What I hope is that the team doesn't have the mentality of just sliding by when the Pats lose. I want this team to believe they can get the 13 or so wins it takes to win the division, including trying to go out and sweep the Patriots. They are hungry for that division title, and to win in the toughest division so far is by winning as many games as possible. Ignore what the Pats do, just win.
what's funny is I actually heard during a recap this evening that the Bills would have to wait until after the Pats game to see if they are gonna share the lead or not...
They are having a lot of things go there way. They beat a flawed Falcons team (I really think that team has major issues) and 3 other mediocre/bad teams. Teams with a pass rush will expose them.
while I agree on the first 3 wins, last night was a good win for the Patsies. flawed or not, the Falcons are very good at home. the Pats played really good defense last night. gotta give em credit. Talib looked really good last night.
Didn't seem to hurt them last night. I've come to the conclusion that the Pats are going to be one of the elite teams in the NFL until Brady either gets a career ending injury or retires.
well, that's probably the only good thing about us not playing them for a few more weeks. While they unfortunately may get healthier with Gronk and Amendola, we hopefully have Wake back healthy plus Jordan with more playing time to improve.
Well...that's why we play each other twice a year. Guess we are going to have to drink their milkshake.
that will definitely hurt them as the season goes on. Wilfork is the centerpiece of that defense (along with Talib).
Yep, he's damn good. He can make anyone coming off the street catch touchdowns for him, it's pretty telling of just how good Brady is when he makes the biggest scrubs look like NFL talent. And he's going to get some pieces back soon in that offense.
Last night made last week's win against the Falcon's not look so good. But check out the Colts and the Browns. Beating those teams on the road looks like a great accomplishment. Also after tonight the next two Dolphins games are against the Ravens and Bills. Who had a pathetic slapfight yesterday in Orchard Park. 5 INTs Flacco? Way earn that new contract.
Still think he is a major product of a system too. Look what Matt Cassel did in his year as the Pats starter and every year since.
How so? The Falcons losses, at least to this point right now, are to teams that are a combined 10-0. Even at 1-3, I think the Falcons are a team that has hope for making the playoffs. They play the Jets at home next Monday night, and they can get back on track. There are a lot of 1-3 and 0-4 teams that have no chance, and really, there's probably some 2-2 teams that don't have much chance. The Falcons aren't one of those teams. At the end of the year, I bet the Falcons win by the Dolphins looks like a good one.
I should have clarified. The Patriots were far more impressive on the road beating the Falcons than the Dolphins at home. And that's without their top 2 receivers. Matty Ice has showed that's not quite that Ice after all and when it comes down to it the Falcons can't seem to come back or put teams away like they used to. The Patriots Defense looks pretty good right now. Hopefully losing Wilfork will hurt them a bit.
It's not just the AFC East though. It's the entire AFC. I think I had a discussion with someone about this months ago, someone mentioned that the AFC was ridiculously weak and I couldn't see that at all. It starts with the Patriots, even though they're not the best team in the AFC. I realize that all off season with the distractions, the Aaron Hernandez thing, letting Welker walk, Gronk's injury, making some shall way say interesting (?) choices at wide receiver during the draft...everyone wanted to say they were Done with a capital "D". The AFC East is up for grabs, the Patriots are a 9-7 type of team, etc. I just did not see that. Everyone got way too distracted by the receivers and didn't pay enough attention to how much they'd been sharpening their swords on defense and in the run game. They were already good in those areas and were set to get better, not worse. When you've got a future first ballot Hall of Fame quarterback, you can get away with a lot of things in the receivers. You can afford to wait for younger players to come around or older players to get healthy, ESPECIALLY when you're supported by tailbacks gaining 4.75 yards per carry versus a league average for tailbacks that is somewhere under 4.0 yards per carry, and a defense allowing opposing offenses only 12.5 points per game. The Broncos I thought before the season that offense with Peyton throwing to Welker, Demaryius and Decker had a chance to essentially be the 2007 New England Patriots. That was the comparison I kept making to people when they asked. The Colts are good. They're 3-1. They lost a tight one with us that came down a final drive. They beat the 49ers. They lose Dwayne Allen and Vick Ballard and they just keep on rolling. As I said back then, I look up and down the Titans roster and even though I don't like their quarterback, that is a pretty good roster up and down. They're not even getting anything out of Kenny Britt and they still have quality there. The scary thing is it's not like these teams like Baltimore, Cincinnati or Houston have just up and gone away, either. I did not see the Chiefs or Chargers coming. They're better than I thought. The Bills and Jets are better than I thought. Pittsburgh is certainly in serious trouble though. I'd rather play them next week than on December 8th. But then. I'd rather play Baltimore next week than on December 8th so you take what you can get. The AFC is 15-6 against the NFC and even if Miami wins and goes 4-0 tomorrow they're still stuck in a tiebreak with the Chiefs for a wildcard spot. That's insane.
Pats made the plays they had to, Edelman, and Thompkins caught the ball when it mattered. Freakin Brady, it never fails
The Pats will struggle with good teams after losing Wilfork. He's an absolute stud and is irreplaceable. I personally think the Falcons have been overrated since Matt Ryan, a fraud, took over - don't put much stock in that win. I think the Bengals play the Pats very tight and maybe even pull off a win. With Wilfork in, I gave the Bengals little chance. As for the AFC outside the East...really...who cares at this point. The Cardinals went 4-0 to start 2012. We haven't played any division games yet. It's too early for wildcard/playoff seed talk.
I think the Jets looked like we expected them to look yesterday. I think the Titans are very underrated but still the Jets looked completely overmatched and the fact they can't stop committing penalties certainly make them look like the worst team in that division. It nice to see Fitzy back on an NFL field though. I think the Bills are very lucky for the 2 wins they do have. The Ravens did everything they could to lose that game. I have to think the Dolphins would be considered heavy favorites against the Ravens next week, that offense is STR-UGL-ING.
