FrontSeven

Cold Facts are cold.

The Patriots are hot.

Satchboogie3

What your missing is that journalists believe that if we blowout a team, they can't be good. They just can't credit us as being THAT good.

The Chargers got talked up, we destroyed them, they called them pretenders.

The Cowboys got talked up, we destroyed them, they called them the weaker NFC.

The Redskins got talked up (Great D, trap game, blah blah), we destroyed them, they called them, well, actually all they have talked about that game is us "RUNNING UP THE SCORE!!!" AHHH Bad bad boys!!! We embarrassed them!!! How dare we embarrass grown men!!!!...

Everything is, we exposed this, we exposed that. Oh they aren't that good at this, and that, and that. NO, we are THAT good that even a great D can't stop us.

What are they going to say after we blowout the Colts? The Colts aren't a good team? We still (after beating Colts) haven't faced a good team... I mean, come on.

__________________
This is the year. We put our failures in the past, it's a new year, a new defense. It's time to prove to the league that the Patriots are back and aren't going anywhere and they will be the last ones standing in Feb.
Update: Well that didn't work out as I had planned. Next year baby, next year 19-0 we go. Next year.

Rob0729

Who really cares about SOS when you are comparing two teams that are undefeated and both have been crushing their competition for the most part. We beat Washington 52-7. Does it really matter if they aren't as good as the Carolina Panthers? They are both NFL teams.

Other than the Pats and Colts and the Rams, Dolphins, and Jets; there isn't much difference between the best and worst teams in this league. Anyone who wants to discredit what the Pats have done so far based on SOS don't have a clue about football. If it was the competition, these teams would be losing by this much a lot.

Satchboogie3

What I don't see the journalist mention is the fact that Indy had a pretty horrible 1st half against the Panthers yesterday. I mean, their D was attrotious (how do you give up a 90yd drive to Testaverde...) and their O was shut down.

Meanwhile, the Patriots were DOMINATING a MUCH better RedSkins team right out of the gate. Lets not fool ourselves here. The Redskins DO have a top ranked defense, and they have possibly a decent offense. The Panthers defense is pretty bad and their offense is horrible (They have Testaverde as their starting QB. Enough said.).

So lets see, we absolutely dominated a much better team for 60 min, while the Colts struggled for the first 30 min against a terrible offensive/defensive team. And haven't we seen some close Colts games, and some very slow starts?

I'm willing to bet that if the Colts defense starts even close to as slow as they have this season, we are going to have a big lead very quickly. And we all know that we have a far better D than anything they have faced yet. Combine that with us chewing away the clock on unstopable drives, they don't have a very good shot at coming back in the second.

Thats the game right there. If Indy doesn't come out hot, they are done. So far, there is nothing to make me believe they will come out of the gates hot. They haven't done that yet this year.

__________________
This is the year. We put our failures in the past, it's a new year, a new defense. It's time to prove to the league that the Patriots are back and aren't going anywhere and they will be the last ones standing in Feb.
Update: Well that didn't work out as I had planned. Next year baby, next year 19-0 we go. Next year.

emoney_33

Lets just throw out the whole quality opponents thing this year. The NFL is comprised of the Pats, the Colts and then everyone else. The Chargers might get back up to competitive level and the Steelers are iffy, but other than that, it's just us two that's it. It's a two team league. The rest of the league goes from terrible to barely competent (compared to NE and IND that is).

He Ban Me

I'll be here with bells on regardless. FWIW, this game on Sunday doesn't eliminate either team from playoff contention. A leg up for the winner, but most likely, one will still have to beat the other come January.

He Ban Me

Tell me again HOW MANY of those highly touted Skin defenders were injured and played little to no minutes???

He Ban Me

So why was Cleveland on the list??

Metaphors

I live in NC and I can vouch for the fact that the Panthers are not a good team. They show up in spots but are maddeningly inconsistent...even from one drive to the next.

TEN and JAX are considered "quality" due to the perceived strenght of the AFC south. Here is the AFC south schedule minus intradivision games:

TEN
===
W @NO 31-14
W ATL 20-13
L @TB 10-13
W OAK 13-9

JAX
===
W ATL 13-7
W @DEN 23-14
W @KC 17-7
W @TB 24-23

HOU
===
W KC 20-3
W @CAR 34-21
L @ATL 16-26
W MIA 22-19
L @SD 10-35

So the AFC south minus Indy is 10-3 against non-division foes...winning by an average score of 19-16. Which teams on this list will be going to the playoffs? SD (crushed HOU) and one of NO/CAR/TB/ATL just because someone has to represent the putrid NFC south. Denver might (and regardless that was a good road win for JAX) but that is all. Only SD and TB have positive net scoring on the year.

I'm sorry, but that is not screaming anything but "average" to me. And Indy squeaked by TEN and HOU before crushing JAX and "the mighty" Quinn Gray.

If you take out the points from the Colts/Pats games, the net points for non-division opponents looks like this:

IND
===
TB +32
CAR +13
NO +1
DEN -40

NE
===
DAL +90
SD +67
WAS +34
CLE +8
CIN -13

So this strength-of-schedule advantage for the Colts is misleading at best. Neither team should lose a division game. For non-division games, the Pats have played a FAR superior schedule, and by the end of the season it will be even more pronounced.

The Colts are obviously a top team and stand a good chance of beating the Pats on Sunday. Whichever team has the best gameplan and the cleanest execution will win. Really don't need strength of schedule or other statistical nonsense to muddy the water.

He Ban Me

As long as you can "vouch" then let it be said


I know the Panthers are lucky to be 4-3. That said, a D-line of Rucker, Peppers, Jenkins, and that fat tub of goo can be imposing. If they decide to come and play, they can wreak havoc. They are underachievers and Fox will be shown the door soon.


Colts #12 S.O.S.
Pats #22 S.O.S.