Vikings game is the PIVOTAL game of the season

[Simkin]

Why would the 1-5 Lions be a tough out for us?

mainly because we cant even try to defend CJ 81 . and his defense is really well prepared. they can be easily 3-2 . and BTW we are like 3 inches away from be defeated by a 2-5 team. So take it easy, every time is really hard. Browns defense picks off 4 times Brees.

 

[patsfaninpa]

mainly because we cant even try to defend CJ 81 . and his defense is really well prepared. they can be easily 3-2 . and BTW we are like 3 inches away from be defeated by a 2-5 team. So take it easy, every time is really hard. Browns defense picks off 4 times Brees.

Next 6 games should all be though.

Minny - Desperate for a W. But, they have some weapons. Need Favre to screw up.
Which he has a penchant for doing.

at Cleve - Mangini did a good job of keeping Jets in the games when they shouldn't have been against us. I'm thinking win at Foxboro in 06 and late in 07. Played us tough.

at Pitt - Just don't see how we can block em.

Indy - Yikes. We just need to beat those guys. But, they still have 18.

at Det - Turkey Day. Short week. I believe Brady made his debut there in 00. Wasn't very pretty. He will probably torch their secondary. But, we will have trouble stopping them too.

NYJ - Fat Bastard comes to Foxboro. Nuff said.

If we go 4-2 with one of those W's against the Jets. Color me happy.

 

[emoney_33]

intra-conference games are always more pivotal than inter-conference games IMO (except the superbowl of course )

 

[VJCPatriot]

The Lions are 9th in points scored with their back-up QB starting 5 of their 6 games, and get their entire starting offense back together for their next game.

They'll be at home during a short week and this will also be their only national game of the year so they circled this one on the calendar a long time ago.

It may be important for them but that doesn't make them the better team.

In any case back to the topic. The Vikings game is NOT the most important game for us to win.

1. It's out of division.
2. It's out of conference.

It will be very sad however if we let an obvously beat up Favre get the win. Did you see him limp off the podium after losing the green bay game?

The much more important games are against the Steelers, the Colts, and the Jets. Final playoff seeding may be at stake in those games and they are both conference games.

It's really going to be interesting how BB decides to defend the Vikings' weapons. AP is always tough to handle. But the Vikings also have Moss and Harvin. Whatever happened to Sydney Rice?

 

[Rob0729]

In the grande scheme of things, the Vikes game is a game the Pats can afford to lose. It is an NFC team and counts less than any other when coming to tie breakers other than common opponents when going for the division title since both the Jets and Dolphins have beaten them.

 

[Rob0729]

Next 6 games should all be though.

Minny - Desperate for a W. But, they have some weapons. Need Favre to screw up.
Which he has a penchant for doing.

I will give you the flip side of your arguments.

The Vikes were desperate for a win last night and failed. The flip side of the argument is that the Vikes are coming off an hard fought emotional divisional loss last night with Favre all banged up.

at Cleve - Mangini did a good job of keeping Jets in the games when they shouldn't have been against us. I'm thinking win at Foxboro in 06 and late in 07. Played us tough.

The Browns suck barring yesterday's shocker of a win against an underachieving Saints.

at Pitt - Just don't see how we can block em.

Only almost guaranteed loss on the schedule, but they lost Aaron Smith which is huge. They also almost lost yesterday if it wasn't for a bad call by the refs.

Indy - Yikes. We just need to beat those guys. But, they still have 18.

With Manning, they always have a shot, but they have lost a lot of players many of which won't be playing in this game.

at Det - Turkey Day. Short week. I believe Brady made his debut there in 00. Wasn't very pretty. He will probably torch their secondary. But, we will have trouble stopping them too.

The Pats played the Lions on Thanksgiving of 2002 and beat them 20-12. Brady didn't start playing until 2001 and the first time he faced the Lions was 2002. He also beat them at home in 2006.

