new england patriots

This morning I’m finding that beating the Jets doesn’t feel as good as losing to the Jets feels bad. Yes, I’m excited that our patchwork defense came through with some big plays and managed to deliver the first all around team domination win we’ve seen in a while.

Here are some random thoughts on the win and where the Patriots go from here…

– Everyone is seemingly handing the Patriots the division right now but I still think this will be a close one to the finish. Yes the Pats have an easy schedule but as we’ve seen over and over this year in the NFL, easy wins on paper are rarely easy on the field.

– As I said last week it’s the front seven that makes the difference on defense not the back end, and as we saw last night when the front seven is playing dominant you can cover up a lot of problems in the secondary.

– I’ve had a separated shoulder and as long as it’s not a grade 3 (totally detached) McCourty is probably out a minimum of 2-4 weeks. Not to look past the Chiefs but taking on the Eagles offense without McCourty could be daunting.

– I don’t know how much of a factor Gary Guyton’s injury was but I don’t think he touched the field last night. We’ll see for sure when Mike Reiss releases the snap counts but even if he was hurting it’s definitely significant that the Pats went with White and Tarpinian.

– I was totally wrong on the Kevin Faulk playing a big role prediction. I guess Danny Woodhead hasn’t fallen from grace as much as we might’ve thought, though he remains a concern in pass protection. Still waiting for him to bust a big play this year too.

– For the Pats now it becomes about getting healthy, preferably in this order:

1. Chung
2. McCourty
3. Spikes

– What will be interesting is to see who of the scrub defenders that stepped up stick around/get more playing time once Chung and McCourty do get back. Not that McCourty will be back any time soon. Antuan Molden is now a an even bigger key for the Pats. I think he looked pretty good vs. the Jets though the TD he gave up to Plaxico was a mirror image on the SB 42 TD Hobbs gave up to him, right down to the #27.

– The Pats offense really had to grind it out early and finally started to click and find their rhythm in the second half. Again they were able to deliver a clutch drive with the game on the line to go back up by 14 again.

– To be honest I kind of expected more out of Ochocinco yesterday, but I’ll take what he gave us. I still think he has a breakout game in the coming weeks. But with Gronk, Welker and Branch all on their games it’s hard to say we really needed him.

– Andre Carter where have you been the last three seasons?

– And how about Mark Anderson? We’ve seen a real progression from this defensive line in the last four games, if it continues the Patriots problems against passing teams will cease.