Looking at the Patriots - 2021

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TommyD420 said:
Welp, Vegas believes. Too bad no one else does. :coffee:
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When Nick Wright sees it and complains loudly about it, others see it, too, even if they don't want to acknowledge it.
Now it's up to the Patriots players to keep this snowball rolling. 1 loss and the standings change in an instant.
 
Hey, it is what it is; I'm just reporting it here. These are the facts as of now.
The Pats are playing great football.
BB & Co. have built a powerhouse in only 1 year. Incredible.

FE1SGsSWUAU4-UY
 
chevss454 said:
Hey, it is what it is; I'm just reporting it here. These are the facts as of now.
The Pats are playing great football.
BB & Co. have built a powerhouse in only 1 year. Incredible.

FE1SGsSWUAU4-UY
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So, remind me, I know you want to be right and up on these charts, but how are the defense and offensive metrics calculated here? Is this overall team O and D?
 
The biggest difference from 2019 to 2020 for the Pats was how much the defense dropped in 2020 from 2019, something Mazz would never admit.
The biggest difference for 2021 is the defense that is playing well and ranked 2nd in the NFL now.
Overall, the Pats are ranked 6th in this power ranking but none of the teams ranked ahead of them are all that scary.

www.nfl.com

NFL Power Rankings, Week 12: Patriots rise, Bills fall as pecking order changes from top to bottom

In his Week 12 Power Rankings, Dan Hanzus makes changes at No. 1 and No. 32, with a whole lot of reshuffling in between. And yes, Bill Belichick's New England Patriots are back in the contender tier.
www.nfl.com www.nfl.com

Rank: 6 New England Patriots 7-4

Previous rank: No. 8

Mac Jones has been an upgrade over Cam Newton, but the 2021 Patriots' biggest difference is a defense that has surged during the team's five-game winning streak. In that stretch, New England has given up just 10 points per game, with 12 interceptions against just four touchdown passes. The 2021 version of Matt Ryan was a sitting duck against New England's relentless pass rush, which turned Atlanta's offensive linemen into sentient turnstiles on the way to four sacks and 12 QB hits. Matt Judon stands tall as the leader of this group: The ace free-agent signing is up to 10.5 sacks in what's been an All-Pro worthy season. The Pats matched their 2020 win total by Thanksgiving and have found themselves in first place as a result.
 
chevss454 said:
The biggest difference from 2019 to 2020 for the Pats was how much the defense dropped in 2020 from 2019, something Mazz would never admit.
The biggest difference for 2021 is the defense that is playing well and ranked 2nd in the NFL now.
Overall, the Pats are ranked 6th in this power ranking but none of the teams ranked ahead of them are all that scary.

www.nfl.com

NFL Power Rankings, Week 12: Patriots rise, Bills fall as pecking order changes from top to bottom

In his Week 12 Power Rankings, Dan Hanzus makes changes at No. 1 and No. 32, with a whole lot of reshuffling in between. And yes, Bill Belichick's New England Patriots are back in the contender tier.
www.nfl.com www.nfl.com

Rank: 6 New England Patriots 7-4

Previous rank: No. 8

Mac Jones has been an upgrade over Cam Newton, but the 2021 Patriots' biggest difference is a defense that has surged during the team's five-game winning streak. In that stretch, New England has given up just 10 points per game, with 12 interceptions against just four touchdown passes. The 2021 version of Matt Ryan was a sitting duck against New England's relentless pass rush, which turned Atlanta's offensive linemen into sentient turnstiles on the way to four sacks and 12 QB hits. Matt Judon stands tall as the leader of this group: The ace free-agent signing is up to 10.5 sacks in what's been an All-Pro worthy season. The Pats matched their 2020 win total by Thanksgiving and have found themselves in first place as a result.
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Well, not to point out the obvious, but Hightower and the pandemic certainly were two keys, as was the idea the rebuild was essentially in the middle of doing its thing, with contracts needing to come off the books to do some shopping.

I think the team goes 9-7 last year, maybe 10-6, and I know this sounds weird and irrelevant, but I think Stidham beats out Newton or whoever last year if there was no pandemic. Whether he would have showed enough or not, or if he was benched to see what Newton (or another veteran QB) would do, who knows. The point is, the greatest teacher and teambuilder last year wasn't allowed to use his skills due to the pandemic.

It was actually a year, for that reason, for middling coaches and teams to look better up against our regular kind of season, than they otherwise would.

If BB worked daily with Stidham from April/May into June and July and into preseason, maybe he's ready to go last year and to be competitive in a LOT of close games that team lost that they should have won like @KC or @Buffalo, for example.

Doesn't matter now, as Mac dropped in our laps, but the QB problem last year also completely hurt our D. They were on the field a ton because of how bad the offense was.

