What's interesting to me about the 2012 Patriots is that no one has seen them at full force yet. No one.
The offense started out the year with OL injuries (Mankins wasn't recovered, Vollmer's back), with Lloyd not on the same page with Brady, with Vereen injured, and Brady not yet in sync with his new weapons, and with McDaniels obviously not sure how to use everyone. Then Hernandez got hurt. Then the OL injuries kicked in. Then Gronk got hurt before Hernandez was fully recovered. Then Edelman got hurt. Bolden became a major part of RBBC and got suspended for 4 games, and has just begun to work his way back in. Edelman's gone for the season, but going into the playoffs the offense is closer to operating with a full deck than at any point this season. We've set NFL records for most plays and 1st downs and scored the 3rd most points in the SB era, all while shuffling players in and out and working with a patchwork OL.
The defense started out with 2 rookie starters in Jones and Hightower, plus a new starter in Steve Gregory. Jones was arguably our best defensive player over the first 8-10 games. Hightower got hurt and took a while to get back on track, and before he did Jones got hurt and is just beginning to regain his form. Ninkovich started the season with a position change and struggled (remember all the Ninkovich bashing posts early in the year), but then became a very solid player for us. Cunningham stepped up, and then got suspended 4 games. Brandon Spikes got banged up, and Tracy White had to step in as a starter. The secondary situation was far worse. Ras-I Dowling played hurt and then got put on IR. The secondary fell apart and slowed down the development of the defense, with injuries to Gregory and Chung leading to rookies Wilson and Ebner starting at one point. Things only started to improve once Alfonzo Dennard was inserted into the starting rotation and Devin McCourty got moved to FS. The Aqib Talib trade solidified things, moved Kyle Arrington to the slot, and offered glimpses of what the defense could do with a solid secondary, but injuries slowed that down and required more shifting of players around. And that's not mentioning that Dane Fletcher was lost for the season during training camp, which cost us arguably our best coverage LB, an area that's hurt us all season. And in spite of all that the defense continually improved, finished 9th in points allowed, and was one of the better defenses in the NFL over the last 6 games.
Going into the playoffs, we're the closest to seeing what the "2012 Patriots" are really like. A team with Brady at QB behind a fairly healthy OL, Gronk and Hernandez at TE, Welker and Lloyd at receiver, and the RBBC in full force. The defense with Talib/Dennard outside and Arrington in the slot, McCourty and Gregory at safety, Jones back to full strength, Cunningham back, Spikes health, and Hightower rounding into form.
No one in the NFL has played that team yet. Yet the patch-work Patriots managed to go 12-4 and were a hair's breadth from 15-1, in spite of all those struggles. And that's the team that should form the foundation for 2013, if the FO can keep the key players in the offseason.
