots' narrow 25-22 win over the Texans was considered embarrassing so a loss, well, what's worse than embarrassing? Humiliating? Shameful? Disgraceful? All of the above? The emotional component of NFL football should never be underestimated. The Titans want to put that Texans loss, and the suddenly playoff-relevant Patriots, in the rear view, and they can accomplish both by winning in Foxborough this Sunday.

It is what it is, I suppose.

This game is one of those "measuring stick" games (and yes, we know exactly what's being measured, don't we?). These New England Patriots have built their five-game winning streak on physicality, on being "a-holes on the field" as Matt Judon put it. The offense wants to punch you in the face. The defense wants to take your lunch money. Special teams wants to give you a wedgie. Being the more physical team in a sport like professional football is no easy feat, in particular when you have a mirror match like this Sunday's game against the Titans. I've seen a number of blowout predictions favoring the Patriots but this just feels like more of a knock down, drag out, last man standing kind of thing. 

The most consequential game the Patriots have played since 2019?

Check. (And apologies to all the Jets fans out there for reminding them they haven't played a consequential game since a certain Thanksgiving Day game. Okay, like the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups guy; not sorry.)

An inflection point for the 2021 Patriots?

Even if you don't know what an inflection point is, you know the answer to a rhetorical question is always yes. 

The answer is yes.

A loss wouldn't end the season (they're contractually obligated to play five more games after this Sunday) but it would certainly be an icy cold glass of shut-the-hell-up in the face. And an off ramp to 2022 in Buffalo the following week. 

But a win… A win would make it easy to believe these Patriots could make yet another run at the Lombardi Trophy. A win would have me digging through grainy videos of the 2001 Patriots on YouTube, looking for runic pigskin signs and omens. A win would have me talking trash to my Buffalo Bills-loving brother-in-law, who is otherwise one of the best people I know.

Okay. 

Maybe that's just me and maybe it's just that my icy cold glass of shut-the-hell-up is still half full. 

Maybe I already believe.