supafly

With all respect, Tunescribe, we have a decently hard schedule. 3rd hardest in the league. If we end up going 4-2 in the division, which could always certainly be a possibility, we'd have to win 8 out of these 10 games, just to be 12-4 :

1.Tennessee
2.Denver
3.Indianapolis
4.Baltimore
5.Tampa Bay
6.Improved Houston team, and they're tough at home
7.New Orleans
8.Carolina
9.Jacksonville
10.Atlanta

As optimistic as I am, and even with all of the improvements we've made, I wouldn't be quite ready to talk about 16-0 just yet.

scott99

I think we have the second or third toughest schedule. Would be tough to win all 19

farn

In the end, I don't care about comparaing to the 07 team, because the 03 & 04 defenses were stronger and ulitmately made plays in key spots.

Give me those types of "D" and I'll be more than happy. 2007 : lotsa fun to watch... I understand the "one play away" theory... but we didn't need "one more play" in 03 & 04, we'd get them consistently.

eom

that is really a crock.

I see too many people bs'ing themselves on this kind of thing, and I have no idea why.
what you're saying is that it took a team all the way through the season, through the playoffs, and into the superbowl to figure out how to run over our offensive line?
dude, that is flat out stupid.

you might not remember, but the jags and san diego were both good teams billed as patsbusters in the playoffs, and they got stomped.
exactly how much film does a team need on the pats to figure out what's coming?

on another note, I don't worry about any particular week on the schedule, but you never know what will happen w/injuries, and I wonder how many people thought baltimore would beat that '07 pats team.
all that matters is that they make the playoffs, and after that keep winning.

__________________
if we played the patriots 10 times, we'd win 9

~ Ladainian Tomlinson [2007]

“I don’t think you’ll find a better team on paper.”

~ Calvin Pace

DW Toys

He is from Detroit.
DW Toys

Synovia

While their are some tough teams on there, there are also some terrible teams.

Denver and Jacksonville are terrible. Houston, New Orleans, Tampa, and Atlanta are decent teams. Indy, Baltimore, and Carolina are good. I see a serious decline from Tenessee this year without Haynesworth. Their defense has gone from "All-world" to "mediocre" every time he gets hurt. 8-2 isn't out of the question, tough though.


4-2 in the division though, I see as worst case. 4-2 is beating buffalo twice, and splitting with Miami and NYJ. I think the jets are terrible this year, and miami isn't as good as last year, and I see the pats going 5-1, or even 6-0 in the division as likely.

supafly

Yeah, I hope they do better in the division than 4-2 also, but I'm not sure about the Jets being 'terrible.' Ryan is a better coach, they've upgraded their defense, and may end up being alright. Buffalo isn't a lock to be swept either, their bound to break the streak at some point, and have somewhat of a formidable offense now. Miami usually gives Brady some problems as is, and are still the defending division champs. It could be argued that all 3 divisional foes have improved, or at the very least, stayed the same at worst. I haven't seen any of the other 3 decline so far, through FA or the draft.

Divisional games can be tough for even the most elite teams, and I'm hoping there's not another logjam in the AFC East this year--that's all I'm saying. Out of the 6 games against these teams, I assumed winning 4 was still pretty good, but maybe we can win 5.

I'm not sure about your assessment of Denver being 'terrible' either, but everyone has their own opinion. Here's hoping we pound Denver again this yr. I'd be thrilled at 12-4 or 13-3, I just want the usual December cohesiveness coming down the stretch, and somewhat of a pass on the nasty injury plague.

carolinatony

"Foote wants to play for Detroit. God knows why."


I work with a guy who moved here from Detroit and he told me today; Everyone up there says its a given he is going there.
Foote came from Detriot so he must be dumb is he wants to go back.

Shockt327

No it really isn't.

This is particularly bad, because as a fan of Belichick coached team you should already have an appreciation for how vital game planning really is.

It wasn't as if the the line simply got run over, there's more to it than that. Before, teams were playing conservative in an attempt to merely limit the deep passes. Didn't work. Then teams were more successful at hindering the Patriots offense by using delay blitzes and zone blitzes. I believe the Eagles were the first team to try it extensively. The Ravens also had success with overloads. San Diego also used the zone blitz successfully. When Steve Spagnuolo was putting together his game plan for the Superbowl he followed what other teams did. In those games, he found a flaw in the Patriots ability to read oncoming rushers. I believe he was also particularly good at figuring out what defensive looks would result in getting Brady to think "blitz," audibleizing to a screen, and then dropping into the flat to defend it.

The Jags were never viewed as being a threat on D. Their defense has always been known for being unimaginative and conservative. On the other hand, San Diego was aggressive as hell and picked off Brady 3 times. If Rivers wasn't playing with a torn ACL, and LT wasn't sitting on the bench, that game might have been different. Either way, the offense wasn't great.

With hindsight being 20-20, if you look at the data, it's pretty clear that teams were catching up to what the Patriots were doing. So no, the Giants weren't the only team to do well. Lesser teams were having more success as the season went on.

I think this may have originally been posted on this site, but I forget who deserves the credit. Even though it's margin of victory - not points - the chart clearly shows that we didn't get beat by one lucky team. And we didn't lose cause our line had a bad day (sort of). We lost cause our offense was slowly but surely coming back down to earth; which is what happens when teams see more of you.

Shockt327

Also, *on paper* this team can be better than the 07 team...if we get an OLB. That dosen't mean we'll even sniff 16-0, though. That was lightning in a bottle.