It’s just what a large segment of the fan base does. I’ve tried to get used to it but I gave up trying to talk people off the ledge every single week, even after wins that might not have been perfect enough.
There’s also an element now that the bottom is going to fall out on Brady at some point in the not-too-distant future, and when it’s the first game and there are all kind of stats you can drum up to make it out to be one of Brady’s worst games ever, it only throws gas on that fire.
It’s also impossible for a lot of fans to grasp the fine line between winning and losing in football. That was as sloppy of a game as you’ll ever see out of a BB-coached team, and what hurt them the most (tackling/penalties/failure to get off blocks) are things that can be easily cleaned up and quickly sway how good a team can look.
The big thing for me is that every year is a season-long process for how Bill Belichick grooms his team for the playoffs. Early in the year there are a number of guys rotating in and getting chances and the schemes are extremely simple.
Slowly the personnel gets narrowed down (often by injuries) and the schemes and gameplans become more complex, but the Patriots never jump right into ‘here’s what the 2014 Patriots are’ right off the bat.
But talk show hosts and writers need things to talk about and the “stay-the-course, it’s just the first game of a long season” angle is boring.
“The Patriots are doomed! They’re playing the wrong scheme! They’ll never block anyone ever again!” are the loudest voices in the room and the hardest to ignore, but that’s what I try to do.