Sluggish Starts to Seasons = The Norm....

[AFPatsFan12]

2001 -- Patriots start the season 5-5, and catch their wind after the Sunday night St. Louis lost, when Brady is officially announced the starter.

2002 -- Pats start 3-0, destroying Pittsburgh and the Jets, sneaking by KC before losing 4 straight. (Their second best season start results in their worst season finish in the 5 year stretch).

2003 -- Pats start 2-2, including a seemingly season crushing 31-0 opening day loss at Buffalo, and a very poor 20-17 loss in Washington.

2004 -- Pats start 6-0, but looked pretty unimpressive early, including a listless 23-12 win in Arizona, a pedestrian win in Buffalo, and a win at home against the putrid Dolphins, where #12 threw for 80 something yards.

2005 -- Pats start 4-4 amidst a rash of injuries, and a brutally difficult schedule.

Look, I understand it's foolhardy to base future expectations purely on the past, but it IS a fact that, under BB, this team typically starts out exceedingly slowly. There is that "learning the system" growth period. Obviously, this is, at the moment, a flawed team, but if CJ gets back into the lineup, and as Gabriel acclimates himself with the offense, #12 should come around. 3-2 at the bye, including 3-0 in the division, wouldn't be a terrible disappointment.

Also remember this in regards to New England's WR corps (or lack thereof): A lot of people didn't think Rodney Harrison could come in and learn this system to replace Lawyer Milloy. That's obviously ridiculous in retrospect, and I'd say that worked out fairly well, wouldn't you?

 

[MDPATSFAN]

Sorry..but if the team can't execute football fundamentals like tackling...playing together isn't going to fix it. Normally tackling is learned at the High School level.

 

[mdhprime]

I have to agree. The Patriots have shown in the past that they make most of their mistakes early in the season and begin to resolve them after a few weeks. A loss or seems to spur them on and result in a nice run of wins. Let's hope that they are even more determined to play better against the Bengals next week. They have the talent, they just need to put it all together and play better.

 

[chunkypony]

I don't understand how this loss can be considered any but how the loss against Pittsburgh in 2004 (I actually think it was later than week 3) when we got destroyed and everyone called us "D-U-N Done". We destroyed Pittsburgh in the playoffs and won the Super Bowl. We have to deal with this loss as it was and move on. We WERE NOT going to go undefeated.

 

[Bargod]

I think we're going to see a lot more of Doug Gabriel. Not so much based on last night's game but given his value as a wide out. Honestly I'm surprised Oakland let him go. I was thinking in terms of the month of September is Gabriel's training camp. Brady was counting on Branch to come back and never thought he'd have to sync up with a whole new corp of receivers. They just need a little time to gel. I know next week will be tough. I knew it would be when I saw the schedule. Look at it this way. 2-1 for September. If they can go 3-1 for October they will be OK. I can't say the same for the rest of the AFC east.