NE/ATL Common Opponents

[everlong]

Not saying this means a lot. I was just curious and a bit surprised by the numbers.

NE @ DEN 16-0 W
ATL @ DEN 23-16 W

NE SEA 24-31 L
ATL @ SEA 24-26 L
ATL SEA 36-20 W

NE @ AZ 23-21 W
ATL AZ 38-19 W

NE LA 26-10 W
ATL @ LA 42-14 W

NE @ SF 30-17
ATL SF 41-13

Regular season PF/PA/Diff the home and road games balance out more or less although @ Seattle is the most difficult of the difference.

NE 119-79 +40
ATL 189-88 +101

 

[BobDigital]

Interesting. It doesn't worry me. Overall the Pats have the better point differential for what that is worth.

 

[The Gr8est]

So this juggernaut 11-5 Atlanta team is going to dominate our 14-2 Pats team?

Atlanta looked very good against Green Bay, yet they managed to lose five times during the regular season.

They are beatable, and the Pats have the coaching and Superbowl experience edge.

Pats also have a strong defense, while the Packers against Atlanta, looked a lot like the Pats team that lost in Denver last year in the AFCCG; a team that had just suffered too much attrition to continue.

Bring on SB LI !

 

[JayNM]

Atlanta is playing their best football of the season. I hope their defense becomes too full of themselves, cause they are really nothing to be afraid of.

 

[rookBoston]

Well matched teams.

I think the Vegas line is Pats -3, which seems pretty fair to me.

 

[oldrover]

So scared. LOL

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

For Atlanta's D to be successful, they'll have to bring pressure up the middle.

Assuming Dan Quinn has a Seahawk mentality, it will be curious if he plays the same style or if he'll be more flexible and show the Patriots something they haven't seen (from Atlanta film study).

In a game of adjustments, I'm thinking the advantage goes to the Patriots.

for the Patriots, the offense with Hogan and Mitchell (to a lesser degree) has gone from dink and dunk to dink and chunk.

 

[everlong]

Interesting. It doesn't worry me. Overall the Pats have the better point differential for what that is worth.

Yes I'm aware of that and when I did the comparison I expected the Patriots to have the better differential here as well.

So this juggernaut 11-5 Atlanta team is going to dominate our 14-2 Pats team?

Atlanta looked very good against Green Bay, yet they managed to lose five times during the regular season.

They are beatable, and the Pats have the coaching and Superbowl experience edge.

Pats also have a strong defense, while the Packers agains Atlanta, looked a lot like the Pats team that lost in Denver last year in the AFCCG; a team that had just suffered too much attrition to continue.

Bring on SB LI !

As I said in the initial post I'm not sure it means squat but I found it interesting. If the numbers were reversed the reception here would be overwhelming exclaiming this further proof the Patriots will win.

The came will come down to matchups, turnovers and the red zone like most weeks. IMO when the game is over and the stat lines released the biggest difference is going to be that the Pats played better in the red zone and yards were a wash.

 

[ALP]

well i cant speak for atalanta, but DEN is a kryptonite of ours, we played ARZ first week and w/o brady, and SEA was a bad game w/ defense adjusting

the other two games show that their offense is better than ours, and thats true

 

[patsbrasilpatriotas]

Not saying this means a lot. I was just curious and a bit surprised by the numbers.

NE @ DEN 16-0 W
ATL @ DEN 23-16 W

NE SEA 24-31 L
ATL @ SEA 24-26 L
ATL SEA 36-20 W

NE @ AZ 23-21 W
ATL AZ 38-19 W

NE LA 26-10 W
ATL @ LA 42-14 W

NE @ SF 30-17
ATL SF 41-13

Regular season PF/PA/Diff the home and road games balance out more or less although @ Seattle is the most difficult of the difference.

NE 119-79 +40
ATL 189-88 +101

ATL SEA 36-20 W Without Thomas
NE SEA 24-31 L First game without Collins, Ryan and Sheard adjusting
NE @ SF 30-17 Late TD - we were holding them under 100 yds (TOTAL)
NE @ AZ 23-21 W Cardinals were ''the'' team to beat and still trying to be relevant when they played not so much

 

[chasa]

honestly both team are pretty evenly matched. either team could win.

i would expect another last possession of the game will win it.

