Will the Patriots take back the division next season?

[1960Pats]

Yall bunch of Negative Nancies!!! It's embarassing...stop watching football and take up knitting....

We will win the division. The defensive collapse was a FLUKE. ****, the D did not just "collapse"....they had a collapse of HISTORICAL PROPORTIONS!!! Not.One.Punt in 13 consecutive drives?!?! WTF was that? And I would argue that we have a better D than the Bengals outside of the D-Line...and the Bengal D did fine in the post-season...especially the 2nd half at Arrowhead. Say had the Pats put forth an "average" defensive effort in the last 5 weeks...we likely would have won in Miami and lost on wildcard weekend by a score of 27-17 or something similar woth forcing 2-3 punts.

We are not that far away. We need some of our homegrown talent to step up like Uche, Wino, Jennings, and etc... We also have some more guys in the pipeline like Bledsoe in the secondary and McGrone at LB. The D just needs 1-2 more guys to step up, IMO. If we can have a solid D, I love our chances.

And the Jete and the Fish will also be better....Buffalo isn't sweeping everyone in the division next year, IMO. 4-2 at best.

Maybe it was that "collapse of HISTORICAL PROPORTIONS!!!" that has some fans less confident than you. The defense was supposed to be the team's strength.

I don't see the Pats winning the division any time soon unless a lot of things go their way. One of those things would be to stop losing to the Dolphins. That would help.

 

[1960Pats]

I don't think Jackson will ever get near his 2019 numbers again. Bumps and injuries take their toll, and I've never thought he was all that great except when running.

Cinci could become a player for the next few years with a top QB and top WR on rookie deals, sure, but I didn't think they were all that good this year, to be honest. I don't put them in a category with Buffalo or KC (who should have run them out of the stadium and inexplicably fell apart).

Cincy was a 4th seed and LA was a 5th. There were a few teams that had better seasons.

Lamar Jackson has gotten worse.

 

[1960Pats]

I don't know man, I hope you're right but they're 11-1 in the last two years against division and only loss was the really close wind game that we won. They've pretty much blown the division out the last two years and Allen seems to get better.

I think Allen dropped off a bit this year.

 

[StrawHatPatriot]

So, after Mac's good rookie season leading to ten wins and a playoff berth, you see his sophomore season as most likely ending in a Cam-like seven or eight wins.

Yes?

It won't even be all his fault, but stuff happens.

Baker had a really sophomore slump.

Hell, Brady was 11-3 in 2001... then went 9-7 in 2002.

Defenses adjust to what you do, injury breaks don't go your way (let's be honest, during that 7 game win streak we had a LOT of injury luck. Who knows if we will get that this year.)

 

[StrawHatPatriot]

I think Allen dropped off a bit this year.

He had a lot more games where he struggled this year than last... but after that wind game, he played the best football of his career, and showed so much poise and skill in the clutch.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

We are in a rebuild. Fortunately with wolf doing the drafting, and Kraft backing up the brinks trick, our rebuild is ahead of schedule.

My guess is we need a great draft in 2022 (wolf to the rescue) and some key free agents signings next offseason and we will be in great shape to take back the afc East in 2023.

 

[crawhammer]

Lamar Jackson has gotten worse.

I'm willing to bet if healthy Jackson bounces back with a very solid '22 season. His passing stats were down this season but he only had one really bad game. He was on pace for another 1000-yard season and since he entered the league he has the highest yards per rushing attempt and that's with teams having a spy on him.

I think Allen dropped off a bit this year.

Allen easily could have won MVP in 2020 so it would have been difficult to top that. He still had a very good season and he was otherworldly in the playoffs. His overall postseason stats are terrific... 6 games, 14 TD and 1 INT with a ridiculous 0.4 INT%. And he has 13 TD's and 0 INT in his last 4 starts against the Patriots.

 

[Hyped]

Maybe it was that "collapse of HISTORICAL PROPORTIONS!!!" that has some fans less confident than you. The defense was supposed to be the team's strength.

I don't see the Pats winning the division any time soon unless a lot of things go their way. One of those things would be to stop losing to the Dolphins. That would help.

That's my point....it was an anomaly...

What is more likely in 2022?

A.) The Bills never punting vs. the Pats D in non-windy conditions.

B.) The Pats D keeping the Bills under 27 ppg twice.

 

[1960Pats]

That's my point....it was an anomaly...

What is more likely in 2022?

A.) The Bills never punting vs. the Pats D in non-windy conditions.

B.) The Pats D keeping the Bills under 27 ppg twice.

We can call no Buffalo punts an anomaly but it happened twice and is a sign that our defense may not be as strong as we thought. Why do you think it happened?

 

[Tunescribe]

If Buffalo does not win the Super Bowl this coming season they never will.