NYJ - Fat Bastard comes to Foxboro. Nuff said

.

The Jets are probably the second toughest team on the schedule, but they haven't looked as strong their last two games as they did games 2-4. They were dominated by the Broncos for 3 quarters.

 

[jmt57]

Have you looked at their schedule?

Their schedule is virtually identical as the Pats.

If you think the Jets have an easy schedule, then you must also think the Pats have an easy schedule. If you think the Pats schedule is difficult then you must also think the Jets schedule is difficult.

The only difference between the two schedules is the AFC West opponent (both NE and NYJ have already played, and won that game) and the AFC South opponent. Granted the Colts are better than the Texans, but with all Indy's injuries there may be little or no difference between those two teams this season.

 

[Rob0729]

Their schedule is virtually identical as the Pats.

If you think the Jets have an easy schedule, then you must also think the Pats have an easy schedule. If you think the Pats schedule is difficult then you must also think the Jets schedule is difficult.

The only difference between the two schedules is the AFC West opponent (both NE and NYJ have already played, and won that game) and the AFC South opponent. Granted the Colts are better than the Texans, but with all Indy's injuries there may be little or no difference between those two teams this season.

At this point, I don't know if the Colts are better than the Texans. The Colts at full strength are, but the depleted Colts that the Pats will face is an unknown.

 

[TruthSeeker]

I'm tired of reading about the Chargers and am really looking forward to next week's game, moreso than this one. I don't have any grand point, but I didn't see another Vikings thread, so I'll offer this up:

A win in this game enables the Patriots to get through the meat of their schedule with a great record. They have lots of tough games afterward especially against the division, but those division games will be tough regardless. The point is, the Patriots will only face a very injured Colts team and a tough Steelers team at Pitt in the ensuing weeks, and they should beat many of the rest of the teams on the schedule.

If they go 6-1, they can play their hearts out (and afford losses to Pitt or Green Bay or a WTF loss). If they lose to Minny however, they will be still battling for their playoff lives.

A win against Minny sets up the entire rest of the season. You couldn't really say that about wins against the Ravens or chargers. But now that they're 5-1, they have set the shelf.

Every game is pivotal - right up until they're not. That's life in the NFL.

That being said, to call a game against a 2-5 NFC opponent to be "the PIVOTAL" game is quite a stretch.

 

[JackBauer]

mainly because we cant even try to defend CJ 81 . and his defense is really well prepared. they can be easily 3-2 . and BTW we are like 3 inches away from be defeated by a 2-5 team. So take it easy, every time is really hard. Browns defense picks off 4 times Brees.

Dude, sweet post. Just like they wouldn't be able to defend Brandon Marshall, right?

Oh, wait....

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Every Game is important but if you really want to point out PIVOTAL games it would come from the upcoming AFC games,not NFC

If you MUST list,then Games of most importance are in order..

1) Divisional games
2) Conference Games
3) Inter-Conference games

In that order....

Minnesota would keep the win streak going so it IS important

 

[TBradyOwnsYou]

In the grande scheme of things, the Vikes game is a game the Pats can afford to lose. It is an NFC team and counts less than any other when coming to tie breakers other than common opponents when going for the division title since both the Jets and Dolphins have beaten them.

Die in a fire sir. Any time the Pats have a chance to crush Favre, they MUST take it. If we lose to Favre, it WILL end up costing us BIG somehow. It's just the way it works.

 

[patsfaninpa]

I will give you the flip side of your arguments.

The Vikes were desperate for a win last night and failed. The flip side of the argument is that the Vikes are coming off an hard fought emotional divisional loss last night with Favre all banged up.



The Browns suck barring yesterday's shocker of a win against an underachieving Saints.



Only almost guaranteed loss on the schedule, but they lost Aaron Smith which is huge. They also almost lost yesterday if it wasn't for a bad call by the refs.



With Manning, they always have a shot, but they have lost a lot of players many of which won't be playing in this game.



