Meh, the Patriots dominated in the beginning, beating up on the weaksauce Redskins, Bills, Jets, and Phins. Pretty sure the Cowboys were all kinds of bad. When they played good teams, it was not so easy to dominate.
Anyhow, the point is that old school football with a commitment to the run and the use of big bodies to smash the lighter defenses around will be a good thing for the Patriots offense and the Patriots defense.
Hernandez is a loss, no doubt about that, but the Patriots will move on, they always do.
Oh and the 2007 defense was overrated, they benefited greatly from the record breaking offense.
I think it is way too early to malign the 2013 version of the Patriots defense, so far, I think this defense has a lot of things to like...of course it must be proven on the field, but I like what I see.
Ugh, now you're taking out of both sides of your mouth....
1) You claim the 07 Pats defense benefited from the offense (which then benefitted the O, as well)? Duh! That's the entire appeal of clock domination; the other team cannot score as long as you have the ball and are putting up points in the process. The 07 Pats were the
best clock dominating team in Pats history. You are going around in mental-circles trying to downplay this or dismiss it. You can't.
2) You are trying to thumb your nose at the difficulty 07 Pats schedule....yet they had the 3rd hardest in the NFL that year.
3) You hypocritically act as though the the teams NE dominated
weren't good....but then you hold up the games against Philly and Balt as though it proves they couldn't compete against
tough teams. Newsflash: You cannot dominate
every NFL game; 'merely' winning is virtually impossible too, let alone dominate. The 07 Pats? They dominated more than half their games and went 16-0. They dominated games against
good teams like SD, Dallas, and PIT; teams with good records; good defenses, playoff teams, too. Oh, but what about Philly and Balt? The two allegedly "tough" teams? Well, they had
bad records; no playoffs. So your point is going back-and-forth without focus. In reality? This is the NFL and every week there is simply too much variation to hang your hat on much let alone constant domination; yet the 07 Pats went 16-0 (against the 3rd hardest schedule, too).
3a) You are acting as though wins that weren't utter blowouts aren't impressive....as if you've ever seen a team dominate their entire schedule as much as the 07 Pats. Get real. If the 07 Pats aren't up to your standards then you cannot name one single team that is. This is the NFL; no team can dominate every single game. So, don't try to thumb your nose over NE's close wins in 07, as though it were not an accomplishment. It was.
4) ....and no. A team dominating in wins has little to do with "establishing the run." Good running games are nice, but they don't even remotely correlate to wins as much as passing. It's not close. Record breaking passing attacks result in a much better record than record breaking rushing. So, again, your point is moot.
