I feel I'm in a pretty small minority picking the Patriots to win and play well against this Chargers team. Everywhere I look it seems to be "be aware of (insert Chargers superstar here)." But when talking about the Patriots, all the talk seems negative "team isn't good anymore," "down year for Brady and Gronk," "WRs are ineffective and can't get open" "defense can't stop the run and gets gashed too often" etc etc etc. It's like we were magically handed 11 wins and everyone who played us in Foxborough just didn't try and said "here, you guys have the game." Am I missing something? I know the Chargers are a good team and this will be a tough test, it should be, it's the playoffs! They're certainly capable of coming into Gillette and winning. Every team in the playoffs deserves to be there. But why all the negativity about New England? Are people just sick and tired of TB12 and BB and co. and it's clouding judgment? We have a good football team believe it or not! All I keep hearing about is the Chargers unbelievable, amazing, phenomenal, fantastic road record. Okay great, but weren't we 8-0 at home and didn't we outscore our opponents 263 to 133?! That last statistic is particularly gaudy. We averaged slightly less than 33 points per game at home and we're being treated by many as an afterthought? I just don't get it. This is a good defense, but we played the Bears defense in Chicago (#3 in total defense, higher than the Chargers, and #1 in rushing defense) and hung 38 points on them! Why isn't this being mentioned?? In fact, the Bears are higher than the Chargers in most major defensive statistical categories and we did all that damage without Sony Michel for most of the game. Patriots are like Rodney Dangerfield this year, don't get any respect!!!
