Three Home Games Then the Bye.

[PATS16N0]

They were "overrated" all the way to the Super Bowl last year.

Yeah and we saw what happened to them there. One of the most embarrassing Superbowl in NFL history.

The carpet was laid out for Denver last year. We outright lost at least 2 games, maybe 3, to mind boggling bad official calls in the final minute of games. We lost home field advantage, we were decimated with injuries. San Diego had just beaten them badly a few weeks before, and in 2013 were realistically a low tier contender. They got all their play off games in Miles High. The league parted for Manning last year.

Lost bad.

They looked ugly against Arizona and from what I hear, yesterday was there for the taking if the Jets could have made a play or two.

 

[PatsBoy12]

Why BB isn't on the rules committee is beyond me. Or at least Johnathan Kraft. He should have complained to make those pick plays "a point of emphasis." Give Peyton a taste of his own medicine. It'd be one thing if other teams were allowed those same pick plays but, it seems like Denver is the only one who is allowed to do them.

I think it's because BB likes to deal more with rules that challenge the integrity of the game, like the length of the goal posts, than things that conceivably aim to give one team a competitive edge over another team. BB would rather like to figure out a way to mitigate those things competitively. This is the man that says he hates that fact that there are so many touchbacks on kickoffs because it makes it a non-competitive play.

 

[Deus Irae]

The AFC playoff picture has settled out somewhat, as far as the top 6 teams goes:

5-1 San Diego
4-1 Denver
4-2 New England
4-2 Indianapolis
4-2 Baltimore
3-1-1 Cincinnati

3-2 Cleveland, 3-3 Houston and 3-3 Buffalo are the only other teams with 3 wins. With Denver playing San Diego week 8 and NE week 9, there should be more clarity at the top.

I made a post similar to this in another thread yesterday, in one of the Buffalo threads. I think it fits here, but I'll get rid of the Bills-specific parts (and adjust the Chargers):

AFCE
Patriots

AFCN
Bengals/Ravens

AFCS
Colts

AFCW
Broncos/Chargers

Wild card race (as of now, likelihood not in the listed order, IMO)
Bengals/Ravens
Broncos/Chargers
Chiefs
Bills
Texans
Steelers
Browns
Dolphins

(Almost) No chance in hell
Titans
Jets
Jaguars
Raiders

 

[Deus Irae]

Yeah and we saw what happened to them there. One of the most embarrassing Superbowl in NFL history.

That happens. It doesn't mean anything. The Patriots got their asses kicked by the Chiefs 3 weeks ago.

 

[PatsBoy12]

Yeah and we saw what happened to them there. One of the most embarrassing Superbowl in NFL history.

The carpet was laid out for Denver last year. We outright lost at least 2 games, maybe 3, to mind boggling bad official calls in the final minute of games. We lost home field advantage, we were decimated with injuries. San Diego had just beaten them badly a few weeks before, and in 2013 were realistically a low tier contender. They got all their play off games in Miles High. The league parted for Manning last year.

Lost bad.

They looked ugly against Arizona and from what I hear, yesterday was there for the taking if the Jets could have made a play or two.

Much respect, Pats16No, but let's not forget that NE was handed the #1 seed even after everything you mentioned when Denver lost on a Thursday night, only to come out that following Sunday and play that stinker of a game against the Dolphins, effectively gift-wrapping it and hand delivering it to Peyton's doorstep.

 

[mayoclinic]

I made a post similar to this in another thread yesterday, in one of the Buffalo threads. I think it fits here, but I'll get rid of the Bills-specific parts (and adjust the Chargers):

AFCE
Patriots

AFCN
Bengals/Ravens

AFCS
Colts

AFCW
Broncos/Chargers

Wild card race (as of now, likelihood not in the listed order, IMO)
Bengals/Ravens
Chiefs
Bills
Texans
Steelers
Browns
Dolphins

(Almost) No chance in hell
Titans
Jets
Jaguars
Raiders

My only quibble is you left the Denver/SD runner-up out of the wild card race, which I assume was a simple omission. Right now it looks like there will be 2 AFC West and 2 AFC North teams. The Chiefs, Bills, Texans, Steelers, Browns and Dolphins have a considerable gap to make up.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

The AFC playoff picture has settled out somewhat, as far as the top 6 teams goes:

5-1 San Diego
4-1 Denver
4-2 New England
4-2 Indianapolis
4-2 Baltimore
3-1-1 Cincinnati

3-2 Cleveland, 3-3 Houston and 3-3 Buffalo are the only other teams with 3 wins. With Denver playing San Diego week 8 and NE week 9, there should be more clarity at the top.

Denver cannot be a 2 seed. More like:

5-1 San Diego
4-2 New England
4-2 Indianapolis
4-2 Baltimore
4-2 Denver
3-1-1 Cincinatti

 

[Deus Irae]

My only quibble is you left the Denver/SD runner-up out of the wild card race, which I assume was a simple omission. Right now it looks like there will be 2 AFC West and 2 AFC North teams. The Chiefs, Bills, Texans, Steelers, Browns and Dolphins have a considerable gap to make up.

