PatsPropaganda

Will!? I can’t say “will”, but I will say “could”. If the stinky early season Patriots show up to any of these games I could see them going down:

@ Colts: This is not what any Patriots fan wants to hear but the Colts are always tough at home even if they’ve stunk to start this year I think they’re better than they’ve shone. Their rookie DL are playing well against the run. They have talent. And they’ve put together a lot of comebacks. So I’m definitely not writing off the Colts yet as much as I want to hang 60 on them.

Jets: If this game was in New York at this point I’d be more worried about it. It will be closer than many might expect. But I think this one is a near-lock for the Pats. Not a total lock though with that Jets defense. Fitzpatrick would just have to have a mistake-free game in him.

@ Giants: Hard to believe we haven’t beaten the Giants since the 2007 16-0 game. So I can’t just writing them off as another win. Eli always has some magic against us somehow.

@ Broncos: Forget what we think we know about Peyton Manning and instead focus on a team with maybe the best defense in the league and a smart quarterback who might not be as unstoppable as he once was but is more than capable of putting together a winning game on offense.

Eagles: This one will be fascinating from a scheme aspect, but I think the Patriots’ defense is well-equipped to match the pace of the Eagles offense. Still, they’ll have a unique way to attack the Pats.

@ Jets/ @ Dolphins – These games might mean nothing (and probably the Dolphins one will) but there’s always a chance the Pats need at least one of them and neither place is ever a total slam dunk. Hopefully they mean nothing and it doesn’t matter. But I wouldn’t want to need two wins the last two weeks.

I’ll also add that really any week they “could” lose. We’ve seen it plenty of times over the years that teams like the 2013 Browns or 2009 Dolphins just come in on fire and getting all the bounces and the game goes down to the end. The ones above are just the obvious ones that could give the Patriots matchup problems.

The next two games are somewhat critical to Dobson because LaFell could return Week 7 vs. the Jets. Last week we saw them work Keshawn Martin in a little bit, I’m not sure if that’s a reflection on Dobson or just the overall attempt to get a look at the lower end roster guys against the Jags.

But I think the experimentation will subside against the Cowboys and Colts on the road and that means Dobson should once again be a starter. So far this season Dobson has done nothing to make me think he’s anything different than what I thought he was – an average receiver with better than average size. You’re right – he doesn’t really make plays after the catch. Most of the time he’s catching the ball with his body and going to the ground afterwards.

He had a good game against the Bills just by making the catches he was supposed to make. But has he really ever done anything to make you go “wow”? I can think of plays by LaFell/Edelman/Amendola over and over the last couple seasons that have.

So while I’m not closing the book on him entirely these next two games might be his last chance to really show he can do something dynamic.

I’m not really as worried about corner as a lot of people out there. Seems like everyone is projecting trades for corners and BB keeps trading for every position but that one. I’ve even had some asking me if we’re going to trade for a #1 corner so Butler can slide back to the #2 role.

I think Butler and Tarrell Brown are fine as the top two corners. I do have concerns about the slot spot – Bradley Fletcher is probably done, Logan Ryan is inconsistent at best and while Justin Coleman looked okay in his premiere, he’s still a rookie who doesn’t look quite ready to lock down the slot going forward.

But for me it just goes back to the front seven because if they’re dominating like they should, the deficiencies at the slot corner spot will be covered. You just can’t have an all-star at every position. I highly doubt we’re going to end this season thinking if we had only had a great third corner we would’ve won the Super Bowl.