Next year's schedule is brutal - has BB even looked at it?

[patsinthesnow]

Heck, even this year the Patriots weren't too many plays away from either 8-8 or 14-2. . . .

The first half of the Colts game is what this team is capable of.













The second half of the Colts game is what the team was.

 

[Deus Irae]

...you say they will loose to the steelers i say they have not done anything to make them selfs better then a 8-8 team...

So you don't think Troy Polamalu will be returning for 2010, then?

 

[patsfan-1982]

So you don't think Troy Polamalu will be returning for 2010, then?

my point was we don't realy know how good the pats will be they could be a 7-9 team or a 12-4 team with a first round by in the playoffs. it's only march.

 

[hyperpat]

Have to agree with the OP. We should just lay down and surrender, so that we can pick twice in the Top 5 of the 2011 NFL Draft.

BB and Kraft's strategy for the lockout next year: Hire James Cameron. Jimmy C. digitizes the motions of Brady and Wilfork. All other players released. Wilfork is converted to 7-foot, 500-pound N'avi. Patriots kick ass in the Pandora league.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Wilfork is converted to 7-foot, 500-pound N'avi.

LOL, for anyone that's seen Avatar, this was pretty funny. Picture Wilfork as a N'avi in Avatar 2, say a chief of a tribe? That'd be hilarious.

 

[shmessy]

"Has BB even looked at next year's schedule"??????????

Are you serious?

 

[Wolfpack]

Based on what has or has not been done this offseason so far, unless Belichick is making this into a 2-3 year project and conceding next year, I think he needs to look at the 2010 schedule.

Home: Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings

Away: Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions

I can see the patriots losing to the Ravens, Colts, Packers, Vikings, Steelers, Chargers and splitting with the Jets and Dolphins. That means an 8-8 season.

I am not trying to troll or be a pain, but reality is realty. Next year's schedule is brutal. With the team the way it is right now, I can't see a great season. and i don't think the draft is going to help for next year either because it will take guys like Brandon Graham to develop. Add to that Welker is basically done for the year and we have a problem.

My gut feeling is BB is trying to restore this team to greatness but realizes it won't happen until 2012 or so. This is why the pats are refusing to throw money at old guys like Peppers and Boldin.

Thoughts?

My thoughts are that you are employing faulty logic. You are looking at 8 tough games for the Patriots and automatically assuming they lose every single one, resulting in an 8-8 season. Sure, I could see the Patriots losing to the Colts, but I could also see the Patriots beating the Colts. Ditto the Steelers, Packers, Vikings, etc.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

finally someone else who is a pragmatist. I agree with just about everything you say. The draft may or may not help. The pats would have to get 3-4 impact players in the draft and/or through trade to be able to handle that schedule. Josh Reed can help but there are other holes to fill. The oline is the same oline essentially (except vollmer of course) that let the giants hit brady like a pineta in 07 and now they are 3 years older. also, the pats still have no consistent running game.

for those of you who think everything will be solved by brady getting back to the way he was you are assuming way too much. first, brady will never play as well as he did in 07' because he does not have the players around him to do that. no stallworth, welker, etc. Brady is not going to simply come in and take off. he needs oline to protect him well, he needs a RB that can take pressure off him, he needs receivers other than Moss, he needs a defense that can stop top offenses, etc.

Huh? Where do you people come up with this crap?

How exactly do KNOW that everything will NOT be "solved" by Brady coming back? A "fully back" Brady would have meant minimum 2 touchdown wins against JYJ/Denver/Indy/Miami. Also, Houston was meaningless.

If an older line is "bad", what about a young defense? I guess in your world rookies and second year players can't get better?

Ya might want to actually look at the roster. There are like, ya know, two guys who were rookies last year who now have a full offseason with a fully functional TB.

In 2007, it was "Welker who?"

 

[BillBelichickFan79]

Who even looks at the schedule now and predicts wins and losses. I guarantee you that at least three teams that were predicted to be very good won't be and three teams that are supposed to suck will be good to great. Happens virtually every year.

Look at the Vikings. What if their starting QB is Sage Rosenfels? What if Roethlisberger is taking time off to deal with his court case? What if Shonn Greene can't carry the load in NY? What if the Chargers don't fill all the holes they are making this offseason?

Last year at this time if you said the Jets would be in the AFC Championships, you'd probably laugh. Or that the Steelers would finish third in the AFC North and miss the playoffs all together.

Reality is reality. And the reality is that you cannot predict strength of schedule in March. I guarantee you whereever the Pats are ranked in SOS right now, it will be very different come December of this year. It could be worse, but it also could be a lot easier.

This.

How people predicted the Titans would start 0-6 after finishing as the #1 seed in the playoffs last year? How many though the Steelers would miss the playoffs? I could go on forever.

I hate those predict the schedule games even at the end of training camp and preseason. You can't predict the schedule. There are too many things that can happen during the season like injuries, momentum, etc. Things that are unexpected happen every year and have a great effect on the way the season pans out.

 

[jmt57]

There's really two different discussions here: the difficulty of the 2010 schedule, and how it appears the team will do next season.


Personally I have reached the point where trying to determine if a team has an easy or difficult schedule is waste of time, especially when it is this early in the off-season; we're only a week or so into free agency people! Consider how many players the Pats (and every other NFL team) added to their roster after March 11th last year, or any other year.

Every year there are plenty of surprise teams, both good and bad. Basing a prediction based on the records of the team's opponents from the previous year right now is fun to talk about, but has no correlation to how those team's will actually do the next season.

A year ago the defending Super Bowl champs were supposed to have an incredibly easy schedule in 2009, and had nearly their entire roster intact. Based on the 2008 records of their opponents they were facing only six teams with winning records, and half of their games were against teams with dougle-digit losses the previous year. So what happened? The Steelers missed the playoffs despite a schedule that many assumed guaranteed them a first-round bye.

