It’s been hard to get a moment to actually gather my thoughts about yesterday’s win until this point. Of course I’ve woken up to a world where the Patriots have the best record in the NFL and anyone who hasn’t anointed them Super Bowl favorites is getting hammered by many of my fellow Pats fans.
While I’m excited to be sitting alone in first place in the AFCE there’s still a long road to go, and much improvement to be made. Offensively the Pats are doing just enough to win games, I’m hopeful that they’ll continue to improve because at this point there are definitely times where the defense is carrying the offense. And that’s okay. That’s how good teams work.
But the Pats are still demonstrating some inconsistencies on defense, especially on third down. Yes, the only gave up 4/11 (36%) of their third downs, but they also had 2 costly penalties on third downs that resulted in first downs.
But let’s be honest with ourselves. The Patriots are playing solid football and winning games, but everything the last few games has fallen the Pats way. If one of two plays went the other way the Patriots could easily be 1-2 in their last three.
I’m not trying to downplay how good the Patriots are. But realistically they’re not the dominant team of the NFL. I don’t think there is one of those this year anyway.
Media coverage of the NFL is always about who is number one RIGHT NOW. It’s entirely arbitrary and means little towards who will win the Super Bowl. The Patriots have some talented pieces in place; more talented and cohesive sooner than even I thought they would be.
The rest of the games on the schedule are not going to all go the Patriots way. Surely there will a disappointing loss or two along the way. But this is a team headed in the right direction. And they are winning games the way you need to win games in January. Making plays when they have to, and not beating themselves. This was pretty much the modus operandi of the Super Bowl winning Patriots.
That was the thing about the old Pats. They never really were dominant. They’d beat bad teams in close games. They’d beat good teams in close games. They just always seemed to find a way to pull it out, and it seem like this 2010 team has a touch of that. At least right now they do.
Where the Patriots rank right now doesn’t really matter a lot. All that matters is that they’ve been improving every week and beating good teams. The education of this young team, especially on defense is far from complete. Huge tests lie ahead in Pittsburgh and Indianapolis. By Thanksgiving we’ll really know how good the 2010 Pats can be.
For now, don’t worry about who random media member Joe Blow has atop their power rankings.
