I like the rest of your post but take exception to you lumping the NYJ in with Buffalo. The Jets beat NE 2/3 times in 2010, most of that roster and coaching staff is still here. The two games last year we're decisive wins for NE but they weren't as lopsided as the boxscore says, they were close ball games. I fully expect a split next year vs NE. The Jets are 3-4 vs NE under RR including 1-0 in playoffs, they ain't the Bills.
The Patriots get luckier than any team I've watched over the past 2-3 years. Brady definitely gets some credit, but they won a lot of games because other teams in the league seemed to lay down for them. The Cowboys game especially should have been a loss and there were plenty others decided by fluke plays near the end where opposing teams just lost focus. It's not just up to the Jets to beat those clowns. Everyone else has to help.
Ok well that's a bunch of b.s. You don't get lucky 2-3 years in a row, let alone a decade in a row, they got it done because they're a good, well-coached football team. They have calls go for and against them like any other team and to speculate other teams "lay down" for them is assinine. That being said, I have a hard time expecting the Pats to go 16-0 after beating ONE team with a winning record last year (Billy Cundiff/Lee Evans). Fuckin absurd expectation imo. This is the goddam NFL, anybody can beat anybody on any given day. Get the fuck outta here with 16-0.
Ehh hard to call them lucky the last 2-3 years. Go 8-0 at home, start a playoff game down 7-0 after a kickoff and one play and have it be over quickly at home. Lose to a team you trounced 45-3 after going 14-2. Last year they had getting DEN and then BAL but then Gronk gets hurt, 12 men on the field on the fumble, etc. Year before all those 3, Brady is hurt first game of the season they still go 11-5 and miss the playoffs. Year before that we can say they got lucky at times but then Tyree, Samuel. We only remember they got breaks because they took advantage of it.
I said that 3/4 combined against NYJ and Buffalo is likely, 2/4 conservative. We could split with you guys, as you predict, and still accomplish either one of those things. Also, when you say that "The Jets beat NE 2/3 times in 2010, most of that roster and coaching staff is still here", I feel the need to point out a couple of things. I don't remember exactly what happened in the first game that year, but in the playoff game, you guys won largely because your OL completely overpowered and dominated our DL (which had Wilfork as the only healthy, active starter), allowing Greene and LT to run all over us. Your OL is no longer dominant, and our DL hopefully won't be counting on undrafted rookies to start. Also, half of your points came in the hands of Ladanian Tomlinson and Braylon Edwards, players who are no longer on your team. I didn't mean to say that the Jets are the equivalent of the Bills. What I meant was that I'm not looking at the division as being "much tougher" just because Jets fans are optimistic about a new offensive system, and several rookie players. Those things might sound great in your head, but 31 other teams are thinking the same thing. A good portion of them will be disappointed. And same goes for the Bills.
The first game of that season Revis got hurt so Brady thought he could just chuck bombs up to Randy Moss down the sideline. The problem was Cromartie is really good at running in a straight line and your offense sputtered trying to force the ball to Randy. Obviously that problem is long gone now.
Mankins is still recovering from knee surgery and could start the season on the PUP list. http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2012/3/21/2889554/logan-mankins-injury-new-england-patriots Vollmer has a bad back. Waters is getting older and showed that he might not be fully invested into the season and can Solder play LT? You guys have questions on the OL whether you want to admit it or not. The Jets and Bills will both be tougher teams in 2012 than they were in 2011. I would absolutely expect them to be able to beat the Pats. You guys can be optimistic, but 14 wins in a year where the division has improved, and you have to play some really tough teams outside of the division seems overly-optimistic.
Mankins looks to join the team in training camp, and Vollmer is expected to be healthy and joining the team as early as this week. Solder was an LT in college, and should be a natural fit at the position in the pros. Last year, it was a much bigger question whether he would be able to have success at RT. People are saying that the Bills will be better, mostly because of Mario Williams and Mark Anderson. I'm sure they will be a factor, but I'm not convinced they have made a leap that will make them anything more than a 6-8 win team. As far as the Jets being better this year, look around. There is not any consensus whatsoever agreeing that will be the case. Sure, I expect you to believe that as a Jets fan, but that doesn't mean everyone else is going to. Also, you keep on saying that we have "several tough games", but so does every team, every season. Several tough games doesn't make for a tough schedule. In fact, statistically, we have the easiest schedule in the NFL this year (http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/56896/2012-nfl-strength-of-schedule). You can make an argument that those stats don't reflect things like the Peyton Manning acquisition in Denver, but it also doesn't reflect things like Baltimore losing their best player to injury.
Those injuries make the NE OL a question mark. The fact that Solder is replacing Matt Light is a question mark (especially with his injury history which includes his back and ankle). I don't put a lot of stock in what the "experts" are saying. I know the Jets will be much better this year. Right now the Bills are the trendy team, so that's why you see them ahead of the Jets in a lot of the AFCE pre-season rankings.
14-2 max but probably 12-4 or 13-3. If the Jets put one over the Pats this season the two could be neck and neck for the division.
I'll preface this by saying I haven't read any of the other posts in this thread but wanted to give my two cents anyway. Answer: No. That is all.
16-0 is not going to happen. At least not in New England. The 2007 season was a perfect storm of events... the addition of Moss... Spygate... and the last hurrah for the key guys on defense (Bruschi, Harrison, etc-etc). The pressure that team faced down the stretch was ridiculous. They really should have at least two regular season games that year (@ Baltimore, vs. Philly, and you could probably throw in the last game of the season @ NYG if you wanted to). There's a reason no team has run the table since they added games to the schedule. It's exceedingly difficult to do.
I hate to call blind homerism, but you still have to play us twice, and the bills and phins should be much improved. How easy can your schedule look when your entire division improved?
And Bills fans "know" their team will be better too. And Dolphins fans "know" the same. And Patriots fans "know" the defense will be much improved from 2011. It's the offseason, man. That's how it works! :beer:
All 5 OL in the aforementioned game are still on the roster. Who threw Braylon and LT the ball? Sparano's teams had some success on offense against NE, he knows the division, that's something about the hire I liked.
The players are still there, the production isn't. Even if your OL is 100% the same, our DL is much much different. Also, someone else reminded me that the other game in 2010 that you beat us was when we were still stuck in the Randy Moss era. It's hard to draw much insight from that comparison. The same QB who lost twice to us last year without Braylon, and with LT in a much diminished role. It takes more than a QB to execute a successful passing play. As much as you would love to believe otherwise, the Pats and Jets teams that faced off twice last year are closer representations of the current teams than the 2010 versions are. At least until they prove to us otherwise.
