"Pats don't play anyone in the regular season"

[JMC00]

 

[Froob]

Lol...I don't understand why people feel this team needs to prove themselves every year. They are in deep in the playoffs every year.

 

[Nehalem]

Interestingly they have a record of (25-9, .735) in the playoffs in that same time period. Maybe due to their actual playoff games being largely at home.

 

[ALP]

ive never seen a stat like that before...and im not sure why, because it shows a lot

 

[TB_Helmet]

One thing to note is that the Patriots have played notably fewer such games than the bottom two teams on the list.

I guess that's because by definition if you make the playoffs more frequently, then you will play fewer playoff teams.

Still the Pats look like they play 10% less games against playoff teams than the next four teams on the list, for whatever reason. So that might feed into the general feeling behind the thread title.

 

[reflexblue]

When i saw the the thread i thought surely the CHB must be running his mouth again.

 

[PrairiePat]

Yeah, the total # of games vs playoff teams does seem surprisingly lower than the next group of teams. You'd think that having to play the top teams in each division each year (by virtue of being a top team in their own division the previous year), the Pats would play more playoff-bound teams, not less.

I guess that scheduling effect must be canceled by
- playing the Jets/Bills/Dolphins 6 times a year, over a period when all 3 have been mostly bad
- putting losses on marginal playoff teams and forcing them out of playoff contention

 

[mosslost]

LOL @ Detroit.

Pats record is insane against playoff teams. I figured we would be the top, but the Pats are way at the top.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Also I heard Brady turned into an old man in 1 weeks time and is done.

 

[SVN]

Lol...I don't understand why people feel this team needs to prove themselves every year. They are in deep in the playoffs every year.

I wish our game day thread brethren remembered this .

 

[mgteich]

Yes, the patriots are awesome against playoff teams and everyone else. Our record since Brady started is truly amazing. There are only 1 or 2 comparable situations in the history of the league.

But, as you point out, we play fewer playoff teams than other teams. Yes, we beat teams and put them out of the playoffs, as other good teams do. We also play in the AFC East.

Yeah, the total # of games vs playoff teams does seem surprisingly lower than the next group of teams. You'd think that having to play the top teams in each division each year (by virtue of being a top team in their own division the previous year), the Pats would play more playoff-bound teams, not less.

I guess that scheduling effect must be canceled by
- playing the Jets/Bills/Dolphins 6 times a year, over a period when all 3 have been mostly bad
- putting losses on marginal playoff teams and forcing them out of playoff contention

 

[borisman]

 

[Angelpats]

Yes we played fewer playoff teams but that happens when you knock so many playoff bound teams out of the playoffs. And since we win our division each year and usually take two games from each team in it that reduces their chances of making the playoffs.
Those bottom two teams play more playoff teams because they aren’t good and help build playoff teams with all the wins they give other teams. We take them out.

 

[Nikolai]

I guess that scheduling effect must be canceled by
- playing the Jets/Bills/Dolphins 6 times a year, over a period when all 3 have been mostly bad

That's exactly what I was coming in here to say. Over the course of the last 16 years, the Pats have played about .6 less games a year against playoff teams, which is the difference between them knocking out the marginal playoff contenders in the AFC East and the others dropping games withing their own division.

That picture is far too flattering.

 

[mgteich]

By being in playoffs every year, we play 2 additional playoff teams.

Yes we played fewer playoff teams but that happens when you knock so many playoff bound teams out of the playoffs. And since we win our division each year and usually take two games from each team in it that reduces their chances of making the playoffs.
Those bottom two teams play more playoff teams because they aren’t good and help build playoff teams with all the wins they give other teams. We take them out.

 

[PYPER]

One thing to note is that the Patriots have played notably fewer such games than the bottom two teams on the list.

I guess that's because by definition if you make the playoffs more frequently, then you will play fewer playoff teams.

Still the Pats look like they play 10% less games against playoff teams than the next four teams on the list, for whatever reason. So that might feed into the general feeling behind the thread title.

