Yeah, I guess I'd blocked the Bengals game out. Rough offensively. We were certainly in every game.
Some quick starts would help, though.
Most people have, everyone talks about how we could potentially be 12-1 and look at that game as a sure loss when one drive would have sent it to OT.
I agree that it's misleading to say we suck on the road. You could easily exchange our wins over New Orleans and Cleveland (maybe Denver, though I think without a recovery that one was going for a tie) with the Jets and Panthers losses.
All those games were completely down to the wire, we lost on two bogus calls, won on a questionable one (still had lots of time to win though... and maybe not have to endure the heart-attacking desperation drive by the Browns).
Point is the difference between this team being 13-0 and being 4-10 is ridiculously small (Only "comfortable" wins came against Tampa, Atlanta, Miami, and Pittsburgh, and several of those were still close near the end). I think our team has played equally poorly both home and away, and has displayed a remarkable resolve to fight, claw, and will themselves to victory.
I don't think they need to play "60 minutes" of great football to start winning more convincingly. I believe Pherein mentioned last night the redundancy implied in this statement. Obviously if your team plays well for 60 minutes, they're probably going to win. Even if they are playing well but the defense they're playing is simply better, we look at that and say "They're not playing well enough."
What they DO need to stop is playing poorly for entire quarters and even halves. It is ridiculous to expect a team to put up points on every single drive, just as it is to expect the defense to always generate a three and out or turnover. At this point, any sort of offensive contribution in the first half would be appreciated. If they play well for 60 minutes, they win hands down. If they play well for even 40-45 minutes with that poor play being interspersed, I like our chances.
I'm kind of getting into full on rambling mode here, so I'll circle around to the OP: even with all the injuries, I believe the Patriots have played well below their talent level the past 3 weeks. Given that they have succeeded despite this, are by far the mentally toughest group since the Superbowl era, and are in a conference full of flawed teams, I absolutely believe they can get to the Superbowl this year. I think they will inevitably be underdogs in the match-up, but I dont think any team is a guaranteed loss.
At the end of the day, no team has fought harder for their record than we have. If we get to the dance, I like our chances.
