Patriots Pregame Thread Week 8 pregame: Pats @ Miami

[sb1]

Everybody's laughin' at my post, but says here that a 9-8 record would give them around a 9% chance of winning the AFC East... SO THERE! (a 9-8 record also gives them an overall 39% chance of making the playoffs from any seeding placement, which is the more important piece)

I'll have to dig into what bizarro world scenario has to occur for the Patriots to finish 6-11 and end up as the 3 seed.

I think they might need a little bit of help in that scenario. Could be wrong though.

 

[RIpats88]

Mostert and hill hurt.

Hate injuries but that makes a huge difference in this game. Very winnable now

Pats could be 6-5 in 4 weeks if last week was the start of something

 

[italian pat patriot]

I think it will be a very tough game BUT if we should repeat the Buffalo game and win...this season could be again interesting

 

[PATS16N0]

Gut feeling says Patriots win this game and Jets, Bills and Miami fans collectively

since it happened forever and it’s not still supposed to be happening now.

 

[Thelonious]

Our defense is 25th in Points Allowed. While we have played some very good teams, these stats are a little worrisome as we face an offense as rich in playmakers as Miami's. While they have had their glitches on offense of late, they are still very explosive. The weak spot is the O-line, so it may be that going after Tua aggressively could even things up, on the theory that with this team its potentially easier to stop the thrower than the catchers. Has Tua yet been really tested with heavy pressure? I don't know their record very well. We have not been in the habit of thinking such things, but in this game the opponent may well have the better head coach, certainly with respect to offense. The real point of competition in coaching, though, is O'Brien/McDaniel, not Belichick/McDaniel. BO'B had a great game last week. It'd really help if we could see something like that this time 'round. Unless the game is a quickie blowout (almost certainly by Miami if by anybody), the game should be very interesting, even of the outcome is a disappointment. If the Pats lose, we can console ourselves by contemplating their climbing draft position.

 

[denverpatsfan]

Tua has beaten this team with a worse supporting cast. They better finally figure out how to stop him.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Tua has beaten this team with a worse supporting cast. They better finally figure out how to stop him.

It hasn’t really been stopping tua thats been the problem. If you look at his #s vs us they are quite pedestrian. The issue has mostly been our offense, for whatever reason we never put up points on that team. Even last year against skylar Thompson we needed a pick 6 to top the 20 mark.

 

[slash83]

It’ll be interesting if Hill missed two days in a row of practice

 

[PatsFan2]

It’ll be interesting if Hill missed two days in a row of practice

IF Hill doesn't go and Mac have a repeat of last game we are winning this one comfortably. We would just have to double Waddle now.

 

[Sicilian]

Our defense is 25th in Points Allowed. While we have played some very good teams, these stats are a little worrisome as we face an offense as rich in playmakers as Miami's. While they have had their glitches on offense of late, they are still very explosive. The weak spot is the O-line, so it may be that going after Tua aggressively could even things up, on the theory that with this team its potentially easier to stop the thrower than the catchers. Has Tua yet been really tested with heavy pressure? I don't know their record very well. We have not been in the habit of thinking such things, but in this game the opponent may well have the better head coach, certainly with respect to offense. The real point of competition in coaching, though, is O'Brien/McDaniel, not Belichick/McDaniel. BO'B had a great game last week. It'd really help if we could see something like that this time 'round. Unless the game is a quickie blowout (almost certainly by Miami if by anybody), the game should be very interesting, even of the outcome is a disappointment. If the Pats lose, we can console ourselves by contemplating their climbing draft position.

Well, the defense hasn't given up 25 points per game, as the offense has given up multiple scores. But even still, they've played:

Philly - Averages 26.6, Pats gave up 25
Miami - Averages 34.3, Pats gave up 24
Jets - Averages 18.8, Pats gave up 10
Dallas - Averages 25.5, Pats gave up 38 (only 31 on the defense, but still worse than average)
Saints - Averages 19, Pats gave up 34 (REALLY bad)
Raiders - Averages 16, Pats gave up 21 (2 on a safety)
Bills - Averages 28.3, Pats gave up 25

So outside of that three game stretch where things looked like they were falling apart, they've been holding teams under their season average. With the injuries they've had thus far, I don't think that's all that worrisome. This game in Miami (depending on the health of Tyreek and Mostert) always has the potential to skew the other way though, so we'll see how it goes the rest of the way.

 

[PatsFan2]

Tua has beaten this team with a worse supporting cast. They better finally figure out how to stop him.

Our Playoffs life is on life support other tan KC - Baltimore and a heathy Miami everybody else is still in it. We just have to keep winning most of our head to heads.

 

[PatsFan2]

So is Juju now out of the concussing protocol why?? C'mon Juju take the Month off I don't want that guy on the Field.

 

[Patsfan1958]

 

[Triumph]

Tyreek Out?

finheaven.com

 

[venecol]

IF Hill doesn't go and Mac have a repeat of last game we are winning this one comfortably. We would just have to double Waddle now.

Lol, the last time we won comfortably in Miami was in 2019 w/ Brady passing to AB and White + couple of pick 6s, etc.

Since then: current line -9.5
L 12-22 (-10)
L 24-33 (-9)
L 7-20 (-13)

I'm conflicted on this one. Miami is beat up, the weather (humidity) has been mild, Pats coming off a great win against div. rival, etc. OTOH, its in Miami. I truly don't have any idea how this one goes. I want to believe Pats win this one but I just don't know. I put $75k on Pats ML in the Casino, so **** it.

 

[PatsFan2]

Mind games play Him please so we can Tackle him on that hip to test it out.

 

[Rob0729]

Usually if you are announcing that a player is a game time decision on Thursday for a Sunday game, it is doubtful he will play and the team is just hoping he will recover fast enough to play.

 

[Jim Beankie]

Our Playoffs life is on life support other tan KC - Baltimore and a heathy Miami everybody else is still in it. We just have to keep winning most of our head to heads.

Appreciate the optimism, but even after the Bills win, the Pats are still in the "No pulse for 5 minutes - life after death floating above the body debating whether to go to the light or back to Earth for unfinished business" stage. At least now the soul is contemplating going back to the body.

 

[Ross12]

Gut feeling says Patriots win this game and Jets, Bills and Miami fans collectively

since it happened forever and it’s not still supposed to be happening now.

If the Pats win, the rest of the division will definitely start looking over their shoulders a bit...

Remaining schedules for Bills and Dolphins, with typical consensus "contender" teams in bold:

Patriots remaining games: Commanders, Colts, Giants, Chargers, Steelers, Chiefs, Broncos, Bills, Jets
Dolphins remaining games: Chiefs, Raiders, Jets, Commanders, Titans, Jets, Cowboys, Ravens, Bills
Bills remaining games: Bucs, Bengals, Broncos, Jets, Eagles, Chiefs, Cowboys, Chargers, Patriots, Dolphins

 

[Jim Beankie]

If he's really borderline as far as health is concerned, I might actually prefer that he play and bump him into oblivion, as Tyreek might a shell of his real self. There might also be the unfortunate case of exacerbating the injury, which mob bosses might say would be quite unfortunate if it happened.