The Pats have too many needs to overtake the Bills. DL,OL,WR,DB. If J C Jackson sits out and demands a trade, the Pats are in dire straights.

Dire straits, clodhopper, not "dire straights." And no, it's not the rock band.

 

[PatsWSB47]

Dire straits, clodhopper, not "dire straights." And no, it's not the rock band.

Dire Straights, otherwise know as the Trumper wing of the replican party....

 

[1960Pats]

I'm willing to bet if healthy Jackson bounces back with a very solid '22 season. His passing stats were down this season but he only had one really bad game. He was on pace for another 1000-yard season and since he entered the league he has the highest yards per rushing attempt and that's with teams having a spy on him.


Allen easily could have won MVP in 2020 so it would have been difficult to top that. He still had a very good season and he was otherworldly in the playoffs. His overall postseason stats are terrific... 6 games, 14 TD and 1 INT with a ridiculous 0.4 INT%. And he has 13 TD's and 0 INT in his last 4 starts against the Patriots.

I'm not really a stats guy as much as I go by what I see. To me it looks like Jackson has gotten steadily worse. Nobody is as elusive as him on the run but there's more to being a QB than that. He looks like a Harbawl experiment gone bad.

As for Allen, I probably set my expectations too high for him.

 

[Patnation21]

I think Allen dropped off a bit this year.

Ya maybe he did, I guess the playoffs made me think otherwise but during the season I think you're right.

 

[stephens44]

Every year is different than the previous and its nearly impossible to predict that way. Who predicted the Bengals season?
All we know is that this teams needs a few impact players, not just good players at a discount. We have to have a legitimate WR1 that opponents fear/respect in their game planning. So, depending on the draft and FA I'll go with win the division THIS year. The team only needs a few tweaks to be able to play truly complimentary football and win the close ones. I think its very possible that things could change and they could edge Buffalo for the division.

 

[*ChungFu*]

Patriots will definitely take back the AFC East because success is fleeting elsewhere and our very own hand-wringing herd needs to be bled.

 

[venecol]

Probably take back the division one day, but the fact remains that Belichick as a HC has never won a division (CLE or NE) w/o TFB as his starting QB.

CLE: 3rd, 3rd, 3rd, 2nd, 4th
NE: 5th, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd.

 

[stinkypete]

Maybe so, maybe not.

Honest assessment, Buffalo looked orders of magnitude better than us in 2021, yet they finished only one game ahead. It's a game of inches.

 

[Hyped]

We can call no Buffalo punts an anomaly but it happened twice and is a sign that our defense may not be as strong as we thought. Why do you think it happened?

I have no idea why it happened...which all the more makes it an anomaly, IMO. Judon did allege after the season that it was just guys free lancing to make plays on their own without trusting the system.

To be honest, I could pull 11 guys from the USFL and force the Bills to punt AT LEAST ONCE in 8 drives.

Now, I am not saying we don't need an improvement on D....especially the front 7...and the secondary if DMac walks, Jon Jones isn't gonna be ready for week 1, and/or we don't franchise J.C. Jackson... but c'mon...this is a middle-of-the-pack defense AT MINIMUM. This defense should never ever give up more than 40 points in any game we play against anyone.

 

[venecol]

I have no idea why it happened...which all the more makes it an anomaly, IMO. Judon did allege after the season that it was just guys free lancing to make plays on their own without trusting the system.

To be honest, I could pull 11 guys from the USFL and force the Bills to punt AT LEAST ONCE in 8 drives.

Now, I am not saying we don't need an improvement on D....especially the front 7...and the secondary if DMac walks, Jon Jones isn't gonna be ready for week 1, and/or we don't franchise J.C. Jackson... but c'mon...this is a middle-of-the-pack defense AT MINIMUM. This defense should never ever give up more than 40 points in any game we play against anyone.

When you only have 17 games, you could call 1 game an anomaly. Now, 2 games with same result against the same team is more of a pattern than an anomaly. In addition, you're ignoring the enormous rushing yards allowed in 4 of the last 5 games. Something was broken that needs fixing.

 

[1960Pats]

I have no idea why it happened...which all the more makes it an anomaly, IMO. Judon did allege after the season that it was just guys free lancing to make plays on their own without trusting the system.

To be honest, I could pull 11 guys from the USFL and force the Bills to punt AT LEAST ONCE in 8 drives.

Now, I am not saying we don't need an improvement on D....especially the front 7...and the secondary if DMac walks, Jon Jones isn't gonna be ready for week 1, and/or we don't franchise J.C. Jackson... but c'mon...this is a middle-of-the-pack defense AT MINIMUM. This defense should never ever give up more than 40 points in any game we play against anyone.

I think everything (O,D and ST) ties together.