mgteich

The goals are
1) Win each game
2) Win the division
3) Get into the playoffs

4) The "critical" games are division games.
5) 10-6 will the division, especially if we win our division games (in which case 9-7 will be plenty)
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The second season can be won by the team who wants it most and is a bit lucky.
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Even the most critical among should believe that this team can go 6-2 if we have our act together by mid-season. Brady has promised that he would have his offense in sync by then. I believe him.

The last eight regular season games are
jets,pack,bears,lions,fins,texans,jags,titans

Anything can happen on any Sunday, but that is one easy schedule!!!
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BOTTOM LINE

IMHO, if we are 4-4, we are track for 10-6.
We need to win 2 of the next 5, which "should" be doable

The next five are
bengals,fins,bills,vikes,colts

We would be in EXCELLENT playoff position if we beat the bills and fins, and have no more players going to IR. We would be 4-4 and 4-0 in the division, 2-0 against our biggest obstacle in he division, the bills.
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Now, let's concentrate on one game at a time, and understand that we will be in fine shape as long as the team gels by mid-season. This team is always a second half team, which is a condition that leads to Super Bowls.

cstjohn17

Hopefully we are not reduced to just winning the division. Pittsburgh last year was the exception, generally teams with a first round bye have a much better chance of making the superbowl.

Division - We should win the division and making the play-offs opens up at least the possibility of reaching the Superbowl.

Game 5 versus Miami is critical. IMO Miami still offers the biggest challenge to the Pats wthin the division and the Dolphins always play us tough.

It would be super sweet to steal one from the Bengals and then beat Miami!

Go Pats!

richpats

I hope the Pats don't carry the 'just win the division mentality' because that's what happened last year and we eeked out another title in an overall bad division. We should win it again this year but I hope they are focusing on a bye and possibly HFA. This week's game will factor in huge to those goals. Not that playing in Indy or Denver is impossible, but we would really be at a disadvantage.

fgssand

Second half looks to me to be a very doable 6-2.

We are now 2-1. Going 3-2 or even at worst 2-3 over the next five will mean 10-6 or 11-5.

11-5 just might get us that bye....if we could only win 4 of the next 5 then we are looking at a sure bye at 12-4.

I know it is way too early to be talking byes or even playoffs because disaster can strike at any time and vault us into an 8-8 year if a perfect storm of misery hit.

Let's just win this thing tomorrow, take care of the fish next week and all will be right in Patriot World. 4-1 at the bye is here for the taking.

AJain

If we win tomorrow, then all will be rectified. Lucky for us, we are not playing Cincy at a point in the season where we would lose control of our playoff destiny with a loss. It is early, but a win would put us back on the contenders map.
It is strange to see NOT A ONE expert pick us to win tomorrow. This Patriot dynasty as defined itself by winning when it absolutely has no business doing so. Tomorrow is that day.

Tunescribe

I hope you're right, but I'm having my doubts about the way this team is constructed and how it'll fare through the balance of this season. My biggest concern, as it was even before training camp started, is depth in the defensive backfield. A close second is depth at linebacker. I thought going in that our offense would be strong enough to pick up the slack, but the wide receiver situation is worse than expected and Maroney needs more help than he's getting from the offensive line. MAYBE things will improve offensively once Gabriel and Jackson get up to speed and Maroney (hopefully) finds his groove, but I'm not filled with confidence that this team will go anywhere in the playoffs even if we win the division, which we should. This team will definitely need a bye, and I don't see it going 12-4. I'd be feeling a lot better right now had we signed Law and kept McGinest.

fgssand

Come on Tune...it's only game 4 tomorrow, not game 12.. There is a loooong way to go. It would take just about total collapse to not win the division.

All we are really doing here by getting off to a 5-5 or 5-3 start is putting our chances for a first round bye in jeopardy.

I see no reason why this offense will not develop as you envisioned. I am also looking for our front seven to stay healthy and dominate. I also do not believe our Dbackfield is all that bad. I think as injured as they are- they will hold their own tomorrow.
You just may be pleasantly surprised tomorrow.

fgssand

I agree - winning tomorrow would show everybody, including themselves, that they have a chance to be special this year.

FloridaPatsFan

A lot of posters have looked at our schedules and picked the games we should win and games we might lose....

A lot of the losses come from playoff teams from last year....But I will say this.

The Pats are going to beat some of the good teams in the league this year. And they have done nothing to make me think that they are going to lose to any of the bad ones.

I'm not picking the Pats to lose to the NFL's better teams every week and this week could be one of the games the Pats win.

usmcmgb

They haven't? Were you watching the Jets and Bills Games? Did you see something that I missed? They came VERY close to losing both of those games.