 

[mosi]

The Rams played the Falcooons after playing the Pats. People on these boards were asking why the Pats can't blow out teams like the Falcons?

The Rams got blown out against Atlanta because they had 5 turnovers, including 2 picks 6's and a fumble-touchdown. The Rams actually out-gained Atlanta but the score was 42-0 before the Rams could even blink.

The Pats absolutely throttled the Rams. If you take out the final end of game long pass, the Rams only had 60 yards passing and less than 100 total yards. That is a complete beat down.


My point is that you can't just look at the score and think one team beat another team in a much better way than another.

 

[VrabelMayeWin]

NE @ AZ 23-21 W Cardinals were ''the'' team to beat and still trying to be relevant when they played not so much

And as much as I love our #10 . . . #12 didn't play.

 

[patsbrasilpatriotas]

s

The Rams played the Falcooons after playing the Pats. People on these boards were asking why the Pats can't blow out teams like the Falcons?

The Rams got blown out against Atlanta because they had 5 turnovers, including 2 picks 6's and a fumble-touchdown. The Rams actually out-gained Atlanta but the score was 42-0 before the Rams could even blink.

The Pats absolutely throttled the Rams. If you take out the final end of game long pass, the Rams only had 60 yards passing and less than 100 total yards. That is a complete beat down.


My point is that you can't just look at the score and think one team beat another team in a much better way than another.

Playcalling is much simpler D and O
D philosophy ''bend don't break''
Pats are used to success. So when other teams have a good year. i.e. Panthers, they give 100% every game.
Opponents always aim Patriots as the team to beat

And btw we destoyed HOU and STEELERS

...

 

[The Gr8est]

s

Playcalling is much simpler D and O
D philosophy ''bend don't break''
Pats are used to success. So when other teams have a good year. i.e. Panthers, they give 100% every game.
Opponents always aim Patriots as the team to beat

And btw we destoyed HOU and STEELERS

...

This is true, and with all due respect to Atlanta, no one had their games against the Falcons, circled before the season even began.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I agree with the OP. That's "interesting" but I'm not sure what to conclude. The games were all played at different points in the season. It looks like Atlanta had no trouble putting up 36--42 points on poor or "OK" defenses, but didn't do as well against Denver. I think that the Pats D is playing today better than four of those other D's and is probably as tough as Denver. But, Atlanta's Offense has been on fire in the last few weeks.

In the end, I just think that the Pats are "tougher" than the Seahawks and Packers teams that Atlanta played. The Seahawks were not the team the Patriots played in the SB two years ago or even that they played in Foxboro this year. The Packers were basically running on fumes when they went on their death march into Georgia.

That's why I think they'll win. If Blount, Lewis and White can have an impact and if the O Line can protect Brady the way they did on Sunday, they'll be able to put up more than enough points to beat Atlanta. If they can't, it will be a long evening.

I also don't think we can overlook the fact that half the Patriots went through the crucible of the SB in Arizona and, no matter how much Dan Quinn might try to prepare them and no matter how much Matt Ryan will try to say it's "just another day at the office," I think the Pats will have a major advantage in that regard. Brady will be a leader who has been there and back six times. I think that will count for a lot.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Atlanta is a tough opponent but the Patriots have a huge advantage in coaching and QB experience in big games. Stopping Atlanta's high powered offense is a tough task but there is no coaching staff with anywhere near the Patriots when it comes to facing great offenses, as they have faced Manning, Roethlisberger, Warner and the Rams, and pretty much all the great players of this era. They have also faced the best defenses of this era and have a great record against them. The bottom line being that Belichick and his staff, as well as Brady, have a wealth of experience against great players, great units, and great teams and they will have a great game plan to handle the Falcons explosive offense it will just come down to how well they execute it. The Falcons on the other hand don't have anywhere near that kind of experience and they will face the GOAT QB, GOAT coach, and a really good offense and defense. I don't think this game is a cakewalk by any means but I think the Patriots are well suited to pull off a win.