The Pats played the Lions on Thanksgiving of 2002 and beat them 20-12. Brady didn't start playing until 2001 and the first time he faced the Lions was 2002. He also beat them at home in 2006.

.

The Jets are probably the second toughest team on the schedule, but they haven't looked as strong their last two games as they did games 2-4. They were dominated by the Broncos for 3 quarters.

Pats played at Detroit Turkey Day 2000. We got smoked 34-9. Tom Brady played. Here's a boxscore for ya.

New England Patriots at Detroit Lions - November 23rd, 2000 | Pro-Football-Reference.com

 

[Rob0729]

Pats played at Detroit Turkey Day 2000. We got smoked 34-9. Tom Brady played. Here's a boxscore for ya.

New England Patriots at Detroit Lions - November 23rd, 2000 | Pro-Football-Reference.com

Brady was put in for garbage time. He made three passes. I'm sorry, Brady technically played that game, but you made it sound like he was the starting QB and was directly responsible for the loss. Brady came in after all the damage was done and the Pats couldn't just concede the game and walk off the field before the game is over. Even if Brady played the whole game, it would be irrelevant 10 years later. But that was a Bledsoe led team which makes that game completely irrelevant.

 

[Rob0729]

Die in a fire sir. Any time the Pats have a chance to crush Favre, they MUST take it. If we lose to Favre, it WILL end up costing us BIG somehow. It's just the way it works.

You got it wrong. Favre wins whenever the Pats want him to lose and loses whenever we want him to win. Saying this game isn't as important as others then increase the chances of the Pats winning by this logic.

 

[jmt57]

Tom Brady going 1 for 3 in his rookie year at the very end of a blowout game ten years ago is evidence that he has struggled and therefore will continue to struggle against the Lions?

Huh?

 

[patsfaninpa]

Tom Brady going 1 for 3 in his rookie year at the very end of a blowout game ten years ago is evidence that he has struggled and therefore will continue to struggle against the Lions?

Huh?

If you read original post you wouldn't be confused. I said he will probably torch them. I mentioned he played against them in 00. And, it wasn't pretty. That's it. You jumped to the conclusion that was evidence for continued struggle. Jeez...

 

[patsfaninpa]

Brady was put in for garbage time. He made three passes. I'm sorry, Brady technically played that game, but you made it sound like he was the starting QB and was directly responsible for the loss. Brady came in after all the damage was done and the Pats couldn't just concede the game and walk off the field before the game is over. Even if Brady played the whole game, it would be irrelevant 10 years later. But that was a Bledsoe led team which makes that game completely irrelevant.

Who said it relevant? Not me. You jumped to that conclusion. I said in original post he will probably torch them.

 

[Patsrock]

Brady was put in for garbage time. He made three passes. I'm sorry, Brady technically played that game, but you made it sound like he was the starting QB and was directly responsible for the loss. Brady came in after all the damage was done and the Pats couldn't just concede the game and walk off the field before the game is over. Even if Brady played the whole game, it would be irrelevant 10 years later. But that was a Bledsoe led team which makes that game completely irrelevant.

Funny thing is Detroit is the only team Brady does not have a TD pass against.

 

[upstater1]

Their schedule is virtually identical as the Pats.

If you think the Jets have an easy schedule, then you must also think the Pats have an easy schedule. If you think the Pats schedule is difficult then you must also think the Jets schedule is difficult.

The only difference between the two schedules is the AFC West opponent (both NE and NYJ have already played, and won that game) and the AFC South opponent. Granted the Colts are better than the Texans, but with all Indy's injuries there may be little or no difference between those two teams this season.

Did you even read my post? They already played Minnesota. They avoided the Chargers and the Colts. That's 3 teams they avoid for the rest of the season. They are ALREADY 5-1. The Patriots have yet to play Minnesota and the Colts. That means are schedule TO COME is more difficult.