Pigskin Amnesia

Say it.

Go ahead. You know you want to. Say it. 

Okay, I'll say it!

If the playoffs started today, the Patriots would be playing on Wildcard Weekend.

Of course, the playoffs do not start today and the Patriots status as the 7 seed could change this Sunday when they face the Jets. 

Will change.

The only question is, for better or for worse?

It's hard for me to believe New England has fixed their multiplicity of issues on offense over the bye week but as anyone who knows me knows, I have been wrong before. The Matty P & McCorkle Company have vastly underperformed compared to market expectations so perhaps they will regress (egress?) to the mean or (more realistically?) to the point where they at least partially meet expectations in the second half of the season. 

The two things that the previous sentence lacked are [1] conviction and [2] a question mark, which seems the more fitting punctuation when you're wondering  what we will see from a group that somehow posted 30+ points a game just (checks notes) last year but now seems to suffering from a collective case of pigskin amnesia.

Maybe the Pats need a hypnotist.

While I'm grasping at straws in the whirlwind here, I will note that as a fan of Chaos Theory, a small change in initial conditions may be all that's needed to unlock the potential of an offense that has the talent to march into the red zone and score an actual touchdown, yet has failed to do so in 2022 at an alarming and unsustainable rate.

Do I know what that change would be? 

I do not.

I am hopeful, though, that Matt Patricia and Bill Belichick do know.

Of course, there's knowing, and then there's doing.

Still, there's that defense. They're pretty good. I've heard it said that defense wins championships. I'm not sure the data supports that but assuming that crowds are indeed wise, the Patriots do have that going for them.

Will that be enough?

Cue the Cliche Machine: It's why they play the game.

Any given Sunday, baby!

Go Pats!