PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Mike Dussault

Patriots vs. Titans 2017 AFCDG

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuTxtPYnrOs

After the Tennessee Titans miracle comeback against the Chiefs, and the Jaguars snoozefest win over the Bills, the Patriots will face the Titans in the AFC Divisional Game next Saturday night at 8:15pm EST.

The two teams haven’t met in the playoffs since 2003, when Tom Brady took down league Co-MVP Steve McNair’s team in the divisional round as well. It was a nail-biting 17-14 win in arctic temperatures, reminiscent of the weather in New England the last couple weeks. Luckily the forecast doesn’t appear to be quite so frigid this time around.

Since that playoff game the two teams have met just four times, with the Pats winning all four by a combined 166 to 52.

Initial impressions? Well, I guess I’m glad it’s not the Chiefs, who had me petrified when they were rolling over the Titans early in the game on Saturday afternoon. Of course we all saw how they fell apart so I guess the Chiefs weren’t the threat I believed they were. They just matched up well and had some talented pieces that could give the Patriots key problems in key areas. But oh well, their season is over and now we have to deal with Marcus Mariota, who made all the plays down the stretch that the Chiefs couldn’t.

We’ll dive more into the matchup this week, but in terms of the big picture the Titans are a below average team in just about every metric. Yes, they’ve got some tough trench players on both sides of the ball. Tight end Delanie Walker led the team with 74 catches, while Derrick Henry had 744 yards rushing. The loss of Demarco Murray to an MCL tear hurt both on the ground (659 yards) and through the air (266 yards).

I know. You don’t want to get overconfident, nor feed the Shank Tomato Can narrative but the Pats should roll in this one as the Titans might be the most overmatched opponent in recent Patriots playoff history. Still, they’re a young team who will play with nothing to lose. Their season has already been made, with their coach picking up another year with the team after their previous upset win.

The Patriots won’t care of course. They’ll lock in on the Titans like they’re an AFC favorite. It may lack some excitement but a playoff game is a playoff game and that’s why we write all them blogs. Let’s do our best to get fired up. Yay.

Historical Stat Comparisons for 2017 Patriots

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Upon further review, I’m having a tough time putting this Patriots team in historical context as far as the stats go. One advantage of blogging solely about the Pats for the past decade and keeping detailed stats on each season, is that I’m able to quickly look back and compare how each season stacks up against those that came before it.

2017 feels like a mix of a lot of the bad seasons, but with just enough sprinkling of the good seasons that this year feels totally unpredictable to me.

Let’s dive in on both sides of the ball and try to find some common threads.

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5 Takeaways from ESPN’s Brady-Belichick-Kraft Article

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Last night, Bruce Allen dropped the news that ESPN was about to run a “hit” piece on the Patriots this morning that dove into growing tension between Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft. Of course Patriots fans went ballistic at the mere mention of this and the internet was ablaze with takes before anyone had even read what was actually written.

Well the article came out this morning and honestly I found it pretty tame and mostly just expounding on what had already been reported locally.

It did contain plenty of interesting details but, after 18 years of the central figures working together, there’s nothing that is all that hard to believe. There are certainly details that left me scratching my head a bit, things that were left out or muddier than I think they needed to be, but overall, I found it more interesting that outrageous, and a reminder of all the moving parts involved with managing a football team, much moreso one that has had such unprecedented success.

Here are the five takeaways that I found most interesting, and what this all means as we enter the playoff bye week.

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The 2017 Bill Belichick Regular Season Hoodie Report

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Hot Jacket, Opening Night Loss to KC

It was a record-breaking year for Bill Belichick and his Hoodie this season. The Hot Jacket, introduced in 2013 and Belichick recent fave, surpassed the infamous Gray Cutoff Hoodie as his most-worn game attire with the Patriots. Yes, Belichick will always be known for that Hoodie, but the truth is that he probably should be known for that short sleeved blue wind breaker just as much.

As soon as Belichick broke the record of games coached in the Hot Jacket, he didn’t wear it again the rest of the season. His record in the two faves are remarkably similar — in the Hot Jacket 43 games played for a record of 33-10, for the infamous Hoodie 42 games played for a 32-10 record. Expect Belichick to continue to add to that total next season in the early warm months.

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How Does Pats’ 2017 Bend-Don’t-Break Defense Stack Up Historically?

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For the last few years I’ve quantified the Patriots maddening-yet-effective Bend-Don’t-Break style of defense as such: Points-per-drive and Turnovers-per-drive measure the “Break” element, while Yards-per-drive and Plays-per-drive measure the “Bend” element. It’s not perfect, but it at least gives me the ability to get a sense of how bendy and breaky each defense of the Bill Belichick era has been.

How does 2017 stack up? Let’s take a look.

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3 Reasons Patriots Will/Won’t Win Super Bowl 52

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As I said on Patshow yesterday, this is one of my favorite football weeks of the year. There’s no official opponent yet so there’s no stress, I can just sit back and watch the Wild Card games and enjoy some playoff football without my stomach in knots. Of course all that changes next week.

Can the Patriots win Super Bowl 52? Of course, but as we’ve seen in every playoff run, they’re going to need to catch some breaks here and there along the way. Maybe even make an impossible play or two. We know the 2017 team pretty well by now, well enough that it’s clear they’re somewhat of an anomaly as far as Patriots teams go. They’ve had some huge injuries this year, but unlike 2013 and 2015, it hasn’t really devastated them.

Those teams couldn’t get by the Broncos in the AFCCG in Denver.

Thee 2017 team still locked up homefield and their three losses are pretty much par for the course of a mostly-healthy season. A couple early season stinkers and a mid-season flat game. Otherwise the Patriots did what it took to win no matter who was hurt or playing. That will be the same approach in the playoffs in a one game scenario where we can throw our “feelings” about how good or bad the team is out the window.

I never in a million years would’ve thought the Pats would find themselves in a 28-3 hole in the Super Bowl, but in that one game situation they did what Bill Belichick’s teams always do, kept fighting and clawed their way back in.

Here are three reasons on both sides of the coin — why they will and why they won’t win the Super Bowl.

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Patshow #119: Jets/Regular Season Wrap, Playoff Preview

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Here’s our latest episode of Patshow! We wrap up the who-cares Jets game and more importantly the regular season and reflect on how we’re feeling about the potential (Kansas) playoff (City) opponents (Chiefs). It’s our 19th episode and the best yet! We think…