lovely.
An Obligatory 2007 Patriots – 2010 Patriots Comparison Article
Seems like you can’t look at any Patriots related site today without finding an article comparing the 2007 Pats to the 2010 Pats. Sure, the Patriots offense has been dominant the last few weeks, and any dominant offense has to be measured against the most dominant one ever.
While the two teams have shown some offense fireworks they are completely different. Dominant offenses can take many shapes, and in the grand scheme of football the 2010 offense is more balanced and, for now, harder to defend.
Of course no one will even mention how completely different the defenses of these two teams are. Remember the “old and slow” days? Well now we’re in the “young and inexperienced” days, with a little touch of “hitting the rookie wall”.
I don’t really care about the comparisons. As always, BB has continued to evolve. Once teams figured out the answer to the spread offensive attack revolving around Moss and Welker, BB changed the question again. Now we’re seeing a horizontal passing attack that is peaking and no one can figure out how to stop it. Yet.
No one thought the 2007 Patriots offense could be stopped for a good chunk of time, but as the November and December came their dominance began to fizzle. The difference now is that the 2010 offense is just starting to hit it’s stride.
Lost in the comparison is the biggest lesson of the 2007 season, and that is that the regular season is about progressing and building to a climax in February. The 2007 Patriots just ran out of gas at the end, and that is what this 2010 must avoid.
The 2010 Patriots are far from unbeatable folks. Many of their wins earlier this season were far closer to those of the early dynasty teams than they were the 2007 edition. They just find ways to win games. Continuing to do so when your teams life is on the line is a far more difficult task and not something anyone should just assume.
Let’s remember this is still a young defense, and a good chunk of Patriots players have never experienced the intensity of the playoffs. They will need to raise their level of play again.
Many Patriots fans and pundits are already booking their tickets to Dallas, but there are still many hard battles that must be won if the Patriots are to take the field in Super Bowl 45. Even with the way the offense looks right now, it only takes on bad game, even one bad play, to put an end to the 2010 Patriots.
To quote BB “no matter who we play [in the playoffs] will be pretty good. We’ll need our best football”. Let’s hope their best football is still to come.
Let’s Also Not Forget The Jets Passed the Patriots Back In April
Let’s Also Not Forget The Jets Passed the Patriots Back In April
I get it. It can’t be easy having to write about football all year round when it’s your job and you don’t have the passion of say, an uber-blogger like myself. But why do the mediots write stuff like this?
One of the reasons I do this blogging thang is the huge void of intelligent football analysis out there. Half the people who are paid to write and talk about the game can’t tell you the difference between an X and a Y receiver so they spend their time making stupid predictions based on nothing more than what they see personnel-wise on paper.
Then people like Kellie (aka @NEGrl) dig up articles like this and they look like morons.
Let’s Not Forget the Patriots Dynasty Was Already Declared Dead, Y’all!
Let’s Not Forget the Patriots Dynasty Was Already Declared Dead, Y’all!
Above is a previously depressing/now comical article from Deadspin declaring the Patriots Dynasty D.E.A.D.. I’ve said it many times, until BB and TFB are gone the Patriots will be contenders, it’s just as simple as that.
Ranking the Patriots Potential Playoff Opponents
Of the potential playoff contenders in the AFC, here’s there the order from team I think the Pats matchup best with all the way down to the team I least want to see.
- Jaguars – Brady might not have an incompletion if the Jaguars end up traveling to Foxboro. They’ve had a good season but there’s no way I can see David Garrard taking us down.
- Jets – We all saw what happened last time the Pats played the Jets. When you know a team as closely as BB knows the Jets it’s a lot easier to prepare for them. And we know the Pats would have no trouble getting uber motivated to crush the Jets again. I like this match-up and would feel really confident that Mark Sanchez would have another craptastic day.
- Chiefs – what an interesting match-up this would be! Cassel, Vrabel, Pioli, Crennel and Weis all return to New England to face BB and the Pats? The Chiefs are talented but away from home they’re a different team. Just for nostalgia factor alone I’m rooting for this game to happen. Also because I don’t think the Pats lose to the Chiefs in Foxboro.
- Steelers – It’s strange that every playoff game the Pats have played against the Steelers in the last decade have been in Pittsburgh. But I stick with the notion that the Patriots just know how to beat the Steelers when it counts most. It will just come down to execution.
- Colts – Peyton Manning always scares me. He makes defenses look stupid and Patriots fans everywhere were probably at least 90% sure we were headed to overtime before James Sanders got that interception. The Colts have holes but they know how to play the Patriots and would surely give us a run for the money. Ultimately it would come down to whose defense got that critical stop just like it did in November.
- Ravens – I’m not sure Joe Flacco has that “it” factor just yet. In the game against the Pats he went cold when they needed him most, and anyone who saw last night’s game against the Texans knows their defense is not the shutdown elite one it once was. But if the Ravens can peak they’ll be dangerous, and their three veteran wide receivers could be match up problems. Top to bottom probably the most talented team in the AFC, they just don’t have the qb… yet.
- Chargers – number one offense and number one defense. Yes the Patriots beat them once but that was without Vincent Jackson and it came down to the final play. The Pats would definitely have a big advantage in the cold outdoors of Foxboro. The crazy part is that if the playoffs started today they wouldn’t even be in.
ICE ICE BRADY (stop, collaborate & listen – this is a tremendous yoozer submishun from Richelle Sampson)