Can anyone keep the Pats out of SB51?

I hate SB talk in April. Let's play the season first.

fair catch fryar said:

The same ones that kept them out of SB50. The refs.

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What about Marcus Cannon?

RecoveringCowboy said:

It doesn't look like anyone in the AFC can. The AFC East rivals continue to be unable to threaten the Pats > Roster Reset: Can any team catch the Patriots?

The link above does not cover the rest of the conference. Denver has a QB meltdown, don't see much to fear in the AFC South. Can Pittsburgh or Cincinnati get hot? Probably not. As long as Brady can play, I expect the AFC Conference is the Pats to lose.

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The NEP can keep themselves out. And if they do not finish what they started...been there; done that.

Bottom line: it's a commitment that is only completed when the last minute is played out. Just ask Seattle!

Last year, many NEP fans talked about the same thing, whilst bragging about O-line depth (e.g. who would be let go). The way that worked out...the O-line fell apart and they were just throwing bodies out there; people in new positions, etc... Of course, the NEP missed out on home field advantage- after starting out 10-0 -and were handled by DEN.

Ergo, if the NEP were 10-0 this year, I will avoid this type (i.e. domination; winning it all even before the season begins) of chatter.

XLIX said:

The Patriots have only themselves to blame for not securing HFA in the playoffs. A loss against NY and then one of the most bizarre season finales I've ever seen them have against Miami was their own fault.

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Sounds like blaming the victim. They had injuries. They needed rest. They should have been 11-0 after that Denver game with a virtual lock on HFA that would have allowed them to get that rest.

YOUGOTMOSSED said:

Sounds like blaming the victim. They had injuries. They needed rest.

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At week 17, every single team in the league has injuries and needs rest.

XLIX said:

At week 17, every single team in the league has injuries and needs rest.

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But not every team played their ass off to a 10-0 record despite the league having a target on their back. That team deserved better IMO.

YOUGOTMOSSED said:

But not every team played their ass off to a 10-0 record despite the league having a target on their back. That team deserved better IMO.

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As unfairly as the Patriots have been treated during deflategate, they suffered no penalties last year.

What's so hard about manning up and saying "you know what? We weren't the best team last year, they beat us fair and square." I refuse to behave in a manner that, when other teams fans behave in the same manner, we laugh at them.

If a team is so fragile that a bad call or two breaks their entire season, then that's their own fault. The Patriots had a fine season last year, but they just weren't the best. They had two opportunities to recover from the Denver game and gain home-field advantage.

XLIX said:

As unfairly as the Patriots have been treated during deflategate, they suffered no penalties last year.

What's so hard about manning up and saying "you know what? We weren't the best team last year, they beat us fair and square." I refuse to behave in a manner that, when other teams fans behave in the same manner, we laugh at them.

If a team is so fragile that a bad call or two breaks their entire season, then that's their own fault. The Patriots had a find season last year, but they just weren't the best. They had two opportunities to recover from the Denver game and game home-field advantage.

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Maybe I'm just biased but I saw more than "1 or 2" bad calls over the course of the season. In fact, I lost count of how many big plays were negated by some phantom call last year. I have trouble believing that this wasn't by design or that being forced to grind out a win in a game that should have been a blowout won't tax any team over the course of a season.

YOUGOTMOSSED said:

Maybe I'm just biased but I saw more than "1 or 2" bad calls over the course of the season. In fact, I lost count of how many big plays were negated by some phantom call last year. I have trouble believing that this wasn't by design or that being forced to grind out a win in a game that should have been a blowout won't tax any team over the course of a season.

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Give me a break. Now you're not even satisfied with winning games if they have to "grind it out." I'll give you the Denver game so riddle me this:

Which other Patriots loss was due to poor officiating?

I'm still concerned about our offensive line. If we can get that healthy and/or draft a solid, solid OL then we are in very good shape.

I like the additions we made at the skill positions WR/TE and adding Potroast solidified our DL.
We still have some question marks at #2CB, HB, and OL.
But yes this is really one of the teams to beat in the AFC.

XLIX said:

Give me a break. Now you're not even satisfied with winning games if they have to "grind it out." I'll give you the Denver game so riddle me this:

Which other Patriots loss was due to poor officiating?

