It's on to Green Bay

[Oswlek]

The patriots will win this one because they will play well in all three phases. You cannot rely solely on 1 phase of the game and expect to beat us. Green Bay is a very unbalanced team and this will be their downfall. We are playing complimentary football. They are playing Aaron Rodgers. You can't expect one guy to win the game for you against a 3 phase team even if you do have home field.

According to most statistics, GB is comparable on defense to NE. Granted, NE has been on an uptick, but so has GB.

It is really special teams where NE has a significant advantage.

 

[Ivan]

Browner on Nelson is the nobrainer.

Imo Cobb and Nelson are bad match ups for Browner, I would use a smaller CB with safety help and put Browner on the TE

 

[Ring 6]

Imo Cobb and Nelson are bad match ups for Browner, I would use a smaller CB with safety help and put Browner on the TE

Nelson is the textbook matchup for Browner. 6'3 215lbs has Browner written all over him.
He is too good to use a smaller corner on, or any corner not as ood as Revis and Browner.
Why waste your second best cover guy on a TE?

 

[JMC00]

According to most statistics, GB is comparable on defense to NE. Granted, NE has been on an uptick, but so has GB.

It is really special teams where NE has a significant advantage.

Meh, look at who both teams have played over this 7 game run.

Pats D has gone against better offenses. Packers two good offenses they faced Saints, lost and the Sanchez QB'd Eagles

 

[JMC00]

@MikeReiss
Ed Hochuli has been assigned as referee for Sunday's Patriots at Packers game. Early projection is long sleeves for No. 85.

 

[letekro]

Imo Cobb and Nelson are bad match ups for Browner, I would use a smaller CB with safety help and put Browner on the TE

Bedard thought they would use Browner on Nelson with safety help over the top because Browner is the best at stopping the back shoulder fade that is their bread and butter. However, he said Nelsson would present problems for Browner if he is put in motion. Maybe they start with Browner and at the least force them to use nelson out of the slot

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Imo Cobb and Nelson are bad match ups for Browner, I would use a smaller CB with safety help and put Browner on the TE

Browner on Nelson with help just like megatron most of the time. Megatron is much better then nelson

 

[Oswlek]

Meh, look at who both teams have played over this 7 game run.

Pats D has gone against better offenses. Packers two good offenses they faced Saints, lost and the Sanchez QB'd Eagles

I think NE's defense is playing at a higher level, too. I just think fans can dismissive of factors with other teams that they would consider with their own.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

What i didn't like was some of the lions WRs got behind our CBs but couldn't make the catches....Nelson and Cobb would have made those catches the Lions didn't. Can't let them get behind you. Especially nelson

 

[bcfan1972]

@MikeReiss
Ed Hochuli has been assigned as referee for Sunday's Patriots at Packers game. Early projection is long sleeves for No. 85.

LMAO! He just has to show off those guns no matter how cold it is!!

 

[MassPats38]

"You can play anywhere" doesn't mean it's not also tougher to play in one place vs. another. Every team does worse on the road than at home. Study after study after study in virtually all sports shows that refs are (un/subconsciously) biased toward the home team. In football, the crowd can have a meaningful effect by forcing the visiting offense to revert to silent snap counts and the like. And so on.

I would argue it is more difficult for a cold weather team like the Pats to play in a hotter climate (Indy dome or Miami) than it would be in a colder climate like Wisconsin. I suspect crowd noise represents less of a concern than temperature, wind and weather and the corresponding influence on player condition.

I would be interested in reading one of those studies specific to NFL football officiating. After watching Indy lose to the Iggles in Indy with two botched calls, I would love to see the statistics to support that. To me, the refs appear bad or good without regard to the home team.

 

[TruthSeeker]

No matter who is on the schedule predicting Denver to win out is shaky. The last 2 weeks they lost to a sub 500 Rams team, and should have lost, at home, to a thoroughly average Miami team.

Miami is better than you're giving them credit for. The Rams also play better than their current record.

That being said, I agree with your basic premise that Denver is beatable and doesn't look to be nearly the team they were in September.

 

[TruthSeeker]

According to most statistics, GB is comparable on defense to NE. Granted, NE has been on an uptick, but so has GB.

It is really special teams where NE has a significant advantage.

I'll take your word on the statistics, but my eyes tell me that NE is playing great (not just good) defense. I haven't watched GB play much, but historically their defense has been sub-par and they didn't look good against Seattle in week 1. I'm thinking that the defenses aren't at all similar and that the Pats have a large advantage which translates into a win.

 

[Ring 6]

Miami is better than you're giving them credit for. The Rams also play better than their current record.

That being said, I agree with your basic premise that Denver is beatable and doesn't look to be nearly the team they were in September.

Im giving them credit for what they are

 

[Oswlek]

I'll take your word on the statistics, but my eyes tell me that NE is playing great (not just good) defense. I haven't watched GB play much, but historically their defense has been sub-par and they didn't look good against Seattle in week 1. I'm thinking that the defenses aren't at all similar and that the Pats have a large advantage which translates into a win.

Similar to NE, GB's defense has been much better of late than they were at the start of the season. Offense too, as a matter of fact.

That's not to say they are equals. GB only faced one competent offense during their stretch, and that was a home game against Mark Sanchez. They have definitely been feasting on weaker competition than NE. And even despite this, they've shown continued cracks against the run that NE appears to have shored up.

If the game were in NE, I'd consider it most likely to be another double digit win, but in Lambeau, I think it is something of a toss up.

 

[Ivan]

Nelson is the textbook matchup for Browner. 6'3 215lbs has Browner written all over him.
He is too good to use a smaller corner on, or any corner not as ood as Revis and Browner.
Why waste your second best cover guy on a TE?

My mistake completely, I thought Nelson was Edelmens size. Go Browner with safety help

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

My mistake completely, I thought Nelson was Edelmens size. Go Browner with safety help

Yeah he's much bigger

I would give a lot to see Nelson with Brady to see what he could do

 

[sb1]

Jambalaya!

Pats Packers...fun memories....

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

If pats do lose...will you guys really be that upset? I don't think i would be unless say we make a dumb mistake that costs us but if GB just flat out beats us.... I don't think i will be too upset given how good they are at home and it being a NFC team and really have nothing to do with tie breakers if it comes down to it

But if they win..i will be pretty pumped. Beating them DEN, Colts ect. Pretty good accomplishments. If we lose and DEN wins. Still up on them and i don't see us lowing another one. Jets will try and play spoiler and always play us tough...but just don't see it. MIA and Buff at home are Ws then @SD which doesn't look that hard anymore. But a win here and it really goes a long way for the #1 seed

Maybe why i am not too worried about the game like the DEN game or the Colts game.

If KC can somehow beat DEN...would be huge becasue would give us even more breathing room with a loss

 

[obgod3]

@MikeReiss
Ed Hochuli has been assigned as referee for Sunday's Patriots at Packers game. Early projection is long sleeves for No. 85.

I supposed this means some unnatural flexing while calling penalties or first downs