What 3 games on the schedule looks toughest for the Patriots?

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

I would put the 3 toughest games as follows ...

#1 At Denver - No matter who is the Head Coach and no matter if the team is struggling at that time,when the Patriots face the Broncos it usually is an extremely hard game to win.

#2 At Miami - The defending AFC East champs are going to be tough down in south beach as they have been vs. the Pats for decades down there.

#3 At Colts - I really dont think facing the Colts at home is the toughest game because simply the Colts don't have as explosive of an offense as they had years ago and Manning and Wayne are getting no younger and they have a new head coach who just might have a tough time in getting to the playoffs.

 

[Nestapats]

#1 vs. Titans. I still believe the titans are a tough opponent even without Haynesworth. Jeff Fisher is a great coach and they still have a great D-Line

#2 @ Colts. Always a difficult game.

#3 @ Saints. I think the saints are an outsider to be really good this year. i know they got a horrible D, but their offensive firepower could mean trouble for our vulnerable pass defense.

 

[italian pat patriot]

week. 5, 6 and 10

so: @ Den, Ten, @ Ind

 

[patsfaninpa]

1 at Indy

2 at Miami

3 at Houston

We beat Indy. Go 14-2!! Caught some breaks on the other road games this year.

at Denver - New qb. Rookie coach.

at NYJ - See Denver

at TB - See Denver. Not even in TB London.

at Buff - BB 8-1 there at Pats head coach.

at NO - I don't think they have the personnel on defense to stop this team
with a healthy Brady.

 

[BradyManny]

#1 vs. Titans. I still believe the titans are a tough opponent even without Haynesworth. Jeff Fisher is a great coach and they still have a great D-Line

#2 @ Colts. Always a difficult game.

#3 @ Saints. I think the saints are an outsider to be really good this year. i know they got a horrible D, but their offensive firepower could mean trouble for our vulnerable pass defense.

I disagree about the Titans. I think they are going to fall back to Earth this year. That was a pretenders team last year and they just lost their best player. They are not a better team than the Colts, and its not even close.

 

[Nestapats]

I'm curious: Why do you guys see the Denver game as a tough one. I know it's on the road and against a former coach who knows the team well, but they got a worse team imo than last year, with the loss of Cutler. It's also already in week 5 so mcd might not yet have his team under control by then.

 

[Nestapats]

I disagree about the Titans. I think they are going to fall back to Earth this year. That was a pretenders team last year and they just lost their best player. They are not a better team than the Colts, and its not even close.

I think we already play the colts a whole lot so we know them as an opponent. We haven't played tennessee for a while, right? I agree with you that they aren't a better team than the Colts though, i guess i shoulda put the colts at number 1

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

The NEXT... three ones errr somethin like that

 

[jmt57]

My guess for the three toughest would be at Colts, at Dolphins and vs Ravens. I'd put vs Titans as a close 4th. Then in the next tier I'd say vs Panthers, at Broncos, and either at Jets or vs Dolphins. I'm not sold on the Saints or Texans being that tough due to their (lack of) defense.

Easiest game should be vs Tamp Bay in London, in my opinion.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

My guess for the three toughest would be at Colts, at Dolphins and vs Ravens. I'd put vs Titans as a close 4th. Then in the next tier I'd say vs Panthers, at Broncos, and either at Jets or vs Dolphins. I'm not sold on the Saints or Texans being that tough due to their (lack of) defense.

Easiest game should be vs Tamp Bay in London, in my opinion.

Easiest game of the 2009 season may actually be the Buffalo game on Monday night in week 1 at Foxboro

I would say on paper that there doesn't look be an easier game the next 15 weeks and the fact that we own the Bills the past decade and on top of being on prime time with Tommy boy back,its going to be tough for T.O. and the gang to counter the emotions that september evening, In fact it may almost have the environment of a playoff game.

 

[Rob0729]

I would put the 3 toughest games as follows ...

#1 At Denver - No matter who is the Head Coach and no matter if the team is struggling at that time,when the Patriots face the Broncos it usually is an extremely hard game to win.

#2 At Miami - The defending AFC East champs are going to be tough down in south beach as they have been vs. the Pats for decades down there.

#3 At Colts - I really dont think facing the Colts at home is the toughest game because simply the Colts don't have as explosive of an offense as they had years ago and Manning and Wayne are getting no younger and they have a new head coach who just might have a tough time in getting to the playoffs.

I don't know if I would have any of those teams on my list, maybe the Colts. I am not one of these guys who likes to go game by game in April and pick wins and losses, but I guess I will address these games.

