PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

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Remember all those obituaries that were written on behalf of the Patriots about three weeks ago, after they fell to 5-3 on the strength of back to back losses to the Steelers and the Giants? Never mind.

New England fell behind Philly 10-0 on Sunday, then blew the doors off the Eagles, scoring 38 of the game’s final 48 points. The Patriots are suddenly a very strong-looking 8-3, will be favored in all five of their remaining games and seem a great bet to cruise to one of the AFC’s top two seeds, if not the No. 1 slot.

New England is a tough, resilient bunch, and it has seen it all by now and isn’t scared easily. The Patriots may not make it all the way to the Super Bowl in Indianapolis this season, but in an AFC that looks devoid of greatness, I like their chances as much anyone’s.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/don_banks/11/27/week.12/index.html#ixzz1f1dg0r6r

Don Banks

https://www.patspropaganda.com/remember-all-those-obituaries-that-were-written-on/

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Brady climbs Mount Montana. I remember a few years ago Tom Brady’s father telling me how significant it was that his son had won the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award. Young Tom, he said, would come home from school on Thursdays in the fall and look for SI to read about his 49ers and his quarterback, Joe Montana.

On Sunday, Brady caught his ex-idol, winning his 133rd game (regular-season and playoffs), matching Montana’s career number. Brady did it at 34. Montana won his 133rd at 38. So there’s time to stretch the record off into the distance. Doesn’t that seem … premature? Or strange that Brady’s caught him with so much time left to play? I suspected, even four and five years ago, that Brady might one day catch Montana on the wins and stats list. Just seems odd to be here already, but here we are.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/peter_king/11/27/week.12/index.html#ixzz1f1c9YWzM

Peter King

https://www.patspropaganda.com/brady-climbs-mount-montana-i-remember-a-few-years/

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxAIV3twgKg

Patriots – Eagles Highlights

I’ve got to admit I thought this game was going to be a lot closer than it was. I guess I’ve gotten used to every quarterback good or bad keeping their team in the game against us over the past few years. But it looks like the times are a-changin. Finally the Patriots are starting to beat down teams they should beat down, and they’re doing it with another set of castoffs in the secondary just like the days of 2004-2006.

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)

https://www.patspropaganda.com/patriots-eagles-highlights-ive-got-to-admit-i/

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Good morning and happy victory Monday! Looking forward to hearing the TFB and BB radio spots. Should be chatty after the W.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/good-morning-and-happy-victory-monday-looking/

Patriots steamroll undermanned Eagles

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There aren’t going to be any big chances for the Patriots to have a WOW win in the remaining 5 games, most of them will be against a cast of back ups and never will-be’s just like Sunday’s win over the Eagles.

We’re just going to have to accept the fact that we’ll probably head into the divisional weekend without having played a significant game in nearly two months. Regardless of the competition there is still improvement that needs to come, and the specific areas I’d like to see that done is:

  1. Short-to-intermediate passing defense
  2. Inability to beat tight man press coverage

Teams will undoubtedly target both areas of weakness for the Pats over the final five games, especially when we see Buffalo/Miami (short passing game extraordinares) and Denver/Miami/Washington (pass rushers/cover corners to play tight man).

Otherwise it seems like the ‘11 Pats are really starting to come together right now. If you put aside the defensive debacle in Pittsburgh (again, a game we were dominated in and only lost by 12) the defense has been very much solid. 

They’ve proved that they can stop the run in the 4-3 base front for the first time since the early BB years. In recent years it was the 3-4 that was the go-to against run-heavy teams. While the 3-4 is still being worked in occasionally it’s been a whole lot of 4-3 this year.

In the middle portion of the season the Patriots defense has been near elite on third down, and extremely tough in the red zone. Unlike 2010 they no longer have had to rely on an insanely positive turnover ratio. They’ve gotten stops when they’ve needed to, and when they’ve had their backs against the wall.

They’ve won on the road, and they’ve lost at home. They have a nice mix of veterans and youth and should benefit from some key players returning from injury. Overall, if they can get healthy, this seems like the best mix the Pats have had since 2007 to make a serious Super Bowl run.

Offensively the Pats seem to have broken out of their mid-season funk, as they consistently moved the ball on the Eagles. This is a professional football offense run with extraordinary precision. What they may lack in vertical speed they make up for with the most savvy wide receivers Brady’s ever had in Welker and Branch, and two versatile tight ends. When the Pats go to their favored personnel of Branch, Welker, Hernandez and Gronkowski they are equally lethal on the ground or through the air.

Could they suffer another clunky performance like they’ve had in their last two playoff losses? We’ve seen it happen, but even in their three losses the Patriots were competitive.

Slowly the defense has improved and are playing good fundamental football. Even when they give up completions they consistently make the tackles without much, if any, YAC. They’re getting pressure from Mark Anderson and Andre Carter that they haven’t had since 2007.

We might be in a holding pattern for the next month as the rest of the field falls out, but the Patriots look primed to again have home field advantage and perhaps the defense necessary to get them their first playoff win since January 2008.