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Pats Posits: 2017 Just Got Interesting

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There’s just nothing quite like the morning after a Patriots loss. It’s a small and grim view into the future, when the Patriots do finally return to mortal football team status. You can already see how passionately everyone from the national media to opposing fans will line up and pile on one after the other.

Those days aren’t quite here yet but of course everyone who is sick of the Patriots and ready for the NFL power structure to finally lose it’s long-time top dog is more than ready to start testing the waters — to casually float that someday Tom Brady will be done and maybe, just maybe, this was the first game we’ll look back on as the start of the decline.

No one is happier after a Patriots loss than the national media, especially in such a lackluster, injury-plagued season for the league. The Patriots move the dial. And nothing moves the dial for 31 teams like “MAYBE THE PATRIOTS ARE DONE!!!!!”

As a Patriots fan, it can be annoying, but let’s look on the bright side: The Patriots 2017 season just got interesting. Homefield in the AFC will fully at be stake next week in Pittsburgh. There is also a scenario where a 12-4 Patriots team loses out on a tie breaker to the Jaguars for the second seed. Woah.

It’s a jolt to go from probably coasting to the top seed to suddenly staring down the barrel of playing on wild card weekend. But hey, in-season drama and a race to the finish is what makes the regular season interesting.

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Pregame Meal: Thoughts on Injuries, Steelers and Pats’ Battered D

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Another Sunday, another major injury that is a major blow to an NFL desperately in need of young stars. The Eagles losing MVP candidate Carson Wentz alters the landscape of the NFC and once again proves there is no greater opponent during an NFL season than attrition.

The pundits spend all offseason making projections and rankings, and then it all goes out the window as star player after star player go down to season-ending injuries. The Patriots have had it just as bad as anyone, but because they haven’t missed a beat in the win column no one really ever gives them credit. It’s not a new thing, plugging undrafted rookies like Randall Gay in when starters like Ty Law are lost has been happing for over a decade.

But for whatever reason it just seems even worse this year, across the league. Maybe it’s the turf. Maybe it’s the size and speed of the players finally reaching a literal breaking point. For a league that really needs to find their next generation of stars, there does’t really seem to be any way to curb the tide, especially for ACLs.

Yesterday was a stiff reminder how even an MVP-worthy season can be ended in an instant. No one is safe and as the Pats take the field in Miami tonight, I’ll have Suh-Kiko-induced heart palpitations.

Couple notes on where the Pats are now standing…

— The Steelers stole another one last night, making for their third-straight win of three points or less. What scares me about this is that it’s very similar to the 2015 Broncos who just seemed to pull game after game out of their asses despite an inept offense. Pittsburgh’s offense is far from inept, but their defense, one which Tom Brady usually tears apart even when they’re good, has struggled.

As much as I can’t look past tonight’s game in Miami, I can’t help but wonder if the Pats-Broncos narrative of 2015 could play out again. I truly felt the Patriots were better than the 2015 Broncos, but for whatever reason, things just seemed to unfold perfectly in their favor in the two meetings that season. That was a theme for the Broncos that entire season, and maybe this is the year the Steelers have a steel horse shoe up their asses.

Every time NE-PIT play, I expect the Steeler defense to finally have Brady’s number like the Broncos did in 2015. And every time he has his way with them. We’ll worry about the Steelers the moment tonight’s game is over.

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Patriots Gameplan: Week 14 at Dolphins

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Just two weeks ago the Patriots convincingly beat the Dolphins 35-17 and now they’ll travel to Miami for the rematch this weekend where the Monday Night Football betting odds are looking pretty favorable.

As someone who is primarily just rooting against injuries, things are always scary facing a team that has that DGAF attitude. And with the wounds from two weeks ago still fresh, there’s some added anxiety about this one. ‘Keep Suh away from Brady’s knees’ might be my only point of emphasis.

The 2017 Patriots are clicking on all cylinders and if they get through the next four games fully intact from where they are now, including getting Trey Flowers and Kyle Van Noy back to 100 percent, they’re very likely playing in another last-play Super Bowl. Do they have a fatal flaw? Every team does if they don’t play well. This isn’t the most talented front seven the Pats have ever had, but as always, they just make it work.