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The Denver game wasn't enough? It cost us HFA. We lost in Denver by 2 freakin points. I'm going to make the bold statement that we would have been at least 3 points better than Denver in Foxboro. I don't think even die hard Denver fans would disagree with that!

Not to mention, I think (correct me if I'm wrong) KC would have won the division if Denver lost that game against us (as they should have) so it's doubtful that Denver would have even gotten to the AFCCG in that scenario.

My point is that you cannot underestimate the magnitude of the effect of that ref screw job in Denver in the regular season.

YOUGOTMOSSED said:

The Denver game wasn't enough? It cost us HFA. We lost in Denver by 2 freakin points. I'm going to make the bold statement that we would have been at least 3 points better than Denver in Foxboro. I don't think even die hard Denver fans would disagree with that!

Not to mention, I think (correct me if I'm wrong) KC would have won the division if Denver lost that game against us (as they should have) so it's doubtful that Denver would have even gotten to the AFCCG in that scenario.

My point is that you cannot underestimate the magnitude of the effect of that ref screw job in Denver in the regular season.

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It's fallacious to assume that everything else just bounces your way. We have no idea what would have happened in January in Foxboro. Patriots have lost playoff games at home before.

I'm not a Jets fan or a Raiders fan or a Steelers fan, so I don't just blame refs for losses. I wish more Patriots fans would take after the Head Coach they claim to admire. Broncos won fair and square, on to 2016.

Sb51?.Making a lot of assumption here.

XLIX said:

It's fallacious to assume that everything else just bounces your way. We have no idea what would have happened in January in Foxboro. Patriots have lost playoff games at home before.

I'm not a Jets fan or a Raiders fan or a Steelers fan, so I don't just blame refs for losses. I wish more Patriots fans would take after the Head Coach they claim to admire. Broncos won fair and square, on to 2016.

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Don't give me that "fallacy of the pre-determined outcome" sh*t. We were jobbed. So were the Chiefs, for that matter, but they don't seem to be on the league "favored team" list either.

YOUGOTMOSSED said:

Don't give me that "fallacy of the pre-determined outcome" sh*t. We were jobbed. So were the Chiefs, for that matter, but they don't seem to be on the league "favored team" list either.

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....said every Oakland fan in January 2002.

Like I said, I refuse to say things which, when fans of other teams say them, we laugh at them for being whiny, sore losers.

YOUGOTMOSSED said:

The Denver game wasn't enough? It cost us HFA. We lost in Denver by 2 freakin points. I'm going to make the bold statement that we would have been at least 3 points better than Denver in Foxboro. I don't think even die hard Denver fans would disagree with that!

Not to mention, I think (correct me if I'm wrong) KC would have won the division if Denver lost that game against us (as they should have) so it's doubtful that Denver would have even gotten to the AFCCG in that scenario.

My point is that you cannot underestimate the magnitude of the effect of that ref screw job in Denver in the regular season.

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Shoulda, woulda, coulda, everyone's a winner, everyone gets a ribbon.

2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016

Lets Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

XLIX said:

....said every Oakland fan in January 2002.

Like I said, I refuse to say things which, when fans of other teams say them, we laugh at them for being whiny, sore losers.

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I'd say that there's a world of difference between b*tching about the "Tuck Rule" vs. the phantom calls in that Denver game.

Like I explain to my Oakland Raider fan friends (upset and deranged by that loss but not entirely unreasonable or unintelligent), the "Tuck Rule" was a RULE. Maybe you don't like it; maybe you don't think it's fair, but it was a friggen RULE. It was consistently called that way all season.

Comparing THAT to having Gronk get hit with an OPI when the DB was hanging all over him is f*cking absurd.

Ivan said:

Shoulda, woulda, coulda, everyone's a winner, everyone gets a ribbon.

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Refs taking over the game=rigged game. A rigged game= competitive farce. Competitive farce=massive waste of time to watch and not really worth caring about the outcome.

YOUGOTMOSSED said:

I'd say that there's a world of difference between b*tching about the "Tuck Rule" vs. the phantom calls in that Denver game.

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Yeah. The "world of difference" depends entirely on which team you are a fan of.

Stop acting like Raiders fans. Stop acting like Jets fans. Stop acting like Ravens fans. If you want to behave like those fan bases, there are plenty of forums for such.