In 2019 and 2020, 99% of those wins came from the D and STs. The last time you could really say the offense won a game was in Week 6 in Miami in 2019, the Antonio Brown game, but even still NE pitched a shutout on D then.
 
king of kings said:
Lets worry about these next 3 games. Before we crank up the Ego for the SB. Titans , Bills & colts are a great test for Jones & the Defense.
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THe Pats will win or lose the next two games and whether I have a ball in delightful anticipation or spend the three weeks worrying will have zero effect on the outcome of those games, so I prefer to enjoy myself.
 
What do you folks think a successful season would be for the Patriots, this season? I know week to week, our feelings will probably change. Right now, I think just getting to the playoffs, with a possible win, would be pretty cool.
 
Steve1 said:
What do you folks think a successful season would be for the Patriots, this season? I know week to week, our feelings will probably change. Right now, I think just getting to the playoffs, with a possible win, would be pretty cool.
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Playoffs . Then one and done NEVER feels like success. Ask fivehead, the king of one and done. So IMO, at least to the Divisional round.
 
BostonTim said:
Playoffs . Then one and done NEVER feels like success. Ask fivehead, the king of one and done. So IMO, at least to the Divisional round.
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I would consider winning the division to be a successful season for this year, though I agree that winning a playoff game would be much more satisfying. That said, I think we will do even better that that - more just won't be necessary for a successful season.
 
Steve1 said:
What do you folks think a successful season would be for the Patriots, this season? I know week to week, our feelings will probably change. Right now, I think just getting to the playoffs, with a possible win, would be pretty cool.
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Well, I predicted 10-11 wins this summer, and while I didn't expect a 2-4 start (I was guessing 3-3 or 4-2) I did expect the team to get better as the season went along - maybe a couple losses late because I expected TEN, BUF to be strong and Indy and Miami to be decent.

But at this point, I have a problem.

I don't see another team I think is clearly better than the Patriots right now. And losing to a team I don't see as clearly better is a disappointment.

So, while going into the season I would have been happy with 11-6 and a playoff win (preferably an upset), I'm now in the familiar position I call "Eminem": God sent us to piss the world off.

Lombardi #7. It's been awhile and Bill needs a new boat, dontcha think? I mean, this is the longest it's been between boat upgrades outside of The Great Drought Of Aught Five to Fourteen, and there's only so much a man can take!
 
Steve1 said:
What do you folks think a successful season would be for the Patriots, this season? I know week to week, our feelings will probably change. Right now, I think just getting to the playoffs, with a possible win, would be pretty cool.
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They've already done it. We've been gravy-time since the Chargers game, as far as I'm concerned.
 
All of us here want the Pats to win it all like 2001...why not do it again? Obviously, there isn't a Bledsoe like situation this year, but, it still has a similar feeling.
 
Flagg the Wanderer said:
Well, I predicted 10-11 wins this summer, and while I didn't expect a 2-4 start (I was guessing 3-3 or 4-2) I did expect the team to get better as the season went along - maybe a couple losses late because I expected TEN, BUF to be strong and Indy and Miami to be decent.

But at this point, I have a problem.

I don't see another team I think is clearly better than the Patriots right now. And losing to a team I don't see as clearly better is a disappointment.

So, while going into the season I would have been happy with 11-6 and a playoff win (preferably an upset), I'm now in the familiar position I call "Eminem": God sent us to piss the world off.

Lombardi #7. It's been awhile and Bill needs a new boat, dontcha think? I mean, this is the longest it's been between boat upgrades outside of The Great Drought Of Aught Five to Fourteen, and there's only so much a man can take!
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There's not a team playing better than the Pats over the last 5 games.
But that doesn't mean the preseason favorites who are playing poorly for various reasons can't suddenly become the juggernaut they were forecast to be. In the AFC the contenders were thought to be the Chiefs, the Bills, the Ravens and the Titans. None of these teams have looked great and all have lost games they shouldn't have lost. The Chiefs' D is playing better the last 2 weeks so they might catch lightening and make a run. The Bills might wake up out of their conference coma from last year, get healthy and make a run but that's not how I'm betting. Their CCG loss to the Chiefs has crushed the Bills. The Ravens may find the key that overcomes other teams from locking down their offense but I think the blueprint really is out there on Lamar and better teams can defend him now. The Titans could get healthy, too, although my personal feeling is the Titans peaked too early and then Henry's injury blew their hopes to smithereens. Their recent flurry of personnel moves are evidence of desperation.

Right now 2 of those 4 teams are playing below their ability --> the Chiefs and the Bills. The Chiefs are heading up and the Bills are lost in neverland 2nd guessing every little thing. If the Chiefs turn it around enough, I may see them as better than the Pats 3-4 weeks from now. In that case, if we lose to them in the playoffs I wouldn't be disappointed.

As it is now, I would be disappointed, just as you.
 
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