Pats probably will need to play BOTH Pitt and KC in playoffs

[mosslost]

Looking at the playoff calculator, if Denver and the Chiefs win, the Chiefs would end up the 2nd seed and the Raiders would be the 5th seed. Miami is the 6th seed regardless. The game against the Pats does not change anything. So, Miami will be in Pittsburgh and the Raiders will be at Houston. I see Houston and Pitt winning and the Texans to come back to Foxborough for their annual beating. KC pitt will be a dog fight and KC will win and come to the Patriots for the AFGCG.

only if Denver wins, which at this point is 50/50. Oakland has no QB, but Denver can't score.

 

[mosslost]

The defending champs weren't out of it that year. We just needed the jets to lose and Brett F*#!ing Favre totally laid down and got his ass kicked by 40 points. There was an unbelievable but true statistic in the fav stat thread since 2001 the patriots have never played a game they were not still in contention for the super bowl.

my bad, you had it right

 

[TB_Helmet]

The defending champs weren't out of it that year. We just needed the jets to lose and Brett F*#!ing Favre totally laid down and got his ass kicked by 40 points. There was an unbelievable but true statistic in the fav stat thread since 2001 the patriots have never played a game they were not still in contention for the super bowl.

You mean we needed the Jets to win right? I recall I rooted for the Jets and Favre and they lost, I felt so gross afterwards.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Looking at the playoff calculator, if Denver and the Chiefs win, the Chiefs would end up the 2nd seed and the Raiders would be the 5th seed. Miami is the 6th seed regardless. The game against the Pats does not change anything. So, Miami will be in Pittsburgh and the Raiders will be at Houston. I see Houston and Pitt winning and the Texans to come back to Foxborough for their annual beating. KC pitt will be a dog fight and KC will win and come to the Patriots for the AFGCG.

do you really think Houston will beat the raiders? even without carr, Oakland has talent.

 

[libra957]

And then..Hopefully we play the lions in the superbowl! we can't keep dodging good teams, we've never won that way.

 

[mosslost]

You play who you play.

If the potentially 14-win Pats can't beat the Steelers and Chiefs, both games being at home, then this team was 2010-circa soft and we can cue up the "they were never tested in the regular season" argument that so many are peddling around here.

Then again we may end up drawing the Dolphins and Texans...

Anything can happen in the playoffs and I'll take my chances with a pissed, focused and determined Brady and Belichick.

Anything less than a Super Bowl win for this team, especially in this season, is a failure of epic proportions.

>> Anything less than a Super Bowl win for this team, especially in this season, is a failure of epic proportions.

IMO this is never really true. It will be a great accomplshment to win the Super Bowl. Winning the SUper Bowl is always against the odds, even now in our current situation. You have to go undefeated against the best teams. It is not en epic failure no matter how it ends now. The Browns season is an epic failure.

 

[pazrul72]

You mean we needed the Jets to win right? I recall I rooted for the Jets and Favre and they lost, I felt so gross afterwards.

Yeah Favre was still a fudge packer that season 2002 was a looooong time ago.it was root for the jets or root for Favre and yeah....felt dirty too.

 

[mosslost]

Really?
He beat a solid Cincy team last year.
He played better @Denver than TB12 did (supposedly with a hurt shoulder).
I just looked up his stat line in the AFCDG: 24/37 for 339 (no TD/no Int) and the Steelers were in the thick of the game the entire time.
I think the Steelers play up and down to the level of competition and Ben has tremendous talent around him to be able to challenge us...but I expect TB12 to put up 33+ for the win.

Any Pats fan who does not admit the Steelers will be tough are fooling themselves. The last time we beat the Steelers in a playoff game Ben was a rookie.

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

I think Denver has mailed it in. Oakland gets the sweep.

I disagree. Despite their poor performance last night, the Broncos play with a chip on their shoulder. They were the reigning Super Bowl champs who failed to even make the playoffs. I think they'll come out angry and play for pride in front of their fans, especially against a Division rival.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

Good, we need some competitive games to prepare for the SB.

 

[Nikolai]

You mean we needed the Jets to win right? I recall I rooted for the Jets and Favre and they lost, I felt so gross afterwards.

You're thinking of 2008 when you think of the Favre-Jest. In 2002, it was the Pennington-Jest.

Weird side note; the two times the Pats didn't win the AFC East in the Brady-BB era, it was a Chad Pennington team that won it.