These final divisional games feel obligatory. Maybe the Pats have a sloppy game and blow it. They’ll lose one of these last four, but everyone expects it would be in Pittsburgh, (if at all).

Here’s the gameplan to get out of Miami with a win, and most hopefully, injury-free.

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Can Rivers or Roethlisberger Finally Knock Off Brady Just Once in Playoffs?

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Philip Rivers and Ben Roethsliberger were both drafted in 2004 and both have gone on to Hall of Fame-worthy careers. But they’re a combined 2-14 against Tom Brady in their respected careers. With the Chargers surging and the Steelers atop the AFC it looks like Brady is on a collision course with one or maybe both of these veteran quarterbacks.

Whether or not Rivers or Roethelisberger can finally knock off Brady should be the defining story of the AFC playoffs. And it might be now or never for both.

Let’s take a closer look at how these two great quarterbacks have fared against the Patriots, and, perhaps more importantly, how Tom Brady has fared against their teams.

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Is Patriots’ Run Defense a Fatal Flaw? — Season Film Review

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While the Patriots defense has been trending up the last few games, I was surprised to see they had fallen from a mid-season 23rd-ranked run defense to 30th in Football Outsider’s DVOA, an analytic that weighs situation and opponent. This is of course about when Dont’a Hightower went on IR, so some drop-off should be expected but it hadn’t been all that glaring to me recently.

If they do have a bad run defense it hasn’t hurt them in the win column. Last week against the Bills they gave up their second-highest yardage total this season (183) and held them to three points. Opening night against the Chiefs (185) remains the highest and only time a team actually ran to victory over New England.

Yardage wise they’re 26th, yards-per-carry they’re 32nd.

So is this a real flaw for the Pats’ defense? Will LeVeon Bell be able to exploit it? Could the Steelers ride that to victory? Miami got a season-low 67 yards on the ground vs. New England and doesn’t look like they’ll do much more this Monday night.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the bigger running plays against and how much impact they had on the game.

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PATSHOW Ep. 116 Pats/Bills Review and Pats/Dolphins Preview

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Here’s today’s episode of Patshow breaking down the Gronk suspension and the Bills win, along with a very special film analyst. Please like us and share!

If you enjoy Patshow and would like to see more of it please give our sponsor links below a click. That’s all it takes and every one helps, and it will help us expand and bring you even more fun content. Thank you!

Today’s Insert of the Week is brought to you by Dr. Scholl’s Athletic Series Running Insoles. My pick was Eric Lee for the second-straight week, showing up big against his former team.

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Electro Breakdown Zone brought to you by Energizer Ultimate Lithium. We were joined by 5-year old Campbell to break down what play sparked the Brady-McDaniels screamfest. http://bit.ly/2zVo6FW
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Pats Posits: Grind It Out Like We Always Do

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The Patriots systematically strangled the Bills on Sunday, once again leaning on Dion Lewis and Rex Burkhead on the ground to take the heat off of Tom Brady. It wasn’t a great 60 minutes, the penalties and sloppiness marred any positive vibes we might’ve had coming off a divisional win.

Now we get to weigh and debate Gronk’s punishment instead of the 10-2 Patriots team that will now play for the division title in Miami on Monday Night Football. Or maybe, if the Bills lose, they’ll already have it. Regardless, the Patriots’ juggernaut roars on and if Gronk has to sit a game (that keeps him away from a certain coach who won’t take his starters out of blowouts ;)) so be it.

As the Patriots’ regular season becomes less consequential with each passing week I’m always amazed how the conversation turns to a pile of bullshit. It becomes less about breaking down the game and more about things like when to take starters out and strength of schedule. Those are the kind of things the pundits will discuss and debate, meanwhile the fact that the Patriots are rolling again despite a bunch of injuries and turnover is just brushed under the rug. Everyone just expects it now, just like I expect to hear talk focusing on questionable minutiae like how good is Bill Belichick really at drafting in the second round. Sigh…

More on all that and the Pats’ 10th win of the season in the Posits.

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