How About Those Patriots? (Washington: stats, yard, rated)

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Dual threat quarterbacks who can run are flavor of the week in the NFL. Everyone forgets that most have very short careers unless they transform into a pure pocket passer.

Buffalo lost. Tennessee lost. Pittsburgh lost (yay!). Baltimore has a brutal schedule. The next five weeks are going to be very interesting. Hard to believe after the slow start that New England is in the mix to get the first round bye.

Re dual threat quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes is absolutely amazing. Lamar Jackson with the Ravens, DeShaun Watson with Houston and Taysom Hill with New Orleans fit that description too... Old Tom Brady is definitely *not* a dual threat, but somehow he's still winning stacks of games as a pocket passer.

The Bills were 13-3 last year! With the Patriots starting off 2-4, I am thinking no way the Pats are close to the Bills and they don't look like they can get a wild card either. Now, somehow, the Patriots have pulled ahead of the Bills and because so many teams are having trouble in the AFC, at this moment, anyway, they are right in the mix for the AFC lead . Only one team in the AFC has a better record than the Pats, the Titans at 8-3, and they lost their #1 offensive weapon - RB Derrick Henry is out with a broken foot.

I am certainly not counting any chickens yet, but the Patriots are having an interesting season. They still have two games to play versus Buffalo, so they have their chance, but they're going to have to prove they're the strongest team in the division.

[lrfox]

Hard to be upset about where the Pats are after their 2-4 start, but they have a pretty brutal slate of games coming up. Tennessee (still good even without Henry), Buffalo twice, Indy (comparable to the Pats in that they are better than their record indicates), and then Jacksonville. Jacksonville should be a win, the rest of those are going to be hard. Still, it’s hard to be upset about where they are now.

[BostonMike7]

I did not think they would be going into Thanksgiving with a 7-4 record and atop the AFC East

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Hard to be upset about where the Pats are after their 2-4 start, but they have a pretty brutal slate of games coming up. Tennessee (still good even without Henry), Buffalo twice, Indy (comparable to the Pats in that they are better than their record indicates), and then Jacksonville. Jacksonville should be a win, the rest of those are going to be hard. Still, it’s hard to be upset about where they are now.

Stiffer competition ahead for sure. But, the Pats are ascending, and if they belong in the playoffs, they should be able to beat some good teams - it's going to be interesting :-).

[MikePRU]

It will be interesting to see why this season ends up. I'm really enjoying watching the team this year. So, it's fun and entertaining and that's really what's important.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

Stiffer competition ahead for sure. But, the Pats are ascending, and if they belong in the playoffs, they should be able to beat some good teams - it's going to be interesting :-).

Definitely. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching them these past several weeks. And if I'm being honest, I even enjoyed watching the 2-4 version of this year's team better than the playoff-bound (one and done) 2019 team with a TB12 who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. It's been exciting seeing Mac develop. I loved the bills getting thrashed yesterday and I can't wait to see how they fair through this next stretch. If they go 4-2 over the last 6, it should be considered a success (and it should be good enough for a playoff spot).

My predictions (because why not):

• Titans: (W) 24-13
• Bills: (W) 31-24
• Colts: (L) 19-31
• Bills: (L) 31-35
• Jags: (W) 21-3
• Dolphins: (W) 38-7

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Definitely. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching them these past several weeks. And if I'm being honest, I even enjoyed watching the 2-4 version of this year's team better than the playoff-bound (one and done) 2019 team with a TB12 who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. It's been exciting seeing Mac develop. I loved the bills getting thrashed yesterday and I can't wait to see how they fair through this next stretch. If they go 4-2 over the last 6, it should be considered a success (and it should be good enough for a playoff spot).

My predictions (because why not):

• Titans: (W) 24-13
• Bills: (W) 31-24
• Colts: (L) 19-31
• Bills: (L) 31-35
• Jags: (W) 21-3
• Dolphins: (W) 38-7

Well you got the 13 points for the Titans right! As usual, there are some asterisks here - the Titans were without their top running back and their two top wide receivers; the Patriots had numerous trips to the red zone that ended in field goals instead of TDs. Still, there were a lot of trips to the red zone and they won 36-13, their 6th straight win to reach 8-4. I think people have to acknowledge that the Patriots are playing really well and they look like a playoff team right now. The defense is arguably outplaying the offense, and the running game has been just as important as the passing game - they have balance.

[OutdoorLover]

Per StatMuse on Twitter - the Patriots' average margin of victory over their 6-game win streak has been nearly 25 points.

https://twitter.com/statmuse/status/1465081598752137219

[masssachoicetts]

In Hartford this week every store was stocked with Pats merch.. it was going rather quick too.

[GeoffD]

I’ll take it. The game was way closer than the final score. The Patriots run defense looked like 2020 much of the time. The MNF game @ Buffalo is huge.