Playoff outlook

[Ross12]

I’m gonna say 10-7 with losses to the Bills x1, Cardinals and Bengals.

 

[UrbanCowboy]

I'm sticking with pre-season 11-6 (the Bears loss really hurts, tho) so...
- W's against the Colts, Jets, Raiders, Vikings (I think Belicik can outwit Cousins), 1 Bills, and Miami
- L's against the Bills, Bengals, Cards

I think Mac settles down. It's really not that crazy. But neither is ending up 6-11.

 

[Sam Bam Cunningham]

For this year, the best thing for the Pats would be to get a top 10 pick and miss out on the playoffs.
Just like the dolphins, bill, rams, chiefs and bears have done...the focus must now be on strengthening both lines with top shelf talent and getting a couple of elite playmakers to help out MAC or whoever the next QB will be.
Making the playoffs and losing in the first round is the worst thing for this team at present...I do not care what BB says.

 

[Calhoun44]

For this year, the best thing for the Pats would be to get a top 10 pick and miss out on the playoffs.
Just like the dolphins, bill, rams, chiefs and bears have done...the focus must now be on strengthening both lines with top shelf talent and getting a couple of elite playmakers to help out MAC or whoever the next QB will be.
Making the playoffs and losing in the first round is the worst thing for this team at present...I do not care what BB says.

I disagree.
The best thing for the Patriots this year is to win out. Not saying it's gonna happen, but since you were making extreme negative points, i figured someone should balance it a bit.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

That is very true but Wilson is absolutely terrible and pissed that game away.

I respect your opinion and you could be right. I just don't see our schedule as that easy when were scraping by teams like the Jets and Pittsburgh and losing to the Bears.

Our two best wins were against Detroit and the Browns and Zappe was a QB for both games. I've seen nothing from Mac Jones all year that gives me any confidense.

We have another game against Miami who keeps getting better, two against Buffalo that were not winning. Raiders, Cardinals and the Vikings on the road which will all be very hard games. We could lose all 6 of those. Maybe we go 2-4, at very best 3-3 IMO. That leaves Bengals, Colts and Jets. Bengals are struggling but that's a good team still with a great offense.

I don't see how we get in the playoffs. We could go 2-4 in division. Those conference games are really important when it comes to a close finish to get into the playoffs.

I hope I'm wrong but I would be surprised.

Our next 2 games are at home vs teams we should beat, bringing us to 6-4 - and you don't see a way for us to get to 9-8? You think we're gonna go 2-5 in our last 7 games? I don't see that happening. Now if we don't win these next 2 games, that's a different story.

 

[Joey007]

Bold prediction:

We beat the Vikings.

Four words: prime time Kirk Cousins

 

[40yrpatsfan]

For this year, the best thing for the Pats would be to get a top 10 pick and miss out on the playoffs.
Just like the dolphins, bill, rams, chiefs and bears have done...the focus must now be on strengthening both lines with top shelf talent and getting a couple of elite playmakers to help out MAC or whoever the next QB will be.
Making the playoffs and losing in the first round is the worst thing for this team at present...I do not care what BB says.

That's a valid argument on paper, but playoff experience counts for something too. Assuming we win these next 2 games at home (a big assumption, granted), our record will be in the top 7 and our odds of making the playoffs will probably be 70%. All our competitors for WC slots are at least as flawed, with schedules at least as difficult.

Not only that, but the Bills will get the #1 seed and won't play in the WC round, and if we can get the middle seed of the 3 WC teams, which is very possible, we could then face Tennessee in the 1st round, a possible playoff win. After that we'd have to face the music at either Buffalo or KC, who are obviously better teams this year. However, KC could get upset by say the Chargers in the WC round, and conceivably we could face Miami or Baltimore in the 2nd round.

So, there's a path to the AFC Championship game - stranger things have happened - and you know BB is thinking that way.

 

[Triumph]

I’m gonna say 10-7 with losses to the Bills x1, Cardinals and Bengals.

I believe the Patriots are a bad match up for the Bengals.

Pats secondary can definitely hang with the Bengals WRs. Im not sold on Murray and the Cardinals either.

 

[FCB02062]

Maybe this year the Pats could be that "hot team" going into the playoffs. Not necessarily a team winning a bunch of games, 6, 7 in a row, but a team winning their last 3 or 4 must win games and building momentum right into the playoffs. Mind you, this includes a win at Buffalo the final week, which could require a "Stephen Jackson Game" from McDermott....

 

[Triumph]

@Ian predicted Pats go 13-4. There's still a chance.

The Bears game derailed him.

 

[Triumph]

That was assuming they'd pick up where they left off and take a step forward this season. Now I think there's a better chance of me winning the Powerball than that happening, which, I suppose would help me get over it

If you win the Jackpot we will see you sitting with the Krafts and Bon Jovi.

 

[jdlboot14]

We have a better chance beating the Bengals than the Vikings. What's worse is the schedule makers did us no favors by giving us the Bills on a Thurs after Thanksgiving - which would have had us on a full week, but Bills on 4 days... except they also have the Bills playing on T-day. That could have been a great advantage. We'll likely lose those 2 before we go West and play AZ & LV - which we should win both. That could make us 8-6 going into the last 3. I believe (counting on steady improvement) we could beat Cin & Mia at home. Which could have us at 10-6 going into the final matchup with the Bills. Which sounds like an obvious loss, unless they rest starters. But if we're 9-7 on the bubble for the playoffs, I bet Bills would play everyone to beat us especially if they have secured the bye.