One factor that effects that anomaly is that the Patriots are always one of the Playoff teams. Since 12 teams make the playoffs and the Patriots can't play themselves, there are only 11 possible playoff opponents for the Pats. Every other team in the league has enjoyed far more down seasons where they didn't make the playoffs.

Our division also contributes to that. The Bills have never been to the playoffs in that time period and even when our 2nd/3rd place teams finish with winning records, they usually lose tie breakers and miss playoffs. Part of that is influenced by how badly AFC East teams are dominated by Pats. Teams that are 9-5 or 8-6 vs rest of NFL only finish 9-7 or 8-8 in AFCE bc they play Pats twice. In other divisions they might finish 10-6 or 11-5 in some years.

Whenever one team DOMINATES, that means the others are dominated. Put the Patriots in any division over the past 16 years, and the story would be the same.

 

[jimnance]

Some of y'all are missing the point.
Whether or not the Pats played a few less playoff teams is irrelevant... the FACT is, that when they played playoff teams, they had a FAR better record than anyone else. And if they had played a couple more playoff teams it would NOT have changed anything.
The OP came up with a really fine post that helps show the Patriots unprecedented dominance of the NFL since 2001. He made his point loud and clear. The weak attempts by some of you to disparage a really cool stat fell flat.

 

[TB_Helmet]

Some of y'all are missing the point.
Whether or not the Pats played a few less playoff teams is irrelevant... the FACT is, that when they played playoff teams, they had a FAR better record than anyone else. And if they had played a couple more playoff teams it would NOT have changed anything.
The OP came up with a really fine post that helps show the Patriots unprecedented dominance of the NFL since 2001. He made his point loud and clear. The weak attempts by some of you to disparage a really cool stat fell flat.

Whoa whoa whoa...no one's disparaging anyone; we all understood the point of the OP and are actually performing what I think is some pretty smart analysis on the posted stats (as an aside, our country is pretty bad at math and statistics as a whole, but for some reason when it comes to sports, our ability to have well-reasoned, data driven arguments goes up by orders of magnitude).

However, if the Pats Haters say "Patriots never play anyone good", they have a point, because we play fewer playoff teams each year than the other teams represented in the OP. BUT...it's not THAT much fewer (< 1.0), and as people have pointed out maybe one reason is that by virtue of us winning so often, we knock them out of playoff contention.

You could argue that one reason the AFC East is so bad is that each team almost always loses 2 games to the Patriots, which depresses their records (and their fanbases!).

 

[TB_Helmet]

Yes we played fewer playoff teams but that happens when you knock so many playoff bound teams out of the playoffs. And since we win our division each year and usually take two games from each team in it that reduces their chances of making the playoffs.
Those bottom two teams play more playoff teams because they aren’t good and help build playoff teams with all the wins they give other teams. We take them out.

A few years ago (2014 maybe?) the narrative was that "Patriots haven't played anyone above .500". But the funny thing was that they had played a lot of teams that finished 8-8. So the reason those teams weren't above .500 was that they got beat by the Patriots!

 

[jimnance]

Whoa whoa whoa...no one's disparaging anyone; we all understood the point of the OP and are actually performing what I think is some pretty smart analysis on the posted stats (as an aside, our country is pretty bad at math and statistics as a whole, but for some reason when it comes to sports, our ability to have well-reasoned, data driven arguments goes up by orders of magnitude).

However, if the Pats Haters say "Patriots never play anyone good", they have a point, because we play fewer playoff teams each year than the other teams represented in the OP. BUT...it's not THAT much fewer (< 1.0), and as people have pointed out maybe one reason is that by virtue of us winning so often, we knock them out of playoff contention.

You could argue that one reason the AFC East is so bad is that each team almost always loses 2 games to the Patriots, which depresses their records (and their fanbases!).

Uh, you pretty much just reinforced my point. Thanks.