At least 5 I see them winning. The ones I’m not sure on are Rams and Dolphins. But the rest I see them winning.
I was hesitant to drop the Pats out of the Top 6 in my rankings until their loss to the Bills (it was more about
how they lost), followed by their unimpressive showing vs. the Jets. If we didn’t know any better, one would suspect that Gase was in on the Tank-for-Trevor plan. I never discount the BB effect, as I believe he’s the greatest coach of all time, but I’m suspect of a Cam-lead offense that’s light on weapons.
The Ravens win was impressive, but not all that surprising when you consider:
1) Bill had the benefit of more Lamar tape.
2) The Ravens have struggled offensively this season.
3) The weather was conducive to New England’s strengths, especially considering Baltimore’s injuries on the defensive front and Lamar’s “eh” arm.
All this said, for me, if NE wins the next 2 games, I’m back in on them being potential AFC players/spoilers and will consider potential “Cam brain fog/rust” theories.
Houston’s a bad team that no true playoff contender would lose to at this point in the NFL season, and the Cardinals are legit, boast a dynamic offense, and are coming off of a loss. At 6-5 with games @LAC, @LAR, @MIA, BUF, NYJ — is 4-1 crazy? Not at all.
I think the 3 consecutive road games portion of the schedule would be the true test.
At least 5 I see them winning. The ones I’m not sure on are Rams and Dolphins. But the rest I see them winning.
If the Steelers go 16-0 in this pandemic season I’d have to say it would be the most impressive regular season of all time. I don’t care what their schedule is.
I think 16-0 is impressive in any season. Pats fans saying, “Who have they played?” is exactly the game non-Pats fans played when NE rattled off win after win in the shitty AFC East. And the retort? Division games, especially on the road, are difficult every season, regardless of talent. And they’re even harder when those teams are legitimately in the playoff hunt, as is the case with Baltimore and Cleveland.
I am on the side, however, of the folks who believe that the teams who have HC-QB-offensive continuity this season benefit from a significant competitive advantage. If I was a Pats fan, I’d be especially disappointed that Bill and Tom couldn’t co-exist for 2 more seasons. I firmly believe that a Brady lead NE team this year would have had the Patriots in a similar situation to the Steelers. One loss, max.