1.) Denver is going to have a new coaching staff, new QB, and a revamped defense. I think they will be better than some people think, but I think they will experience some growing pains and definitely won't be firing on all cylinders when they meet the Pats in early October.
2.) The Miami game is at night in December. Nighttime in December in South Florida is usually quite comfortable is not a bit chilly (probably in the 60s). The disadvantage of playing Miami in the hot sun is irrelevant. Besides the Pats have beat Miami in Miami 3 of the last 4 times and 4 of the last 6 times.
3.) I didn't think the Colts were nearly as good as their record last year indicated. They seemed to luck into a lot of wins last year. The loss of Harrison will hurt a bit. I think the loss of Rhodes may hurt more if Rhodes signs with Buffalo since Addai has seemed to fallen off a cliff since he played the Pats in 2007 and Rhodes carried more of the load towards the end of last year (Rhodes finished the year with 538 yards and 6 TDs and Addai had 544 yards and 5 TDs). I know people discount Dungy in these parts, but I think his loss will be pretty significant. Who knows if Caldwell will be half the coach Dungy was.

 

[Rob0729]

Easiest game of the 2009 season may actually be the Buffalo game on Monday night in week 1 at Foxboro

I would say on paper that there doesn't look be an easier game the next 15 weeks and the fact that we own the Bills the past decade and on top of being on prime time with Tommy boy back,its going to be tough for T.O. and the gang to counter the emotions that september evening, In fact it may almost have the environment of a playoff game.

Forget the emotion thing. The Bills won't have Marshawn Lynch and TO will be connecting with Edwards for the first time in real game action with real gameplans. Those are two huge disadvantages for the Bills.

 

[supafly]

1 at Indy

2 at Miami

3 at Houston

We beat Indy. Go 14-2!! Caught some breaks on the other road games this year.

at Denver - New qb. Rookie coach.

at NYJ - See Denver

at TB - See Denver. Not even in TB London.

at Buff - BB 8-1 there at Pats head coach.

at NO - I don't think they have the personnel on defense to stop this team
with a healthy Brady.

I know Houston is tougher at home than people realize, and they've proven themselves not to be a 'rollover' team anymore. They are much improved, we don't know them too well, and this game won't be taken lightly. With that said, I'm not sure about putting it in the top 3--but it will be a harder game than some people are gonna give it credit for. I think our record down the stretch in December, etc, hopefully will counter this.

 

[ALP]

one of the Miami games, the titans game, and the ravens game

the rest are all easy (yes, even the colts game)

 

[Grizzafted]

Panthers, Jets@home (always seems harder to beat them in the Razor), and Baltimore.

 

[patsfaninpa]

Forget the emotion thing. The Bills won't have Marshawn Lynch and TO will be connecting with Edwards for the first time in real game action with real gameplans. Those are two huge disadvantages for the Bills.

I'm not predicting a loss for Pats. But, it will be Brady's first game in 19 months. He might actually be a little rusty. Manning took 3-4 weeks last year to get rolling after coming back from his surgery. His injury was right before the season, while Tom has had time to recover. But, let's not expect 50 td's from TB this year.

 

[PatsFaninME]

Pats playing Indy at Indy is propably a blessing. It gives us a more difficult match-up at home and let's face it, the Pats are a better indoor/turf team than Indy.

I'll take Brady/Moss/Welker/Galloway/Maroney on turf over Indy's team any day. The can try to prop up Manning as the most cerebral QB all they want. Brady is the better QB in every facet of the game, including WINNING. Tell me what's more important than that....

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

I'm not predicting a loss for Pats. But, it will be Brady's first game in 19 months. He might actually be a little rusty. Manning took 3-4 weeks last year to get rolling after coming back from his surgery. His injury was right before the season, while Tom has had time to recover. But, let's not expect 50 td's from TB this year.

It the #1 game I am worried about.

One game at a time.

 

[CanadianPat'sFan]

@ Indy
@ NO
@ Hou

 

[BradfordPatsFan]

@Indy, never easy to win on the road on a Sunday night and this team still has Peyton, Wayne, Addai, Freeney, etc.


@ New Orleans...so much firepower. If the secondary is not as improved as we think (hope?) then this could be a 43-42 final.


@ Miami...Again with the road night game. Plus that is always a difficult place for the Patriots and that team will be out to prove that last year was not a fluke. Even without any upgrades to the receiving core, that team has the ability to keep others off balance with their running game.