The November gauntlet: Looking at the schedule

[SoonerPatriot]

Moving on, as bad as this team played today, looking at the schedule you figure they can beat Tenn and Miami at home and go to London and beat the Bucs. Then rest up during the week 8 bye.

Now at 6-2, the rough patch comes...

Nov. 15 at Indy
Nov. 22 vs. Jets
Nov. 30 at New Orleans

After today's events it's hard to say they can beat any of those teams. That NO game in particular scares the piss out of me. I don't have a great feeling about Indy either.

Regardless, three games against three ****ty teams comes at a good time to fix wtf is wrong on both sides, particularly the offense, before we get to that stretch. I hope/think they can, but admit it's not even close to a sure thing.

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

Did you forget Miami came to Foxboro and stomped them??? Miami is not a given.. that is why this game was important... the jets game was important.. but no one sees that now.. they think, " oh its just one game"" jets lose to miami we still in first place.. Take care of our own games not worry about help...

 

[SoonerPatriot]

Did you forget Miami came to Foxboro and stomped them??? Miami is not a given.. that is why this game was important... the jets game was important.. but no one sees that now.. they think, " oh its just one game"" jets lose to miami we still in first place.. Take care of our own games not worry about help...

No but if we can't beat Miami at home with Chad Henne (or whoever) running the show then we don't deserve to be in the playoffs, so **** it. I'm calling it a W. Indulge me.

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

No but if we can't beat Miami at home with Chad Henne (or whoever) running the show then we don't deserve to be in the playoffs, so **** it. I'm calling it a W. Indulge me.

Ok i will , if we dont beat Miami at home , start talking draft because we are a 8-8 team..

 

[SoonerPatriot]

Ok i will , if we dont beat Miami at home , start talking draft because we are a 8-8 team..

Agreed.
(10 char)

 

[crypto]

We beat the Jets and possibly the Saints. We lose to the Colts because since 2004 we've just hit a brick wall there.

Can someone tell me why it seems like we are ALwAYS playing AT Indy?

We also probably lose a game to Miami, because Miami does that.

Unless our coordinators continue to devolve into apes, we should still finish 12-4 or 13-3.

 

[chrisfx811]

As another thread stated, an 0-5 Titans team would be desperate.
Miami can still run, and even though Henne has little experience, he has a better arm than Pennington and the Fins play us tough.

Initially I wasn't too concerned with Indy since their run D is awful, but Sanders should be back, and the Pats aren't that good at running the ball. Manning is totally in sync right now, and if he gets the kind of time other QBs have been getting, he'll shred the defense.

The Saints are the real deal, especially @ home, but BB seems to do well against NFC opponents.

The Jets.... Well, they shut us down in the 2nd half, much like Denver, and if this offense doesn't make serious progress by then, it could be another long, disappointing day. Sanchez will get better, and their D, barring injuries, isn't going to get worse.

 

[NickOGS20]

The Titans game is far from a gimme, especially as they're looking pretty useful tonight.

 

[jmt57]

I would say Broncos in Denver, coming off games against the Falcons and Ravens, was a lot tougher task than beating the Dolphins in Foxboro.


Seems like very few on this board want to give Denver credit for being a good team tonight.

 

[Seymour93]

We are going to have to have a hell of a game plan to win in Indy and New Orleans, and near flawless execution.

 

[Rob0729]

The good news is that those three teams in November are the only teams left on our schedule who are playing particularly well so far this season. The NFC South and AFC South other than Indy, NO, and Atlanta have been playing like crap this season. The AFC East other than us and the Jets have losing records.

 

[RichSeymour]

We beat the Jets and possibly the Saints. We lose to the Colts because since 2004 we've just hit a brick wall there.

Can someone tell me why it seems like we are ALwAYS playing AT Indy?

We also probably lose a game to Miami, because Miami does that.

Unless our coordinators continue to devolve into apes, we should still finish 12-4 or 13-3.

LMAO, this team won't sniff anything close to 13-3

 

[mosi]

This game was terrible. The defense was picked apart. No rush and soft coverage. Poor execution by the offense. Brady is not Brady and may not be all this year.

I have not seen a good game by the Brady led Pats team since the Pitt game of 2007.

This could end up being a long year but nothing that us old timers haven't seen.

 

[crypto]

Okay, look.

Let's say for argument's sake that we lose to Indy AND New Orleans. We beat the Jets because that's how we roll, and because if we lose that and lose to the Colts, we will have lost two in a row, and we all know that in the Belichick era that is the sign of the apocalypse. Can't happen, scientifically impossible, voodoo, etc.

We will not lose to the Titans. I don't care how desperate they are; they aren't that good a team. The Lions were desperate when they were 0-5. Surprise! They lost their next game.

We lose one to the Dolphins, because the Dolphins do that.

So that's -3.

We are currently 3-2.

