PatsPropaganda

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What the Patriots need to do to make the Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium

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In case you haven’t heard, Super Bowl 48 will be at MetLife Stadium in New York this year. That’s right, New York. In February.

Some may complain about how bad the weather might possibly be, but the frigid temperatures really do favor a team used to playing in those conditions like the Patriots.

What will the Pats need to do to get on the Road to MetLife Stadium and stay on it until the confetti falls? Here are three simple things that will need to happen this season.

1. Protect Tom Brady – It’s really quite simple, when Brady has time, he’s going to find the open receiver. Over the past decade, the Pats’ offensive line has been among the best in the NFL, but there is always a game or two per season that they’re off and the offense struggles to move the ball. The most unfortunate incidence of this was against the Jets in the 2010 AFC Divisional game. Brady was getting hit, began “seeing ghosts” and the Pats season came to an abrupt halt. WIth their full o-line returning intact, it should be a team strength, and Brady and the offense should reap the rewards.

2. Pass Rush. Pass Rush. Pass Rush. – No matter what problems your defense has, they can all be solved, or at least hidden, by a solid pass rush. The three main focal points for the Pats will be Chandler Jones, Rob Ninkovich and Tommy Kelly, who will all be three-down players in the Pats defense. Pass rush isn’t just a third-and-long thing, it’s an every down thing, and that’s where that threesome can make their biggest impact. No matter what happens in the secondary, the pass rush must bring the heat this season.

3. Get (and stay) Healthy – The ultimate unknown every season is health. You look at the Pats’ teams in year’s past that have made it to the Super Bowl and they’ve stayed pretty healthy for the most part. Of course, you’ll always have to overcome injuries like Ty Law (2004), Rosevelt Colvin (2007) and Andre Carter (2011), but the less the better. It’s impossible to know what the football gods have in store for the Pats as far as who gets dinged, but if they can get enter the playoffs with Rob Gronkowski fully healthy and maybe add Armond Armstead along the way, they should be primed for a run to MetLife Stadium.

Disclaimer – I am currently a member of the Road to MetLife Stadium Preferred Blogger Program and this post is part of my involvement. While MetLife provides me material and necessary resources to complete various activities, all statements and sentiment on PatsPropaganda are my own. And don’t worry, they’ll be giving me some Pats swag to give away!

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Who wants a chance to have breakfast with Gronk? Check out GronkChomp.com!

In a classic video game setting, Gronk will fight off defenders as he chomps his way through the game board, trying to get to the Angus Steak Big N’ Toasteds in the end zones. Fans will be able to play this interactive game throughout September and October with the ultimate goal of becoming one of 87 lucky winners to have breakfast with Gronk at Gillette this November.

Fans will automatically receive one entry into the sweepstakes the first time they play each day, and 87 winners will be chosen at random to attend the breakfast. At the end of each day, the top five scorers of the day will win an $8.70 Dunkin’ Donuts mGift. As an added bonus, guests can also go into their local participating Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants and follow the instructions from the Giant Gronk standee to receive a unique code that unlocks a secret level of the game to earn more points. 

https://www.patspropaganda.com/who-wants-a-chance-to-have-breakfast-with-gronk/

And now a quick word on the draft…

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Forgive me for a quick rant, but with the release of Ras-I Dowling we’re getting an outpouring of tweets like this:

We’ll leave the “seldom talked about” part alone and focus more on the criticism of ANY team being bad drafters.

The draft is one mode of team-building. Free agency is another. There are no extra points or wins awarded if you hit on more draft prospects than you miss on.

There will always be first-rounders (or second-rounders in Ras-I’s case) who are out of the league in a matter of years, if not months. And there will be sixth rounders who end up being the best ever to play the game.

Really, that’s what makes the draft such an interesting process. Players are studied, poked and prodded, questioned, examined, and in the end none of it can matter.

So let’s talk about the team that everyone is compared to. You know, the team that hits on all their high picks, never makes a poor trade or decision. You know who I’m talking about? Of course not, because that team doesn’t exist.

What matters most is building a good team and winning games. It doesn’t matter if your whole team is free agents or drafted or manifested in someone’s basement. 

You can go right down the line for every team in the NFL and cherry pick horrible draft misfires. Are some teams better than others at it? Sure. But every time a high-round pick gets cut or traded there’s so much surprise and criticism. Like this doesn’t happen CONSTANTLY. TO EVERY TEAM.

I’m at the point now where it’s comical to me. How do people still expect the order players were drafted in to be the order of how good they end up being?

Look, I really enjoy the draft, but it’s time to stop acting like there’s really a hard science to it that anyone has figured out. Can smart football analysts look at tape and tell you who’s good, who will fit into a scheme? Sure.

But for every one of those guys there’s another one who fell through the cracks, or just wasn’t elite in college yet flourishes in the pro game that NO ONE can account for.

In the end they all cross eachother out along with the free agency misses and hits, and what we’re left with is the good teams winning games and the bad teams losing games.

So just remember, the draft is but one way to add players to your team, and really, it’s a crapshoot for everyone.

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Excited to announce we’ll now be featuring an awesome collection of Pats shirts from Townie News at the Prop Shop! “The Brady” remains my favorite Pats tee to this day, and I just about wore it out the last three seasons. Might time to get another one…

And of course our three tees are available there too. Stock up before the season starts!

https://www.patspropaganda.com/excited-to-announce-well-now-be-featuring-an/