FOXBOROUGH \u2013 Off year for Tom Brady and the Patriots? Not just yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If this were Cape Canaveral, it\u2019s still all systems go. If Admiral David Farragut coached the\nPatriots, it\u2019s still damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. If Mark Twain were the Patriot head coach, he\nwould proudly proclaim to you that all the rumours of his death are greatly\nexaggerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In other words, all is still okay with the Patriots. Nothing has changed as January and the new\nyear are just around the corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All the Patriots had to do to lock in the two seed and\nsecure their annual first round playoff bye was to beat the 4-11 Jets at\nhome. That turned out to be no problem\nat all, as the Patriots dispatched the Jets 38-3 on Sunday at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots finished 8-0 at home in 2018,\nTom Brady completed career pass number 6,000, and Bill Belichick stuck it to\nhis former team with a late touchdown that was delightfully unnecessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriots went into this game still alive for the top\nplayoff seed. They needed both Kansas\nCity and the Los Angeles Chargers to lose, but both won. The Chiefs took care of the lowly Oakland\nRaiders, 35-3 at home to clinch the top playoff seed. The Chargers went into Denver and clobbered\nthe Broncos, 23-9. The AFC playoff seeds\nare, in order, Kansas City, New England, Houston, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Indianapolis. The Texans and Ravens, who both won on\nSunday, will host Wild Card games next weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Patriot fans will most likely root for is for both home\nteams to win. Houston would then come to\nFoxborough, and Baltimore would head for Kansas City. The Patriots have always done well against\nthe Texans at home in the playoffs, while Kansas City has had problems winning\nplayoff games, especially at home, since their one and only Super Bowl win in Super\nBowl IV, the last Super Bowl before the merger. \nBaltimore could then come to Foxborough and the Patriots would still get\nthe AFC Championship Game at home. Going\nto Kansas City to play that game could be problematic for the Patriots, and a home\ndate with the Ravens could also be dicey, but that discussion can wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriots head into the postseason with few health issues,\nand their two gimme wins over Buffalo and the Jets went off as expected with no\nsurprises. Devin McCourty saw an\nindependent neurologist during the second half of the game, with no reports at\npress time as to his condition. \nOtherwise, the Patriots sustained no serious injuries, Brady enjoyed a\ncomfortable day at the helm of the offense, the defense seems to be getting\nmore pressure on opposing quarterbacks, and even though beating the Jets at\nhome by five touchdowns is not a major accomplishment, the Jets did not roll\nover and play dead and gave the Patriots their best effort for most of the\ngame. But they are vastly inferior to\nthe Patriots on paper, and Todd Bowles was predictably fired as Jet head coach\nlater Sunday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brady\u2019s numbers were glittering. He finished 24 of 33 passing for 250 yards,\nfour touchdowns, and a passer rating of 133.8. \nJulian Edelman, James White, Phillip Dorsett and Rex Burkhead all caught\ntouchdown passes. Chris Hogan enjoyed\nhis return to offensive relevancy with a team high six catches, while Edelman\nhad 69 yards receiving to lead the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriots as a team had 131 yards rushing and averaged\n4.4 yards per carry. Many of those\nrushes were jet sweeps, which explains why Edelman and Dorsett each had two\ncarries and averaged ten yards per carry between them. Sony Michel only averaged 3.6 yards per carry\nwith 50 rushing yards. Cordarelle\nPatterson missed the game due to injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriot defense forced three fumbles, and sacked rookie\nquarterback Sam Darnold four times. \nDarnold was held to only 167 yards passing and a 74.6 rating. Darnold turned out to be the best running\nback on the Jets, as he had one scramble for 28 yards but Elijah McGuire was\nheld to only 41 yards and a 2.3 average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This game lacked any noteworthy moment or defining element\nother than Brady\u2019s milestone pass completion and the playoff seeding\nramifications. The only portion of the\ngame worth talking about is the final offensive possession of the fourth\nquarter with Brady at quarterback. With\nthe game seemingly secured at 31-3 about midway through the final period, the Patriots\ntook over at the 36 after forcing a three and out by the Jets. Brian Hoyer was expected to take over at this\npoint, but Brady came out instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two of the first three plays were double-digit rushes by\nMichel and Edelman, the latter a jet sweep to the left. On third and four, Edelman ran another jet\nsweep left for a first down. With the\nball at the Jet 27, Burkhead ran for 8 yards, then Dorsett gained 7 yards on a\nbubble screen. After an illegal shift\npenalty on Hogan, White took a dump pass and scampered 12 yards to the Jet\n5. Brady then faked a jet sweep to Edelman\nand found Dorsett all by himself in the end zone. This drive seemed to have \u201cHC of the NYJ\u201d\nwritten all over it. Hoyer should have been\nin at quarterback and the Patriots should have just killed clock. Hoyer did play the rest of the game after\nthis score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Make no mistake, this game was all Patriots. Nothing went wrong for the home team, and the\nJets were easy prey despite not laying down and playing dead like some road\nnon-playoff teams can do at this time of the year. The Jets did in the end \u201cget on the bus\u201d, but\nthey should be commended for playing like professionals all game long until\nthey ran out of gas in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriots now take their perfunctory week off, wait for\ntheir next opponent (which will be the first game on Sunday afternoon, January\n13), and let prep begin and wounds heal. \nThe coaches will start to pore through all film of any prospective\nopponent (which is anyone other than Indianapolis), and all players will nurse\ntheir owies and get physically ready for the playoffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriots head into the playoffs as, if you may have forgotten,\ndefending AFC Champs. The Patriots have\na shot at being the first team since Buffalo to go to three straight Super\nBowls (they went to four straight). But\ntheir immediate focus will be their Divisional opponent. Whatever happens, the Patriots are still only\ntwo wins away from another big show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So rest easy, Patriot Nation. Another year, another bye week. Party carefully Monday night, have a great\n2019, and know that at One Patriot Place, all things are normal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
All is still okay with the Patriots. Nothing has changed as January and the new year are just around the corner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":21148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n