The Patriots' Schedule and What It Presents

Man, I just want me a cupcake.....the rest will play out in time.

DaBruinz said:

No offense, but your rating of Jacksonville and Tennessee leave something to be desired.. These are both teams with good young QBs. Jacksonville also has a good front 7.. Thinking they'll be a cupcake win is a fallacy..

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Especially with Indy giving them hope at this stage. The AFCS crown could be very much up for grabs.

the Jets showed about as much as the Bills did against the Colts

our TE formations will kill everyone.........it seems as though the rest of the league has gone away from using TE's in their offense.....everyone want to throw deep

I can't see how the Jets scheme will work with the TE heavy attack.......I also think that the way Lewis and even White play with COD that the Jets front 7 will struggle......I think Demaario Davis is the only one with athletic mobility

BobDigital said:

Assuming health of key guys here is how i see it

Week 3 - vs Jax - win
Week 4 - bye
Week 5 - at Dal - win (no romo)
Week 6 - at Ind - win.. lock of the year TBH. Pats want this one REALLY bad.
Week 7 - vs NYJ - likely win but i see both NYJ games as possible trap games even at home.
Week 8 - vs Mia - should win - If the front is not working out i am not sold on that secondary
Week 9 - vs Was - win
Week 10 - at NYG - possible trap game
Week 11 - vs Buf - win
Week 12 - at Den - win (team won't be over confident so no trap game and Manning should be looking pretty bad by now
Week 13 - vs Phi - win
Week 14 - at Hou - win
Week 15 - vs Ten - win
Week 16 - at NYJ - possible trap game
Week 17 - at Mia - win (Miami this time of year should be fine)

So i see plenty of potential trap games. I think we lose 1-2 of them. 14-2 or 15-1 I don't think we lose Denver at all. If you think he has looked meh now you wait till Nov 29th.

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Not sure if the Jets are trap games so much as just legitimate competition--defense looks solid. Hard to win without a QB though.

Health permitting, I would feel very confident in the team leaving every single one of these games with a solid win.

I wish the Indi game was here so we could see Suck for Luck / Suck with Luck signs. Among others.

I am going the safe rout and predicting 12-4

Vegas has Patriots at roughly +225 to win the AFC...versus roughly +350 to begin the season. A nice boost, but still is going to take a lot of luck to go along with talent as always.

DaBruinz said:

No offense, but your rating of Jacksonville and Tennessee leave something to be desired.. These are both teams with good young QBs. Jacksonville also has a good front 7.. Thinking they'll be a cupcake win is a fallacy..

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It's too early to write any team off but it's difficult to see either of them being ready for prime time at Foxboro.

Our Offense presents many match up problems.

1. Gronk - enough said
2. Edelman - I can see someone like Skrine would be a good matchup but not many teams have those to spare
3. Dobson and Amendola as 2nd and 3rd WRs - which teams have enough CB depth?
4. Dion Lewis - The Anti-Gronk. Teams are gonna need to make a decision on whether to use a DB or a smaller LB. There are few LBs that will be able to stay with him.
5. 4 TE formation - No team has any answer to this. They just have to hope we don't execute.

Running the table is a possibility.

I know we game plan and Brady takes care of himself better than pretty much anybody in the sport (if not the planet). But, I don't want my 38 year old QB throwing 60 times too often (and we probably won't need to do that too often either). too bad we aren't in the AFCS because getting to play the colts 2x per year would give TB all the rest his arm might need.

I don't believe in "cupcake city," especially at this stage of the season.

If TB can keep getting rid of the ball in less than 2 seconds, I'm fine with him throwing it a ton.

All I need it to represent is the #1 Seed and homefield.

They're on to Jacksonville.

Hard to tell if the 'cupcakes' are really cupcakes at this stage; Jax and Tenn have looked decent through two games, tbh, I don't think the Pats lose either but I don't think they're layups. Beyond the Colts, who I think the Pats ANNIHILATE, I don't see any absolute cake teams on the schedule, at least not at this juncture of the season...but I also don't see any opponents that would scare me into thinking a particular game is a tossup, if that makes sense. GB or Seattle on the road, for example. KC in KC is always a tough one, Baltimore always gives this team fits so a road game against the Ravens would fall into that category (if they actually turn things around, which is an open question).

So in my mind there's some legit teams in there where losses can happen--the Jets, Miami, Denver (pending Manning's noodle arm showing life), even Buffalo (you know Rex is already thinking up different ways to scheme his defense). But I don't see any pick-em games on the schedule the rest of the way, I think the Pats will be (and should be) the favored team every step of the way the rest of the year. Whether they lose one or two of them--hell, 4 or 5 of them--is a different story, mostly having to do with the health of guys list by others (Brady/Gronk/Edelman/Butler/McCourty would be my list).

DaBruinz said:

No offense, but your rating of Jacksonville and Tennessee leave something to be desired.. These are both teams with good young QBs. Jacksonville also has a good front 7.. Thinking they'll be a cupcake win is a fallacy..

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I live in Jacksonville and I can tell you that they do have a lot of young talent. Whether that will be enough to hang around with the Patriots at home is to be seen, but they are a team that is on the rise, IMO. They have drafted extremely well the last two years.

dales804 said:

Only wish I had was that the BYE wasn't in week 4. Sucks it's so early.

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We all know the Patriots were due an early bye after all the mid season byes.

Ross12 said:

I could see Tennessee being a trap game if Mariota plays awesome. They have a few good receivers and I think David Cobb could be good...

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Lets see. Rookies tend to start the season stronger than they can finish it. Playing in December at Foxboro is a tough situation by itself.


In general, I would not assume wins against the Eagles and Denver just because they mostly sucked in the first two weeks. If Denver can figure out to use whatever is left in Manning's cadaver efficiently they can be pretty good. Also don't want to dismiss the Eagles and Chip too soon. If they keep looking bad into the middle of October then my perspective will change.

Double TE said:

I wish the Indi game was here so we could see Suck for Luck / Suck with Luck signs. Among others.

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If the Dolts win the division next year's game should be in Foxborough.