A quick glance at the Patriots ticket exchange this morning showed over a hundred tickets available for tonight’s game, which is a first for this season. Maybe it’s because it’s a late one or maybe because fans have, in the words of Hudson from Aliens, “a bad feeling about this drop“.
Does any of us really know what to expect tonight? It seems like a tall order to expect the Patriots defense to hold the Falcons under 30 points no matter how bad Atlanta’s looked in back-to-back home losses to the Bills and Dolphins. Those poor performances were largely powered by turnovers. In the last three games the Falcons have seven turnovers, but those are fickle as we saw with the 2010 Patriots’ defense who lived off turnovers and helped power the team to a 14-2 season. Then the Jets didn’t have a giveaway in the playoff game and the Pats couldn’t overcome it.
On paper it would appear that the Patriots defense must get a pick or force a fumble if they’re to get the Falcons off track.
Still, I, like most of you I’m sure, am still waiting for the Patriots defense to suddenly come alive. It’s been too many years of good football for the sloppiness and inconsistency to continue. At least that’s what I’m still telling myself. So as much as I want to just resign myself to it being a long night of the Falcons going up and down the field, I can’t bring myself to abandon hope just yet, especially when great football defense can happen even when you think your defense sucks.
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