 

[Todd Bradley]

>> Anything less than a Super Bowl win for this team, especially in this season, is a failure of epic proportions.

IMO this is never really true. It will be a great accomplshment to win the Super Bowl. Winning the SUper Bowl is always against the odds, even now in our current situation. You have to go undefeated against the best teams. It is not en epic failure no matter how it ends now. The Browns season is an epic failure.

To not win the Super Bowl in any year when you have Belichick and Brady, especially Brady at age 40, is a failure.

But to not win it in a year where your team is head and shoulders better than the competition is an even bigger failure.

It's Super Bowl or bust for this team. You're kidding yourself if you say otherwise.

 

[TB_Helmet]

You're thinking of 2008 when you think of the Favre-Jest. In 2002, it was the Pennington-Jest.

Weird side note; the two times the Pats didn't win the AFC East in the Brady-BB era, it was a Chad Pennington team that won it.

Right! My bad. Obviously my memory has obfuscated things to reduce the PTSD of having to root for the Jets.

 

[stinkypete]

Root for Denver & KC next week. Even if the Pats lose, that would set-up New England to play the winner of the Houston/Oakland game, assuming Miami losses to Pit. This would be about as easy a match-up as the Pats have ever had in round 2, while Pit & KC battle it out for the right to come to NE.

I'd happily take Miami in round 2, if it meant Pittsburgh is out.

This is a very realistic possibility. Matt McGloin's Raiders will be susceptible to Denver's D, and Denver will be looking to play the spoiler. Meanwhile, KC has plenty to play for.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I don't know who they're going to play.

What I do know is that the Pats are going to have to beat some good teams, that they won't match up ideally against all of them and that you don't win a Lombardi by beating a Gatorade Bucket and a Tackling Dummy.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

"I hate Jets" is OK but too easy these days.

I have to respectfully disagree. The year doesn't go by when hating the JEST is "too easy..." There's no "too..." clause for JEST hate.

Plus, they're the odds-on favorite every off-season, in their own minds....

Oh the memories...

Pennington is better than Brady... why else would he be drafted higher?

ManGenius... he knows all your tricky tricks and boy is he gonna beat your butts now!

Sexy Rexy... he didn't come to the JEST to kiss Bill Belichick's rings, nosiree bob!

The nigh-messianic aura of Geno Smith... and Mark Sanchez...

And running their mouths every year about how our reign over the AFCE is coming to an end...

Every. Damn. Year.

No, they've earned every delicious, satisfying moment of JEST gloating in my book. And even if they haven't, my rational, fairness-loving mind collapses into a singularity of hate when it comes to the JEST.

And that's exactly where such impulses should go, into sports rivalries

 

[Froob]

To not win the Super Bowl in any year when you have Belichick and Brady, especially Brady at age 40, is a failure.

But to not win it in a year where your team is head and shoulders better than the competition is an even bigger failure.

It's Super Bowl or bust for this team. You're kidding yourself if you say otherwise.

NFC champ outta be tough, if we lose to Dallas in the SB it's not a massive failure. However, there's no excuse for us not to make it to Houston.

 

[Froob]

Really?
He beat a solid Cincy team last year.
He played better @Denver than TB12 did (supposedly with a hurt shoulder).
I just looked up his stat line in the AFCDG: 24/37 for 339 (no TD/no Int) and the Steelers were in the thick of the game the entire time.
I think the Steelers play up and down to the level of competition and Ben has tremendous talent around him to be able to challenge us...but I expect TB12 to put up 33+ for the win.

Still only had like 13 pts.

 

[PatsBoy12]

I will stay out of this... seems like every time I root for another team to win to help the Pats, they lose.

I'll take it a step further and say every time I rooted for a particular matchup and we got it . . . it seems like we lost (like the Jets in 2010).

 

[PatsBoy12]

I'm fine with turning any thread into an "I hate Denver" thread.

Also, feel free to go with "I hate Baltimore".

"I hate Jets" is OK but too easy these days.

"I hate Jets" has become just comical at this point. I really didn't hate DEN until they all but handed the SB trophy to Manning in his last season just like Ray Lewis. But BALTIMORE is an organization I hate with all my life. I wish Stevie Smith would not have gone there because I hate him at the moment just because he's a Raven. He belongs in the Hall, but f*ck him right now.