About the only teams I will say probably have a relatively easy schedule are the teams in the two conferences that play the NFC West; that conference has been the worst in the NFL for about six or seven years in a row.

It was pointed out earlier, but is worth repeating: with the exception of just two games, all teams in a division share the same schedule. So if the Pats indeed do have a 'brutal' schedule, that means the teams they are competing against do too. In other words, the schedule is a moot point since 88% of it is the same. And that's before you figure in injuries to either your team or your opponent's team, fluke plays, bad calls, etc.


Does that mean the team can just sit back and wait for the draft and expect to be all set? Of course not. The Pats have holes to fill, just like every other team. Again, keep in mind how many players have been added each season after today's date that have had an impact. Kontrarian makes some good points about roster positions that need to be addressed, but I'm not assuming free agency is over with yet.

 

[tanked_as_usual]

Who even looks at the schedule now and predicts wins and losses. I guarantee you that at least three teams that were predicted to be very good won't be and three teams that are supposed to suck will be good to great. Happens virtually every year.

Look at the Vikings. What if their starting QB is Sage Rosenfels? What if Roethlisberger is taking time off to deal with his court case? What if Shonn Greene can't carry the load in NY? What if the Chargers don't fill all the holes they are making this offseason?

Last year at this time if you said the Jets would be in the AFC Championships, you'd probably laugh. Or that the Steelers would finish third in the AFC North and miss the playoffs all together.

Reality is reality. And the reality is that you cannot predict strength of schedule in March. I guarantee you whereever the Pats are ranked in SOS right now, it will be very different come December of this year. It could be worse, but it also could be a lot easier.

classic.......head in the sand

 

[shmessy]

classic.......head in the sand

So you're claiming you have a clear view of how the NFL teams are going to do for 2010 on March 11th?

 

[tanked_as_usual]

my point was we don't realy know how good the pats will be they could be a 7-9 team or a 12-4 team with a first round by in the playoffs. it's only march.

sure...but then why is anyone here?

the OP has merit, like or not......

even if the pats have the same quality team in 2010, the QB's they are going to face will destroy this defense unless something drastic is done to deal with the inept LB group....to not see this is to literally have your head in the sand.....either that, or you know the OP to be right but think you are a better fan if you ignore it

 

[jmt57]

classic.......head in the sand

Please let me know how all 32 teams will do, so I can book a flight to Vegas with my life savings.

 

[tanked_as_usual]

So you're claiming you have a clear view of how the NFL teams are going to do for 2010 on March 11th?

no....but I guess there's nothing left to talk about if you just say : 'until the end of time, every single game the pats play will either end in a win, a loss, or a tie......or it will just end

I mean someone expresses a concern and all of a sudden its 'you don't know, you don't know....anything can happen'....BUT when bodden is signed its 'this is great this is great....you know it is!!!', but really how do you know its great? how do you know bodden doesn't turn into another duane starks?

its simple........there is reason to believe both sides.......like there is precedence on what good QB's did to the pats last year......and with minimal changes to date, it is logical to say 'guy like aaron rodgers, brett favre, peyton manning, philip rivers, ben roethlisberger are going to light up the pats' ..... nothing has been done to date to change the pats defense

 

[shmessy]

sure...but then why is anyone here?

the OP has merit, like or not......

even if the pats have the same quality team in 2010, the QB's they are going to face will destroy this defense unless something drastic is done to deal with the inept LB group....to not see this is to literally have your head in the sand.....either that, or you know the OP to be right but think you are a better fan if you ignore it

It's March 11th.

Please let me know the next time you watch a baseball game and the announcer says "Here's the first pitch.......it's strike one.......the home team is going to win!!!"

 

[tanked_as_usual]

Please let me know how all 32 teams will do, so I can book a flight to Vegas with my life savings.

so why talk about anything? just go home and come back in september

I don't, what should people talk about? how great the pats offseason moves have been?

 

[JackBauer]

The voice of objectivity has spoken. Next thread!

 

[tanked_as_usual]

It's March 11th.

Please let me know the next time you watch a baseball game and the announcer says "Here's the first pitch.......it's strike one.......the home team is going to win!!!"

so why not just close down the website?

like I said, do you want to talk about how awesome the pats have done in free agency? we can talk about that.

we can go over to the draft board...I go there, there's stuff to talk about there, but it seems the people who are experts here avoid that place like the plague.....I wonder why

 

[Coach42]

no....but I guess there's nothing left to talk about if you just say : 'until the end of time, every single game the pats play will either end in a win, a loss, or a tie......or it will just end

I mean someone expresses a concern and all of a sudden its 'you don't know, you don't know....anything can happen'....BUT when bodden is signed its 'this is great this is great....you know it is!!!', but really how do you know its great? how do you know bodden doesn't turn into another duane starks?

its simple........there is reason to believe both sides.......like there is precedence on what good QB's did to the pats last year......and with minimal changes to date, it is logical to say 'guy like aaron rodgers, brett favre, peyton manning, philip rivers, ben roethlisberger are going to light up the pats' ..... nothing has been done to date to change the pats defense

Using that logic would it not be just as logical to say Butler, Mayo, Merriweahter, Guyton, Wheatley, and Whilite improve drastically? No its not, because we don't know if they will. So how is it illogical to say you don't know how good the teams on our schedule will be? Look it could be an insanely difficult schedule or an easy one. I certainly don't mind playing the Bears and Lions on the road. I'm not afraid of the Bills. The Ravens have a history of going up and down one season to the next. Bengals and Browns suck. On the other hand all of those teams could improve and be awesome you just don't know. Which is all that is being said, no one knows.