It appears that Gronk is out for the year, given what it looked like as he was carted off. Edelman is out for at least the regular season. Hightower suffered a knee injury. No idea when Collins will return. Lewis done for the year. Solder out for the season.
They still have a one-game lead for the top seed in the AFC. Denver and Cincy play each other, meaning that one of them will have 3 losses at a minimum.
Here are their remaining schedules:
NE
vs Phi
at Hou
vs Ten
at NYJ
at Mia
Even with the depleted roster, they should win against Philly and Tennessee, and probably one other game. The defense alone should keep Houston's offense in check. So say the Pats finish 13-3. That will likely get them the #2 seed.
This team won't give up. They will play hard. They will bring everything they have to the table. Granted, everything they have is just a small fraction of what they had at the start of the season. It's really hard to imagine them moving the football consistently with no running game, no Edelman, no Gronk, and no Amendola. I have no idea how they're going to score. And with Hightower and Collins out, the defense takes a major hit.
But if they can get healthy for the playoffs, they will get a home playoff game, and hopefully Edelman, Amendola, Hightower, and Collins will be back. The defense should be terrific in that game, and the offense given enough of a boost with the return of Edelman and Amendola that they should be able to find a way to win that game.
So then it would be on to the AFC Championship game. Where that game would be played, who knows. But this team isn't going to give up. As depressing as tonight was, we should not give up either. This team has given us so much, they deserve our full support.
Get a running game going. Play great defense. Scrape together enough wins to get a bye. Get as healthy as possible for the playoffs. And see what happens. Just got word from bleacher report that Gronk's knee injury may not have been as bad as it seems, so maybe, just maybe, there's a chance he'll be ok. Or maybe ok for the playoffs, which would be fine.
When this team wins another AFC title and is in another Super Bowl, we may consider it to be their greatest achievement yet, given the injuries.
Keep the faith, people.
They still have a one-game lead for the top seed in the AFC. Denver and Cincy play each other, meaning that one of them will have 3 losses at a minimum.
Here are their remaining schedules:
NE
vs Phi
at Hou
vs Ten
at NYJ
at Mia
Even with the depleted roster, they should win against Philly and Tennessee, and probably one other game. The defense alone should keep Houston's offense in check. So say the Pats finish 13-3. That will likely get them the #2 seed.
This team won't give up. They will play hard. They will bring everything they have to the table. Granted, everything they have is just a small fraction of what they had at the start of the season. It's really hard to imagine them moving the football consistently with no running game, no Edelman, no Gronk, and no Amendola. I have no idea how they're going to score. And with Hightower and Collins out, the defense takes a major hit.
But if they can get healthy for the playoffs, they will get a home playoff game, and hopefully Edelman, Amendola, Hightower, and Collins will be back. The defense should be terrific in that game, and the offense given enough of a boost with the return of Edelman and Amendola that they should be able to find a way to win that game.
So then it would be on to the AFC Championship game. Where that game would be played, who knows. But this team isn't going to give up. As depressing as tonight was, we should not give up either. This team has given us so much, they deserve our full support.
Get a running game going. Play great defense. Scrape together enough wins to get a bye. Get as healthy as possible for the playoffs. And see what happens. Just got word from bleacher report that Gronk's knee injury may not have been as bad as it seems, so maybe, just maybe, there's a chance he'll be ok. Or maybe ok for the playoffs, which would be fine.
When this team wins another AFC title and is in another Super Bowl, we may consider it to be their greatest achievement yet, given the injuries.
Keep the faith, people.
