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I think people overrate the Dolphins and Ravens. Both teams are 7-6 for a reason. I know both have been playing better recently, but partly because of their competition.
The Dolphins should have lost this past weekend against a bad Steelers team except that Antonio Brown accidentally stepped out of bounds untouched on what would have been the game winning TD.
The Ravens barely beat a bad Vikings team at home this weekend where Adrian Peterson went out of the game early. And all their talk about their offense rebounding with Pitta back is overstated since one TD drive was a 25 drive off a turnover by Toby Geirhart subbing for AD and another was a Jacoby Jones kick return for TD. Take those away and they score 15 offensive points against a team that gives up 30.4 PPG. And barely beat a bad Steelers team the week before.
Granted if the Pats don't fix their first half of games slow starts, they could lose to either or both teams. But if the Pats go into both games clicking on offense from the start, I think the Pats win confidentially with both. Even without Gronk, I think the Pats are significantly better than both teams. I am hoping the loss of Gronk is a rallying point and Belichick uses the disrespect card to get the Pats start games more focused. If they do, I think the Pats go 3-0 the rest of the way and take HFA.
The Dolphins should have lost this past weekend against a bad Steelers team except that Antonio Brown accidentally stepped out of bounds untouched on what would have been the game winning TD.
The Ravens barely beat a bad Vikings team at home this weekend where Adrian Peterson went out of the game early. And all their talk about their offense rebounding with Pitta back is overstated since one TD drive was a 25 drive off a turnover by Toby Geirhart subbing for AD and another was a Jacoby Jones kick return for TD. Take those away and they score 15 offensive points against a team that gives up 30.4 PPG. And barely beat a bad Steelers team the week before.
Granted if the Pats don't fix their first half of games slow starts, they could lose to either or both teams. But if the Pats go into both games clicking on offense from the start, I think the Pats win confidentially with both. Even without Gronk, I think the Pats are significantly better than both teams. I am hoping the loss of Gronk is a rallying point and Belichick uses the disrespect card to get the Pats start games more focused. If they do, I think the Pats go 3-0 the rest of the way and take HFA.