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:
- Short-to-intermediate passing defense
- 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.