11-5. Worst case scenario barring a freak loss to either the Jets or the Titans.

 

[mgteich]

I agree.

Being 3-2 after beating BALT and ATL is a good place for this team to be this season, considering the schedule, and Brady's injury (and Mayo's).

Okay, look.

Let's say for argument's sake that we lose to Indy AND New Orleans. We beat the Jets because that's how we roll, and because if we lose that and lose to the Colts, we will have lost two in a row, and we all know that in the Belichick era that is the sign of the apocalypse. Can't happen, scientifically impossible, voodoo, etc.

We will not lose to the Titans. I don't care how desperate they are; they aren't that good a team. The Lions were desperate when they were 0-5. Surprise! They lost their next game.

We lose one to the Dolphins, because the Dolphins do that.

So that's -3.

We are currently 3-2.

11-5. Worst case scenario barring a freak loss to either the Jets or the Titans.

 

[Seymour93]

I have not seen a good game by the Brady led Pats team since the Pitt game of 2007.

I thought that we were pretty good against the Ravens on both sides of the ball. We led them basically the whole game. And if Brady wasn't blindsided then the game wouldn't have been as close as it was at the end, IMO.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

As another thread stated, an 0-5 Titans team would be desperate.
Miami can still run, and even though Henne has little experience, he has a better arm than Pennington and the Fins play us tough.

Initially I wasn't too concerned with Indy since their run D is awful, but Sanders should be back, and the Pats aren't that good at running the ball. Manning is totally in sync right now, and if he gets the kind of time other QBs have been getting, he'll shred the defense.

The Saints are the real deal, especially @ home, but BB seems to do well against NFC opponents.

The Jets.... Well, they shut us down in the 2nd half, much like Denver, and if this offense doesn't make serious progress by then, it could be another long, disappointing day. Sanchez will get better, and their D, barring injuries, isn't going to get worse.

Desperate doesn't equal a win and it doesn't all of the sudden make them world beaters. There's a reason they're going to be 0-5. Ditto for Miami. If this team can't beat Miami at home then it's all moot anyway.

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

Okay, look.

Let's say for argument's sake that we lose to Indy AND New Orleans. We beat the Jets because that's how we roll, and because if we lose that and lose to the Colts, we will have lost two in a row, and we all know that in the Belichick era that is the sign of the apocalypse. Can't happen, scientifically impossible, voodoo, etc.

We will not lose to the Titans. I don't care how desperate they are; they aren't that good a team. The Lions were desperate when they were 0-5. Surprise! They lost their next game.

We lose one to the Dolphins, because the Dolphins do that.

So that's -3.

We are currently 3-2.

11-5. Worst case scenario barring a freak loss to either the Jets or the Titans.

And that was not good enough last year, another year not in the playoffs without Brady or Moss, its time to start that R word in some peoples mind..

 

[BradyFTW!]

As another thread stated, an 0-5 Titans team would be desperate.
Miami can still run, and even though Henne has little experience, he has a better arm than Pennington and the Fins play us tough.

Initially I wasn't too concerned with Indy since their run D is awful, but Sanders should be back, and the Pats aren't that good at running the ball. Manning is totally in sync right now, and if he gets the kind of time other QBs have been getting, he'll shred the defense.

The Saints are the real deal, especially @ home, but BB seems to do well against NFC opponents.

The Jets.... Well, they shut us down in the 2nd half, much like Denver, and if this offense doesn't make serious progress by then, it could be another long, disappointing day. Sanchez will get better, and their D, barring injuries, isn't going to get worse.

The Titans were desperate at 0-2 and 0-3 too.

 

[AFPatsFan12]

The Patriots absolutely have to be 5-2 going into the bye. The Titans are leaving everything out there tonight... the Colts are their biggest rival, it's a home, primetime game, and they really need a win to have any semblance of hope this season. This kind of reminds me of the Ravens in 2007. They played the Patriots very tough in what, essentially, was their Super Bowl, then laid a gigantic egg the next week against the Colts. I can easily see the Titans coming out very flat next week.

The Bucs are, well, godawful, but I REALLY wish this game wasn't being played in London. The past two years, Wembley has been a quagmire. Remember, the 1-15 Dolphins played the eventual SB champs very tough in London in 2007. The Bucs are atrocious, and the Patriots SHOULD win the game even if it's played on Pluto... but I'd actually feel better if this game were in Tampa Bay.

A Dolphins win tomorrow would be very helpful, of course... but either way, the Pats are still in ok shape, even discounting the fact that it's only week 5...

I think this team can win in New Orleans, IF TFB rounds into better form by then. I think a ball control offense and a bend but don't break defense (which is exactly the opposite of what they should have done today), if executed properly, wins that game. A night game in Miami is tough (although that game may well be flexed), and the Patriots match up poorly against the Colts, but this team can get to 11-5, 12-4 if they just friggin tighten up the execution, especially on offense...