Yes, it was just an editing issue. Before I'd had the Broncos as the division winners and the Chargers in the WC race and, when I put the Chargers up for the division, I erred by doing a cut and paste instead of just adding the two team names. I'll fix it now.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[mayoclinic]

Denver cannot be a 2 seed. More like:

5-1 San Diego
4-2 New England
4-2 Indianapolis
4-2 Baltimore
4-2 Denver
3-1-1 Cincinatti

I wasn't seeding them, which would be silly after only 6 games. Denver is 4-1, so I put them ahead of other 4 teams with 2 losses. Obviously, they are behind San Diego at the moment.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

I wasn't seeding them, which would be silly after only 6 games. Denver is 4-1, so I put them ahead of other 4 teams with 2 losses. Obviously, they are behind San Diego at the moment.

Ok, but you said "playoff picture"

 

[mayoclinic]

Ok, but you said "playoff picture"

Sorry if it was confusing. All I meant to say was that as of right now 6 teams have separated themselves a bit from the rest of the pack. While there is clearly time for that to change, it looks like there is some demarcation beginning to take shape.

 

[New England Pride]

We are going to pimp slap the Jests and the Bears. Denver is going to be a great game that could go either way. 7-2 at the bye would be sweet.

 

[Deus Irae]

We are going to pimp slap the Jests and the Bears. Denver is going to be a great game that could go either way. 7-2 at the bye would be sweet.

7-2 at the bye would give them the seeding edge against both the Broncos and the Bengals.

 

[PatsBoy12]

We are going to pimp slap the Jests and the Bears. Denver is going to be a great game that could go either way. 7-2 at the bye would be sweet.

7-2 at the bye is the absolute best case scenario after that start and the two mega injuries from yesterday. There are still questions on this team that they must figure out.

The good thing is that they are looking better each week. For now there is no reason to believe this will not continue. We'll just have to let the games play out on the field of course.

 

[Ozymandias]

The harshest part of the schedule in terms of travelling - not opponents - is over,

This is the part of the season where the Patriots will start to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. Those two Packer and Charger road games are going to be extremely hard games to win, especially the latter. The Patriots are readying themselves for another deep playoff run. No more significant injuries and they should do just that.

7-2 going into the bye and 12-4 coming up.

 

[KA-]

All I can really see is the Jets ... we don't even know if Brady will be available for the next 2 after the Jets.

 

[james87654]

cant wait for the Denver game

should be a good barometer of our team

BB vs the Forehead

A meeting of the minds

 

[TruthSeeker]

We just started the season with a string of away games and came out of it uncontested in the AFC East.
Now we're at home for three full weeks before our bye. Beautiful.

Without travel for the four and a half weeks, I expect this team to make major internal strides. This is what's going to lead into what is nationally referred to as `post-thanksgiving Patriot football.` The beginning was ugly, but on week #6 we've already played half our away games, and one of the remaining four is in Metlife, which is nothing. All the Patriots have left is a trip to Indy's dome, then later back to back weeks in Green Bay and San Diego. Other than that, we're in the Razor for the rest of the season.

4-2 with the two most impressive 2 game stretch in the AFC, a four week stretch camped up at Gillette, and most of our season travels behind us. That's a pretty nice place to be.

Denver's schedule is actually the opposite. Today in Metlife was only their second road game of the year, and spend six of their last eight games on the road. Brutal wear and tear and exhaustion. The Patriots stock is about to rise, and Denver's will drop. If we beat them, which I'm expecting, it'll probably at least ice the #2 seed for us, and for #1 it'll come down to how well the Chargers can stay ahead of us.

I really like our situation right now. It would of been nice to pull out that Miami win, but 4-2 with all those away games behind us, plus our two most important divisional away games behind us, which we came out of a respectable 1-1, I think we're poised and our offensive issues seem to be largely behind us. Now, thanks to injury, I guess we'll have new ones.

Very unfortunate about Mayo and Ridley! Because with this 3 game home stretch, I was and still am expecting a New England run of solid dominance going into the bye. We have no effective hammer now in the running game. Hopefully it's not as bad as the speculation.

The 49'ers and Chargers will beat Denver up nice for us before they fly out here, too.

Three home games and a bye!

I think we are getting ahead of ourselves here. If the offense plays like it did in the 1st half against Buffalo, the REALLY good teams will build up big leads against the Pats. We need the Pats offense to score 30+ points a game to give the somewhat injured defense a chance. They aren't far off, averaging 26 points a game. But need full 60 minute efforts to beat the good teams.

 

[Patjew]

That happens. It doesn't mean anything. The Patriots got their asses kicked by the Chiefs 3 weeks ago.

Stop exaggerating.

That was two weeks ago.

 

[Jackson 2]

cant wait for the Denver game

should be a good barometer of our team

BB vs the Forehead

A meeting of the minds

"...our team..." for you = the Forehead's team...