Who Thought This Would Be the Outcome?

I, like most of you, have a battle going on inside me between excitement and anxiety. I am about to head out of my apartment to take a long drive to the place I will be watching the game. The scenery should help with my anxiety and nervousness a bit.

Anyway, I was thinking this morning and decided to pose a question to all of you. I would like to know how many of us at the very beginning of the journey when football was announced and the truncated off-season stuff began truly thought that the Patriots would, in fact, be among the final four? How many of you thought this would eventually be where our beloved team would end up?

I ask because there was so much talk about the lack of pass rush and everything else, especially in those first few games. Then the defense played as poorly as it did all year and at one point this team was 5-3. Through it all, who thought this team would be where it is right now with a legit chance to be in the SB on February 5?

PatsBoy12 said:

I, like most of you, have a battle going on inside me between excitement and anxiety. I am about to head out of my apartment to take a long drive to the place I will be watching the game. The scenery should help with my anxiety and nervousness a bit.

Anyway, I was thinking this morning and decided to pose a question to all of you. I would like to know how many of us at the very beginning of the journey when football was announced and the truncated off-season stuff began thought that the Patriots would, in fact, be among the final four? How many of you thought this would eventually be where our beloved team would end up?

I ask because there was so much talk about the lack of pass rush and everything else, especially in those first few games. Then the defense played as poorly as it did all year and at one point this team was 5-3. Through it all, who thought this team would be where it is right now with a legit chance to be in the SB on February 5?

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Of the two choices you gave me, I'd have to go with "No," although I'm about halfway in between (I felt they *could*, but it wasn't at all a given that they *would*).

I absolutely believed it.

Patriots-Falcons was my preseason SB matchup.

The Pats went 14-2 last year in a "rebuilding" year. How could you not expect this???

I never counted them out. Always knew we had a chance to get better as the season goes on. Also viewing the other rivals, every one of them had flaws to make them beatable.

The two teams I didn't think the Pats could stop were New Orleans and Green Bay, other that that, I figured they would have to go through Pittsburg and/or Baltimore. I think the Pats caught a break not having to play them both especially back to back.

I have believed from last summer they would get to the final four and then see what happens. So much depends on health and matchups at this time of year that it is impossible to predict what will happen in the tournament before the season, but I expected the Patriots to win their division, and win the play-off games to get this far.

I predict them to go every year. But boy was I tested sometimes during this season. I'd have to answer in between too. I cant say I knew they would be there but I fully believed they could do it. I had them going 13-3 before the season started so I didnt think they would be horrible.

Another black and white poll!! Enough already. How about some shades of gray and then maybe you wd at least get honest answers. Almost nobody thinks in such extreme positions. Even children are more complex than this.

PatsBoy12 said:

I, like most of you, have a battle going on inside me

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Your avatar picture is freakn amazing.

Don't think "huge surprise" is the right wording... but I had my doubts. I think just based on the general week-to-week feelings on the forums, anyone would be hard pressed to think that the fanbase (as a whole) was confident we'd make it here. I mean, I know that message boards end up being pretty gloomy and always critical no matter what... but this year moreso than others.

But here we are... hats off to our boys!

This wasn't too far fetched an outcome regardless of how low we 'sunk' at any point this year. With the demise of the Jets/Colts/Chargers, it's a fairly weak AFC this year with 2 of the stronger teams in the same division, so a bye was always likely. One home win against a WC team in this conference is far from a daunting task.

If this team makes the super bowl, I'll admit I definitely had my doubts about that at a point.

It'd be funny if...

*walks into Dr. office*
Me: Doc, The Pats are playing the Ravens in the AFCCG and I'm losing sleep. I'm so anxious. I don't know if I could handle a loss...

Doc: My goodness, that is rough! I don't want you losing sleep in these hard times!

*Writes prescription for Xanax*

... I'm not anxious whatsoever. I'm just stoked that we've made it so far and I feel very confident in this team. My hopes are a bit high right now.:rocker:

14-2 last year, Gronk and Hernandez coming on strong going into this season, Brady in BB still in place. How could this be a "HUGE" surprise to anyone who has been watching this team operate over the years? Last year was a huge surprise when they lost in the opening game.

This is what I said in the "Predict the Season" thread back on September 11:

"I've never done this in a prediction thread before, but, barring critical injuries, I think that the pieces do all come together by December, that our HOF QB plays very well and that this team wins the Super Bowl. I also think that the intangible of playing the season for Mrs. Kraft will play a larger and larger role as Playoff time approaches."

While the wording of the poll is a little black or white, I'll stand by what I wrote, even though I see a very tough game.

In the predict the season thread back in late August/early September I predicted a Pats play off Bye week with a 12-4 regular season record. I predicted they would play the Ravens in the AFC Championship game. I think I picked the winner (which I did not predict) would play Green Bay (I think) so I was wrong there.

Having said that, I expected more out of our D at the seasons beginning, and I thought that Ocho would at least be a decent receiving option with maybe 6 or 7 TDs at this point, so I was way off on those points.

At the start of the 2008 season I felt we could do it again. 7 minutes in, my hopes were dashed.

2009 I figured it was too much to ask withthe recovery and all

Otherwise, I always feel we have a chance to be in it.

this pole is flawed

There was a lot of talk in the off-season about how much better the Patriots defense would be this year. If you really believed that (and I believed most of it), how could you not believe that the Patriots had a real good shot of being one of the final 2 teams in the AFC?

Now it turns out that the offense was better than expected and the defense worse than expected, but it all averaged out to a team considered to be the current favorite to win the Super Bowl.

Pre-season, I predict that we would go 19-0, so I am little disappointed with the season, but am coping with the disappointment ok.