Looking at the remaining games, we have somewhat of an uphill battle with back to back games against the 49ers and Texans, two playoff bound teams with power house defenses, following 2 divisional games. We still have to face Miami twice who gave us a pretty good challenge late last year, and are looking just as prepared this year to do the same. You never know with these short week games so I can easily see the Beans stretching us again to the wire thursday. With Henne now in the line up for Jacksonvile, we can no longer overlook them either considering how they took the Texans into OT scoring 37 points. They can score now and are officially a trap game. A trap the Texans almost fell in.
With us missing Gronk and Hernandez still shaky, it doesn't make it any easier. Honestly, I'm not very confident about any talks of running the table. We looked great only over the past 4 games, it was still against weak teams, and I'm not ready just yet to conclude we have overcome the issues we had earlier this season of handing over a game late by 3 points or less now that we are getting ready to enter this stretch of very tough teams.
After our 59 point shellacking over the Colts it's easy to get caught up in it and start thinking we're there, but I think it's time to lower our expectations and come back to earth a little bit. So far we still have only beat 1 strong team. Denver. And that's a fact. And that was early in the season with Peyton still finding his groove.
Realistically speaking, 11-5 seems just as likely, if not more so, than 13-3.
Having said that, I am not concerned about our regular season schedule or seeding. I am actually quite happy with our remaining schedule, and the reason for that is that for once it appears as if this year we truly are being tested before we find ourselves in the playoffs or Superbowl running into a brick wall. We are getting ready to find out exactly what kind of team we are, and I'd rather know now than later.
I don't know about you, but personally I feel a lot more confident even if we enter the playoffs with an 11-5 record and a lower seed but having faced the Broncos, Ravens, Texans, 49ers, Seattle's and Arizona's defense than going in with a prettier record like last year, a higher seed and racked up against a bunch of weak teams.
I prefer being battle tested, scars and all, than having a nice shiny armor. It would be nice to run the table and get that high seed, especially having to go through the 49ers and Texans to get it, but I would not be demoralized with an 11-5 record, and going in somewhat under the radar.
This is ridiculous.
1. First, I don't care much if we're 9-7 and the #6 seed or 13-3 and the #1 seed as long as we (1) get into the playoffs, (2) are healthy for the playoffs, and (3) hit our stride for the playoffs. Those are my 3 goals. Not winning out.
2. Given that, I don't see any reason to discount the possibility of the Pats winning out. They may or may not do it, but there's no reason why they can't. The ran the table in 2010 against a much tougher schedule, including playoff bound Pittsburgh, Chicago and the Jets and the future SB champ Packers. They ran the table last year despite having to band-aid the secondary with Edelman and Slater.
BB talks about the challenge of "climbing the mountain" every year. No matter how successful you were the year before, the salary cap and free agency leads to at least a 33% roster turnover. Add in injuries and attrition, and there is a huge change from year to year. Each year is an entirely new challenge. And no one relishes the challenge of climbing the mountain over and over again like BB. No one treats adversity like a friend - a tool to build a championship-caliber team - like BB. The Pats may or may not win out, but I think BB will use the next 6 games, including some of the losses to injury, to start whipping this team into shape for the playoffs. The "regular season" is only the warmup for the "real season" that begins in January.
Some of the things that I can see developing over the next 6 weeks include:
- The "Oregonization" of the offense. With Rob Gronkowski out there will be even more opportunity to "move it" with more of an up tempo motion offense. Hernandez, Welker, Edelman, Vereen, Woodhead and Salas all fit nicely into this approach.
- Continuing to develop the power running game.
- The continued development of the secondary, and hopefully opening up the defense as we saw last Sunday against the Colts.
- Continued focus on "complementary" football. BB preaches this, and we saw it played beautifully on Sunday. Special teams TD. 2 pick 6's. A fumble recovery followed by an immediate quick strike TD. Great ST coverage and good field position throughout the game.
There's plenty to work on over the remainder of the "preseason". If we go undefeated during that time, great. If not, I don't really care, as long as we hit the playoffs healthy and in peak form. If this team plays the way it did last week, I like our chances against any team in the NFL. And that wasn't the best we can play, not by a long shot.