 

[mike_usagisan]

We have a better chance beating the Bengals than the Vikings. What's worse is the schedule makers did us no favors by giving us the Bills on a Thurs after Thanksgiving - which would have had us on a full week, but Bills on 4 days... except they also have the Bills playing on T-day. That could have been a great advantage. We'll likely lose those 2 before we go West and play AZ & LV - which we should win both. That could make us 8-6 going into the last 3. I believe (counting on steady improvement) we could beat Cin & Mia at home. Which could have us at 10-6 going into the final matchup with the Bills. Which sounds like an obvious loss, unless they rest starters. But if we're 9-7 on the bubble for the playoffs, I bet Bills would play everyone to beat us especially if they have secured the bye.

Remember, LV and McDaniels will play us really hard. Those former coordinator games are always a nightmare for us.

 

[jdlboot14]

Remember, LV and McDaniels will play us really hard. Those former coordinator games are always a nightmare for us.

True, it does sorta scare me. But I think BB and MP will be pretty intent on not letting JMD best them again like in Denver 09

 

[Ian]

If you win the Jackpot we will see you sitting with the Krafts and Bon Jovi.

LOL, no, but if I was to win, you - and everyone else in here - would be sitting with me in one of the luxury boxes during every home game between now and however long all of us live.

 

[PatsFan2]

LOL, I looked at it with the normal outlook you'd have in June before all the other issues popped up. Is what it is at this point.

Hard to say. In the entry & post I wrote, I had them losing in Minnesota just on a whim because they tend to lose odd ones like that, but now the Vikings are actually a pretty good team. I feel like they have a shot against Buffalo, based on if Mac takes a step forward. But they're going to need to start stringing some good performances together to be able to do that.

After that, I still don't feel great about Vegas just due to the history against ex-coaches, regardless of how bad things have been there, and I still feel like they'll potentially lose the finale in Buffalo. So I guess I would list it this way:

vs Indy - Win
vs Jets - Win
at Min - Lose
vs Buf - Win (on a crazy night at Gillette)
at AZ - Win
at LAS - Lose
vs Cincy - Win (if they're playing relatively well by then, because they're at home)
vs Mia - Win (again, same reasoning - see above)
at Buf - Lose

Finish 6-3 | Final Record 10-7

But man...that's hoping everything goes right. So who knows.

That's very possible, Ian, because they are some underachieving Teams in the AFC like the Bengals and Chargers both could miss out if they keep playing the way they are. That said Mac would have to do a complete 360 in his recent performance. What's the old saying "that's why they play the games".

 

[venecol]

In the last 3 seasons the Patriots have a .353% (6-11) winning % in the months of December & January. This Dec/Jan they face:

BUF (6-1) on TNF after a TNF road game, so no mini-bye.
@ARI (3-5) on MNF mini bye.
@LV (2-5) on a short week.
CIN (4-4) on Sat, another short week after b2b WC road trips.
MIA (5-3)
@BUF (6-1)

3 road games (2 b2b) and 3 home games (2 b2b) and 3 Div games against a combined 26-19 teams.

Not too hopeful.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

In the last 3 seasons the Patriots have a .353% (6-11) winning % in the months of December & January. This Dec/Jan they face:

BUF (6-1) on TNF after a TNF road game, so no mini-bye.
@ARI (3-5) on MNF mini bye.
@LV (2-5) on a short week.
CIN (4-4) on Sat, another short week after b2b WC road trips.
MIA (5-3)
@BUF (6-1)

3 road games (2 b2b) and 3 home games (2 b2b) and 3 Div games against a combined 26-19 teams.

Not too hopeful.

I expect us to go 3-3.

 

[Ross12]

I believe the Patriots are a bad match up for the Bengals.

Pats secondary can definitely hang with the Bengals WRs. Im not sold on Murray and the Cardinals either.

I can understand that thought process. I feel like the team will drop one NFC game and landed on Arizona. The Vikings are better but with it being a short week, I am putting my money on Bill to have a better gameplan/prep. Plus they have a bye week the week before the Vikings game, and the game before it is the Jets, where they can probably lean on their learnings from the Jets game only two games prior a bit.

Out of the AFC games, I don't think they'll lose to the Colts and they'll beat the Jets again after just recently dismantling Wilson. I think they'll handle McDaniels and the Raiders kind of suck tbh, and I do feel like they'll be able to get one against Miami at home in January, and Buffalo may rest their starters in the final week so that could be a win. So I ended up landing on a loss against Arizona and Cincinnati but it could certainly work out differently.

 

[Water Boy]

I have reservations with every game left on the schedule:

BUF- head and shoulders better than us and should easily spank us twice
LV - BB does horrible against former coordinators
INDY - Reich has owned BB
MIA - just don't play well against them
NYJ - a split is not out of the question
ARI - mobile play making QB
MIN - I don't respect them much, but they are the better team on paper