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Pats Posits: One More to Go

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Merry Christmas from the West Coast! It was a unique experience for me yesterday as I was on a plane and left with no better option than listening to the Patriots win over the Bills via the Sports Hub radio stream. It’s been a while since I experienced a game only on the radio, but it was fun to finally get to see the big plays later in the day and I thought Zolak and Socci were fun to listen to.

So here we are, the Pats are 12-3 with one game to go, and really all I see is a pile of negativity everywhere I look. I get it, everyone outside of Patriots Nation is so sick of the Patriots. Now, instead of getting excited post-game it immediately becomes about deflecting that negativity.

Bad calls, the Jimmy G situation and the Alex Guerrero thing are the stories driving the Patriots’ narrative these days. It feels like this was the year that the Patriots finally broke the rest of the NFL. Long gone are the “they haven’t won anything since Spygate,” that was such a reassuring crutch for those who hate the Patriots. Now they’re left with no such crutch.

Wins alone are no longer close to enough for even those in our tribe. Wins are boring now. Wins can’t drive the Patriots’ season narrative because it’s just been so played out. So instead it’s all about the secondary stuff and that’s just so frustrating that here in the last few seasons of Brady we can’t really enjoy a win being a win. Now everyone wants to talk about anything but the wins.

More frustrating is the direction it’s all trending, pointing toward how things will look and sound when the Brady-Belichick era is over. We now know that Jimmy G will be hung around our necks for all time. And it will be even worse if Belichick misfires on the second round pick we got for him. I knew it would be bad for Patriots’ fans in the aftermath of the dynasty as everyone lined up and piled on, but the sneak preview we’re getting now makes me realize it will be even worse than we imagined.

But the good news, that everyone has seemingly forgotten, is again that the Pats will be the top AFC seed with a win over the Jets, the bye is already secure and clearly, the dynasty isn’t over yet as much as everyone outside of our fandom want it to be.

Here are the Posits on the win over Buffalo and even some of the ancillary BS.

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Pats Posits: From Malcolm Go to Ben Don’t Throw!

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There are some games where you have to forget about the analysis and just enjoy the footballing. The Patriots miraculous 27-24 win over the Steelers delivered on every level in that regard. I never thought the “All Hope is Lost” moment could be worse than when the Seahawks were sitting on the two in Super Bowl 49 about to win, but this game was an even more dramatic turn and victory.

No, this wasn’t a Super Bowl, but it was the absolutely the defining game of the 2017 season and easily one of the best regular season games of the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era.

The final moments of the game were a blur. A utter Brady-Gronk domination drive capped off by a Dion Lewis scamper and the Pats had weathered the storm and looked almost assured of locking up homefield. Then….a glaring defensive breakdown of (potentially) season-breaking implications. The Steelers score and retake the lead in TWO PLAYS! Then the call was overturned, a tiny glimmer of hope, but still with the Steelers knocking on the door. A great tackle, an ill-advised attempt at a fake spike which even I saw coming at home. Interception. Pats win.

What!? It all happened so quickly I’m still processing it 12 hours later.

The Patriots now sit firmly in the driver’s seat in the AFC, a spot we’ve been in a lot, but one that never gets old. Breaking down a bunch of thoughts on this huge win in the Posits!

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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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Patriots Gameplan: Week 13 at Buffalo Bills

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The Patriots are back on the road this weekend, in the middle of playing five-of-six away from the friendly confines of Gillette Stadium. Of course when you’re undefeated on the road and haven’t lost there since late in the 2015 season maybe it isn’t such a bad thing.

The Patriots odds for Sundays game are once again unnervingly high.

This is arguably the toughest divisional game remaining this season. Though the Bills stumbled mightily two weeks ago with a sudden decision to yank Tyrod Taylor, Buffalo got back on track with a solid win over the Patriot-defeating Chiefs in Kansas City. That’s never an easy task. A win over the Patriots would put the Bills back in the playoff contender category and we’ve seen plenty of tight ones in Buffalo to expect a good game.

The Patriots’ biggest opponent in recent weeks has been their own injuries. That’s just where we’re at with this dynasty now. Staying healthy is all that really stands between them and how high their Super Bowl expectations are, and last week they were hit hard again, losing Nate Ebner and Martellus Bennett for the season. Luckily injuries to key cogs Trey Flowers and Kyle Van Noy do not appear to be serious.

Can the Pats keep their 13-game road win streak and seven-game overall win streak intact while putting an iron grip on the AFC East title? Here’s the gameplan to make it happen.

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Is 2017 Most Balanced Patriots Passing Attack Ever?

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The Patriots offense suffered a devastating blow in preseason when Julian Edelman tore his ACL. Edelman was the engine that made the offense go, the guy who made the tough catches in the biggest moments and without him there wouldn’t be two more banners hanging over Gillette Stadium

However this season the Patriots were uniquely prepared for such a loss. They added two very good running backs to go with two they already had, and gave up a first round pick for the explosive Brandin Cooks. Even after Malcolm Mitchell, a promising rookie from 2016, started the season on IR, the Patriots still had enough depth with Chris Hogan and in-season acquisition Phillip Dorsett to keep the passing offense going.

With their best receiver missing the Patriots have almost become harder to defend. We all remember the original Tom Brady motto — that his favorite receiver was the open one. Well in 2017 that might be truer than ever, as Brady has spread the ball around far more evenly than any recent season. This has made the Patriots offense even harder to stop because there’s no one to key on.

Let’s take a closer look this devastating balance that is making 2017 one of the most unique years of the Brady offense and how it stacks up historically.

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Pats Posits: Beating the Dead Horses

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Given the Patriots long history of weird games in Denver I fully expected Sunday night to be a close, weird game despite the Broncos stinking. Thankfully I was dead wrong as the Pats blasted Denver 41-16 in the kind of feel good explosion they seemed to be missing this season. To this point last night’s game has to be the signature win of the 2017 season, with the Pats breaking 40 points for the first time.

The Pats are 7-2 and once again, everything appears on track for another Belichick-Brady Super Bowl run.

Make no mistake, special teams led the way in this one. A blocked punt, a recovered muff, a kick off return for touchdown and a perfect Stephen Gostkowski (2/2 FG, 5/5 XP) gave the Pats the early advantage and they never looked back. After two weeks of talking red zone problems, the offense scored four touchdowns on six trips inside the 20.

Overall the balance of the offense was on full display, with the versatility of Dion Lewis and Rex Burkhead giving Denver’s defense problems all night long. This has been what we’ve been waiting for. The Pats were successful on early downs and never had to rely on the deep passing game until they had Denver on their heels. Then, in the second half, Brady took to the air to knock Denver out for good.

Defensively, it was Bend-Don’t-Break at it’s finest, led by what I thought was the biggest key to the game — stopping the run. The Pats didn’t have a sack, but got off the field when they needed to, only allowing one touchdown in three Bronco red zone trips. They executed the gameplan in a quiet, unspectacular fashion and that’s just what you need to do to beat a team like the Broncos in Denver.

This is the kind of team win that should leave us feeling pretty good about this Patriots team despite the litany of injuries that have befell them this season. They aren’t without weakness, but when games unfold like Sunday night’s did they look near unbeatable.

More on all of it in this Posits…

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