2013 New England Patriots - What the Magazines Are Saying

[PatsFans.com Article]

2013 New England Patriots - What the Magazines Are Saying
By: Ian Logue

Every year the NFL Preview magazines come out and here's a look at what four of them have to say about the upcoming Patriots season....

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS STORY​

 

[Rob0729]

Don't even have to looks to guess that every magazine has Denver winning the AFC and/or the Super Bowl. They are going to be the media darling in the AFC.

Personally, I get why the media will be on their jock, but I just don't see it. They were a vastly overrated team who beat up on a lot of bad teams or met good teams at their worst point (Ravens when they were falling apart). They were 2-4 vs. playoff teams last year (with only wins against a really banged up Ravens and the inconsistent Bengals).

They are a good team, but I think even with Welker they are a vastly beatable team. I think that the loss of Dummervil may be a bigger loss than any of their additions since their defense was only so-so last year despite the stats (played a lot of horrible offenses in the AFC West).

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

What bothers me most about the Manning and Donk media ball washing is that when inevitably they crash and burn, there are no media consequences. Instead, media starts up the very next year with the same Hosannahs as if nothing had happened. No snarky articles like most write about the Pats after they blow up in the playoffs.

 

[Jackson 2]

2013 New England Patriots - What the Magazines Are Saying
By: Ian Logue

Every year the NFL Preview magazines come out and here's a look at what four of them have to say about the upcoming Patriots season....

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS STORY​

It's all OK. I like it better this way.

 

[Rob0729]

What bothers me most about the Manning and Donk media ball washing is that when inevitably they crash and burn, there are no media consequences. Instead, media starts up the very next year with the same Hosannahs as if nothing had happened. No snarky articles like most write about the Pats after they blow up in the playoffs.

I guarantee you right now that there will be articles about Brady's age and potentially declining skills while the same publications will talk about how Manning will be much better than last year even though he is a year older than Brady, played three more seasons than Brady, and had multiple neck surgeries. Age will be an issue for the 35 year old (36 in August) Brady, but won't be discussed about the 37 year old Manning.

 

[PATSNUTme]

Thanks Ian for posting this thread. One of the normal fun things to do in the offseason is to get some of these magazines and read the write ups on the teams Then look at their predictions for the year and refer back to them about mid season and

But I am saddened to hear about Pro Football Weekly folding the tent. I always get their pre-season edition and the draft book. I have PFW draft books in my "football library" at home dating back to 1994. So now I'll have to move on and try to find as good a draft book,if possible. They always included the intagibles about the players that most guides were lacking.

I'm old school, although I do use online draft sites, but I still like to have the hard copy guide.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Don't even have to looks to guess that every magazine has Denver winning the AFC and/or the Super Bowl. They are going to be the media darling in the AFC.

Personally, I get why the media will be on their jock, but I just don't see it. They were a vastly overrated team who beat up on a lot of bad teams or met good teams at their worst point (Ravens when they were falling apart). They were 2-4 vs. playoff teams last year (with only wins against a really banged up Ravens and the inconsistent Bengals).

They are a good team, but I think even with Welker they are a vastly beatable team. I think that the loss of Dummervil may be a bigger loss than any of their additions since their defense was only so-so last year despite the stats (played a lot of horrible offenses in the AFC West).

I enjoyed reading the predictions and was irked by the media phobia over the Manning/Welker connection as well. But then I read the AFC East predictions and noticed that all of the predictions had the JESTS in last place! I can't be upset with the Broncos Homerism if the same group thinks the JESTS Suck!!

 

[chasa]

I'm going on record right now.

The broncos are going to see manning go down to a freak injury, and then they are going to miss the playoffs.

 

[Rob0729]

I enjoyed reading the predictions and was irked by the media phobia over the Manning/Welker connection as well. But then I read the AFC East predictions and noticed that all of the predictions had the JESTS in last place! I can't be upset with the Broncos Homerism if the same group thinks the JESTS Suck!!

Although I think the Jets are going to be one of the worst teams in the league this year if not the worst, it is pretty low hanging media fruit to dump on the Jets. I love when they do, but it really isn't going out on a limb.

 

[50-yard-line]

Seems like a lot of people are good at adding and subtracting without considering the secondary implications of their actions.

So...ADD Welker's catches/yards to the Broncos and wow, they look good.

SUBTRACT the same from the Patriots and they look beatable.

But that's a very shallow analysis. If Welker gets those yards by being targeted 140 times, and Manning throws to the slot receiver that many more times than last year, how many plays does that cost him on the outside to his big YPC receivers? If he runs the same game plan as last year, Welker's yards go to Stokely levels.

Same with the Pats in reverse. Take those 140 targets and give them to other players and the questions become: can you move the chains as effectively, and will you get the 1100 yards out of those 140 targets?

Losing Welker hurts, sure. But you can't just add and subtract top end numbers and I think a lot of lazy journalists do this all the time.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Patriot fans should be concerned about Denver making the most of Welker to beat the Patriots in the play-off's, they couldn't stop him when he was in miami let alone with Manning. That said I give the Bronco's the edge at WR but not anywhere else. I think the Patriots are a better team all the way around and hope that and their depth across the roster ends up being the difference. I also think the overall analysis is superficial and always focuses on flashy offseason moves over the overall trajectory and improvement of teams, and while a team like the Dolphins has added high profile free agents and is getting all sorts of accolades for those moves it ignores the fact that a young Patriots defense is now coming into several years of experience as units and on the whole and is ready to take a significant step up in play. I would pretty much guarantee that when this season is done the patriots have a much better defense than Miami and a better points allowed, and they will end up in the top 5-7 teams in football in that category, which imo is the most important one for them.

Looking at the AFC on the whole I think Denver wins the West, Houston, the South, Cincy the North, and NE the East, with Indy getting a Wild Card and the other WC up for grabs with Baltimore and Miami having the edge in that battle. I think KC improves but not enough to make the play-off's and the Steelers miss out again. Nothing too surprising about those predictions and overall i think the AFC is clearly the weaker Conference. As usual it will just come down to the play-off run and who is healthy and peaking for it. NE will be in the AFC Championship again but it's always a crap shoot from that point on. I will go with NE vs S.F. in the Super Bowl and give the Patriots the edge to break through and win another Lombardi. Big shock there.