Dogs

The Patriots will be underdogs for as long as they last in the playoffs. (No, I am not paid to provide these trenchant, pigskin insights. You're welcome.) Maybe that's a good thing. Remember when New England was playing with that "2-4 mentality?" Come on. You remember. It was just a month ago…

Okay, it seems like it was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away but that winter weekender in Miami can have that effect.

Look, a lot of oblate spheroids have to bounce in New England's favor if they're going to win in Buffalo Saturday night. This is a team with a tissue-thin margin of error. Despite the forecast calling for penguins - with sub-zero temps that can impact both physical performance and mental discipline - the Patriots cannot turn over the football or commit pre-snap penalties if they're going to move on in the tournament. On defense, that first guy cannot miss the tackle. And… Okay. Blah, blah, blah. Not the better team that wins, but the team that plays better; defense wins championships; run the ball, stop the run. Et cetera, ad nauseum, do your job, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Yeah. 

Nobody knows anything. 

Case in point: Me.

Honestly, though, I'm in a pretty good place. It's a town called Expectations, population zero. It's easy to forget what it was like being a Patriots fan 25+ years ago. When pigskin pundits and bobbleheads talk about the expectations in New England like it was 2012, I wonder how much LDS they did in the 60s. Wait. Was that just me?

Where was I before I looked through the kaleidoscope my inner child keeps in a closet in my cerebellum?

Right.

All I'm saying is: Don't tell me how I feel! You don't know me!

I think the best you can hope for in this life is for more good than bad, and that's what the 2021 New England Patriots have given this little penguin. (What? When did I turn into a penguin?) A playoff win in Buffalo would be jimmies on the sundae (no walnuts, please); the kind of jimmies that can actually reduce your A1C. (No, that is not an actual thing and no I would not like urine with my fries.)

Having said that, I'll just add this and this.

Go Pats!