Your Last Wednesday Without Patriots Football This Year

[PatsFanInVa]

This is it, ladies & gentlemen... finally... one week from now... Your New England Patriots square off against the (now)-hated Seattle Seahawks!

Your New England Patriots bandwagon is gassed up and idling. Get your ticket punched, come aboard, and do what we all do... make up
stories about what the game means. Since coaches and players believe in stories too (the good ones at least), the power of our human storytelling habit is now on display.

Win, and it's one very tough out conquered early on, with a shot at a decent performance through that murderer's row at the start of the season.

Lose a close one, and, well, you wouldn't hope for that outcome, but at least you've got (fixable) problems... it'll feel like a level-setting game.

Lose ugly and... well, around here they'll be confiscating belts and shoelaces.

Worse yet, of course, would be any significant injury... so pray for an injury-free first outing.

Get ready, get settled, get psyched, and look into your crystal ball -- what do you see happening?

Me?

I'm thinking...

1. When Seattle has the ball: Methodical, relentless marches downfield, but limited quick strike damage.
Unfortunately, the front 7 remains very much a work in progress. The secondary got a lot of love, and was already a pretty decent unit on paper. Now they're elite, full stop. (despite the chatter, I'm writing these up by what I know right now. I also think it's the null hypothesis/most likely case.)

That said, unless this front 7 instantly gels and overwhelms the Super Bowl champs, we can get used to being run on, gouged in whatever passing opportunities that creates, and unfortunately, beaten at the line of scrimmage. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll answer that bell... but without Kenny Three Sticks in the backfield (Kenneth Walker III) the damage is often containable to TOP imbalances.

They'll score enough to be sad about the D after the game... but Lord willing, we won't be routed.

2. When New England has the ball: Initial sputtering as we probe for the long-ball weakness... then the flying circus.
Your New England Patriots like to probe and like to establish a balanced attack. The run game is potent and potentially explosive. I can see a fair amount of mischief created with the addition of a true fullback. And yes, Maye to Brown and Doubs ("and the rest," as the Gilligan's Island song says,) carries a lot of promise. In fact, call me a homer, but I like to believe Williams comes down with at least one improbable long-ball grab for a score.

Now the question becomes whether the O Line really took a step forward. Can they buy enough time to get those weapons open, or are we looking at an Efton of slot looks? (I know Pop's the go-to guy but I love saying Efton like that.)

And one thing to look for is Drake Maye's release and awareness. We know his arm has been touched by God and his accuracy is ridiculous. But we need him not to pat the ball, not to take sacks when there's a perfectly good sideline to throw the ball out of bounds, and so on.

I think one more summer of QB work will have him adjusting per these observations... but we'll see.

I think we have what it takes to claw back from an early hole -- which I expect us to fall into in the first half, unfortunately.

My wish, not prediction, is that we strike early and silence that crowd. But that won't happen. It's hostile territory.

I think we lose it 38-31 after posting 21 of those points unanswered. One of those "just came up a little short" games.

Okay, you guys' turn.

3.

 

[Bill Lee]

This is it, ladies & gentlemen... finally... one week from now... Your New England Patriots square off against the (now)-hated Seattle Seahawks!

If we are just beginning to hate them then we are a decade behind in terms of hatred, since they've hated us ever since we picked off their beloved Russell Wilson and turned the Legion of Boom into the Legion of Gloom.

 

[UGAPatsfan]

This is it, ladies & gentlemen... finally... one week from now... Your New England Patriots square off against the (now)-hated Seattle Seahawks!

Your New England Patriots bandwagon is gassed up and idling. Get your ticket punched, come aboard, and do what we all do... make up
stories about what the game means. Since coaches and players believe in stories too (the good ones at least), the power of our human storytelling habit is now on display.

Win, and it's one very tough out conquered early on, with a shot at a decent performance through that murderer's row at the start of the season.

Lose a close one, and, well, you wouldn't hope for that outcome, but at least you've got (fixable) problems... it'll feel like a level-setting game.

Lose ugly and... well, around here they'll be confiscating belts and shoelaces.

Worse yet, of course, would be any significant injury... so pray for an injury-free first outing.

Get ready, get settled, get psyched, and look into your crystal ball -- what do you see happening?

Me?

I'm thinking...

1. When Seattle has the ball: Methodical, relentless marches downfield, but limited quick strike damage.
Unfortunately, the front 7 remains very much a work in progress. The secondary got a lot of love, and was already a pretty decent unit on paper. Now they're elite, full stop. (despite the chatter, I'm writing these up by what I know right now. I also think it's the null hypothesis/most likely case.)

That said, unless this front 7 instantly gels and overwhelms the Super Bowl champs, we can get used to being run on, gouged in whatever passing opportunities that creates, and unfortunately, beaten at the line of scrimmage. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll answer that bell... but without Kenny Three Sticks in the backfield (Kenneth Walker III) the damage is often containable to TOP imbalances.

They'll score enough to be sad about the D after the game... but Lord willing, we won't be routed.

2. When New England has the ball: Initial sputtering as we probe for the long-ball weakness... then the flying circus.
Your New England Patriots like to probe and like to establish a balanced attack. The run game is potent and potentially explosive. I can see a fair amount of mischief created with the addition of a true fullback. And yes, Maye to Brown and Doubs ("and the rest," as the Gilligan's Island song says,) carries a lot of promise. In fact, call me a homer, but I like to believe Williams comes down with at least one improbable long-ball grab for a score.

Now the question becomes whether the O Line really took a step forward. Can they buy enough time to get those weapons open, or are we looking at an Efton of slot looks? (I know Pop's the go-to guy but I love saying Efton like that.)

And one thing to look for is Drake Maye's release and awareness. We know his arm has been touched by God and his accuracy is ridiculous. But we need him not to pat the ball, not to take sacks when there's a perfectly good sideline to throw the ball out of bounds, and so on.

I think one more summer of QB work will have him adjusting per these observations... but we'll see.

I think we have what it takes to claw back from an early hole -- which I expect us to fall into in the first half, unfortunately.

My wish, not prediction, is that we strike early and silence that crowd. But that won't happen. It's hostile territory.

I think we lose it 38-31 after posting 21 of those points unanswered. One of those "just came up a little short" games.

Okay, you guys' turn.

3.

All fair. I think the whole season really hinges on both lines. Did they do enough to improve? We’ll soon see.