The Next One

The Patriots were 9.5 point underdogs on the road last week and won. Now the Dolphins come to Foxborough as 6.5 point underdogs.

That probably doesn’t mean anything, right?

Right?

The Encore

The second start of Jimmy Garoppolo’s career was going to be the biggest. Of course, that was because we thought it would be coming off a loss. And because it’s a divisional game. At home. You can’t lose a divisional home game. Well, unless you’re the Buffalo Bills. Then you absolutely can do that. If we’re being honest, we all thought 3-1-0 was the best case scenario for Jimmy G. 3-1-0? We were going to be happy with 2-2-0. The Pats would lose in Arizona and they’d lose on a short week to the Texans. But they had to win the divisional games against Miami and Buffalo. They had to. That’s why Week 2 was going to be so important.

It still is.

The Quarterback Non-Controversy

Maybe it’s just that everyone has been so jealous of Tom Brady for so long they’d like to believe he’s actually jealous of someone else.

I’m looking at you Jimmy G!

Perfect Sunday

No Gronk. No Nate Solder or Sebastian Vollmer. No Ninkovich. No Dion Lewis.

No Tom Brady.

On the road, playing a team with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations.

Hey, everybody’s got their problems. All anyone ever cares about is results.

New England 23, Arizona 21.

W.

This was the game they were supposed to lose. Even with Brady this was supposed to be a tough game to win. The most optimistic of Jimmy G boosters conceded a 3-1-0 record would be pretty much the best case scenario. All of us felt a 2-2-0 start would be good enough, especially if those two wins were against Miami and Buffalo.

Now?

Now we’re on to Miami.

Sunday Morning Randomizer

Karma’s a bitch but I can’t help myself. I’ll be rooting for the Ravens, Bengals and Seahawks today. Okay. Not really. I’ll be rooting against the Bills, Jets and Dolphins. Looking at those matchups, it feels like all of those dominoes could fall in my favor. Not that I trust the Ravens and Joe Flacco. Or the Bengals and Marvin Lewis. It would be a shock for the Dolphins to fly across the country and beat the Seahawks in Seattle. That couldn’t happen, right?

If things go my way, the worst case scenario would be the Patriots flying out of Phoenix tied for 1st place in the AFC East.

Gronkless in Phoenix

How much did the betting line move when it was learned that Rob Gronkowski didn’t make the flight out to Arizona? Six points? No Gronk, no Nate Solder and of course, no Dion Lewis, Rob Ninkovich or Tom Brady.

But these are the Patriots. They eat adversity like cold pizza for breakfast.

Take the points.

Always One More Shoe

The final 53 is set. For now.

With the benefit of a good night’s sleep…