Week 5 2022 Lions at Patriots

And coaching matters, too.
Coaching always matters, but this year we seem to have a lot of okay positions. Lots of depth but few superstars. It's kind of like the 2001 roster. They were what 5-5 that year before coming on strong at the end? This isn't the first Pats team not to have their stuff together at the start of the season.

Give Belichick October and November to see how this group works together, get them in sync , everyone utilizing his strength, and see what happens in December/January. I really think he can make these guys into a team that make make the playoffs and go deeper than our Pats Detractors think with can with this team
 
St. Brown and D'Andre Swift didn't practice Thursday. Minimal chances they play against us.
That is huge for the patriots. Both of those players are outstanding. Saint Brown has been a huge eye-opener.
 
Coaching always matters, but this year we seem to have a lot of okay positions. Lots of depth but few superstars. It's kind of like the 2001 roster. They were what 5-5 that year before running the table.. Tmatters, but this year we seem to have a lot of okay positions. Lots of depth but few superstars. It's kind of like the 2001 roster. They were what 5-5 that year before running the table. This isn't the first Pats team not to have their stuff together at the start of the season.

Give Belichick October and November to see how this group works together, get them in sync , everyone utilizing his strength, and see what happens in December/January. I really think he can make these guys into a team that make make the playoffs and go deeper than our Pats Detractors think with can with this team
Not a "fix" to your post, just me offering a little rephrasing. But you are dead on. Bill is aiming for the cold months and the rigors of the season. His teams here are always, it seems, ready and in great physical condition at closing time. He has a plan and it seems to care more about getting ready for the crux of the season, and very much less about winning all the early games. Replay 51 and compare the physicality of the two teams come the second half, for example. So we shall see and some of us will wait to judge.
 
Coaching always matters, but this year we seem to have a lot of okay positions. Lots of depth but few superstars. It's kind of like the 2001 roster. They were what 5-5 that year before coming on strong at the end? This isn't the first Pats team not to have their stuff together at the start of the season.

Give Belichick October and November to see how this group works together, get them in sync , everyone utilizing his strength, and see what happens in December/January. I really think he can make these guys into a team that make make the playoffs and go deeper than our Pats Detractors think with can with this team

Not a "fix" to your post, just me offering a little rephrasing. But you are dead on. Bill is aiming for the cold months and the rigors of the season. His teams here are always, it seems, ready and in great physical condition at closing time. He has a plan and it seems to care more about getting ready for the crux of the season, and very much less about winning all the early games. Replay 51 and compare the physicality of the two teams come the second half, for example. So we shall see and some of us will wait to judge.
Agreed, but we need to be alive when we get there. It will be a hard push to the playoffs from 5-5 this year, with that back end schedule. Not impossible, but you'd need 5-2 or better against a brutal group. If we're 6-4 with decent health and some momentum, especially if Thornton is emerging as a new dynamic in the offense, I will think we're in pretty good shape.

And I actually agree that as constructed this could be a really dangerous team in the post-season, because they can game plan against anything and will be almost impossible to game plan against. Both the offense and defense have so much variety in the skillsets at so many critical positions: WR, TE, safety, CB, LB, DE, OLB, and IDL. Need some reasonable player development, and they need to buy in and get it.
 
Coaching always matters, but this year we seem to have a lot of okay positions. Lots of depth but few superstars. It's kind of like the 2001 roster. They were what 5-5 that year before coming on strong at the end? This isn't the first Pats team not to have their stuff together at the start of the season.

Give Belichick October and November to see how this group works together, get them in sync , everyone utilizing his strength, and see what happens in December/January. I really think he can make these guys into a team that make make the playoffs and go deeper than our Pats Detractors think with can with this team

Agreed, but we need to be alive when we get there. It will be a hard push to the playoffs from 5-5 this year, with that back end schedule. Not impossible, but you'd need 5-2 or better against a brutal group. If we're 6-4 with decent health and some momentum, especially if Thornton is emerging as a new dynamic in the offense, I will think we're in pretty good shape.

And I actually agree that as constructed this could be a really dangerous team in the post-season, because they can game plan against anything and will be almost impossible to game plan against. Both the offense and defense have so much variety in the skillsets at so many critical positions: WR, TE, safety, CB, LB, DE, OLB, and IDL. Need some reasonable player development, and they need to buy in and get it.

If BB can't coach these guys up by the end of November the way he wants them to be, he will replace the laggards for next year for sure.

That 2001 team had many mature solid plug-and-play veterans who knew how to play (and win) the way BB wanted. Defense especially.
Seymour was the only rookie who started in 2001.
This team has many more young players who may not come together the way BB ultimately wants.
That's my worry, anyway.
 
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If BB can't coach these guys up by the end of November the way he wants them to be, he will replace the laggards for next year for sure.

That 2001 team had many mature solid plug-and-play veterans who knew how to play (and win) the way BB wanted. Defense especially.
Seymour was the only rookie who started in 2001.
This team has many more young players who may not come together the way BB ultimately wants.
That's my worry, anyway.
Agreed, it's a lot of maybes this year, with a wide range of potential outcomes for each. So the range of overall outcome (record/when the year ends) is much wider than it's been in a long time. 12-5 is the absolute ceiling and a huge stretch, and 5-11 or even worse isn't out of the question if Mac is slow to come back (or doesn't come back at 100%) and the team tunes out at 2-5 or 2-6.
 
If BB can't coach these guys up by the end of November the way he wants them to be, he will replace the laggards for next year for sure.

That 2001 team had many mature solid plug-and-play veterans who knew how to play (and win) the way BB wanted. Defense especially.
Seymour was the only rookie who started in 2001.
This team has many more young players who may not come together the way BB ultimately wants.
That's my worry, anyway.
Good point about the veterans. And Seymour played behind Brandon Mitchell in 2001 IIRC He did start some games late, but he was not the premier/best DT on the team. Not in 2001.
 

The main difference is the Lions are missing a key player on their offensive line as well as their number one back for this game.

The Patriots are healthy on all running fronts.

I see a game where by even if the Patriots win the opening coin, flip, they take the ball and start matriculating down the field in 3–8 yard chunks, eating clock on every play all game.
 
The great memories the old school look brings.

Sul-win-over-bengals-in-playoffs-85-4965.jpg
 
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