Everyone loses an easy game or 2. I mean you guys got blown out by the Browns. The Pats have only gone 6-0 in their division once the last decade + (where they blew an undefeated season), so its safe to say they will lose 1 or 2 division games (its about a 50 50 split of them going 4-2 or 5-1 in the division) Ill say now that I think 10-6 is way too optimistic as a Jet fan, but I think 12-4 is most likely, with an outside chance at 11-5. I dont think the Pats are good enough anymore for 14-2 or better. I think theyre a lock for a 10 worst defenses, with a strong chance at 5 worst. And I think Brady has a down year (by his standards) since last year he hit career highs in pass attempts and sacks (not counting his first year as a starter.
I just cant wait till Brady is gone and all those smug Patriotic faces are sullen and have crease lines from angry furrowed brows. Btw, he turns 35 in less than 2 weeks.. "Tik, tok"
The Pats lose fewer easy games than anyone, but as much as I am a Pats fan, Prisco in nuts. You can't come out and predict 16-0. That sort of thing doesn't happen unless all the stars are in perfect alignment.
A better guess for a Jet fan. They have won 14 and 13 the last two years, they the AFC east has a gravy schedule, and the pats look to be a bit better than last year. Not really a reach.
hopefully he endures a peyton manning-like ending in new england. i couldn't give less of a fuck if he's an all-time great. we've suffered long enough.
Matt Light retiring is a bummer, but thats why they drafted Nate Solder with the 17th overall pick in last years draft. Sebastian Volmer made an All-Pro team at Right tackle one year, so if Solder can step up at Left Tackle, the offensive line will be fully intact, with Connolly taking the RG spot if Waters decides to retire and not come back for 1 more year. Now if they start to get some injuries to the Oline... then i would start to get worried, but Waters was a 1-2 year plugin who can be replaced by Connolly or even Marcus Cannon. Solder was meant to replace Light, that is why they drafted him. He had a pretty solid rookie season last year, so hopefully he can build on that and solidify the left. If he can, this offensive line is still a very good unit. The defense should only be better. They were extremely young last year, so a whole year other year under their belts now for a young defensive unit can only help them grow. Ras-I Dowling should be returning from injury, he was starting opposite McCourty last year until he got that injury and was IRed. If one of the free agent safeties or Tavaris Jackson that they got with their 2nd rounder this year can play solid at the FS position, the secondary will actually be in pretty good shape, short of injuries. The front defensive line still lacks the depth I would hope for, but they got Fanene from the Bengals and Trevor Scott to be fill ins for the year. Rumor is they may even go after Castillo who was released by the chargers. Overall the defense should be better if some of their draft picks pan out. They brought in some reliable veterans as well who won't be all stars or anything but at least they will know what they're getting out of them. We will just have to wait and see, thats why they make the moves in the offseason.. to make improvements, so heres hoping that they worked! :beer:
I basically agree with you. It think that both 12 or 13 wins would be a very reasonable prediction. 14 wins would be an optimistic, but still reasonable, prediction for a Pats fan. 10 wins would be an optimistic, but still reasonable, prediction for a Jets fan. I think that either of those are possible, and the likelihood is about the same. I just don't agree with Murrell laughing at a Pats fan for predicting 14, then calling 10 likely himself.
^ and I think that the absolute worst case scenario in terms of Brady's performance dropping off, would be for him to have a season similar to 2009. We were over-reliant on him that year (even more so than usual), AND he didn't look as comfortable as he usually does in his first year back from the 2008 injury AND he had to deal with a new offensive coordinator. We still pulled out 10 wins that year despite a number of other factors that hurt us, like losing Rodney, Bruschi, Vrabel, and Seymour before the season.
The Pats were the 11th rated defense that year with the 8th most turnovers forced. If Brady has a year like 09, with their defense playing only slightly better than last year you guys could be 8-8. That said I expect Brady to have numbers similar to last year (ie operation no defense no ground attack) except more sacks, more ints, and less yards. Id say somewhere in the ballpark of 4600-4800 passing yards, 30 tds and 15-16 ints. Far from a nightmarish season, but bad enough that you wont be a lock to have a playoff bye.
Doesn't matter what their record is in the regular season. A better thread would be predicting how many games they win in the playoffs. I say 1.
That defense was not any more talented than this year's will be. I would actually argue that it was significantly less talented than even last year's. I haven't bothered to look at what the stats say, but don't mistake the 2009 Patriots for the 07-08 Pats, when we actually had a fairly balanced roster. Also, we rested a handful of our starters in the season closer against Houston, and also sat Brady at the end of both halfs. We ended up losing by one score. We could have very easily ended the season at 11-5. I also just realized that Brady had a broken finger and three broken ribs that year, along with the other factors that I mentioned, so him playing down to that level is extremely unlikely.
That would actually be on par with 2009. I expect him to do much better than that, especially the TD count. Tom Brady 2009: 4398 yards, 28 td, 13 int 2010: 3900 yards, 36 td, 4 int 2011: 5235 yards, 39 td, 12 int
you have question marks on your ol, you're secondary is still weak, you have several tough opponents on your schedule and the division us going to be tighter than its been in but you guys somehow are going to only lose two games. lol
What questions on the OL? The fact that Light retired is a question mark now? How so? Solder and Vollmer have both proven that they are very capable of protecting Brady at Tackle. Mankins and Waters will be the same Guards as last year. Koppen has been the anchor of many dominant lines at the Center position. And we have quality depth with Connolly able to play Guard and Center, Gallery able to play Guard and Tackle, and Cannon who has played Tackle for us, but is projected at the Guard position long term. Do you understand how many OL injuries we have dealt with to our starters over the past few seasons? It isn't like we have had ideal circumstances the past several years, and are now all of a sudden facing uncertainty. There is no reason to think that we will be any worse off than any other season in recent memory. Our secondary shouldn't be any worse than the past two seasons when we won 14 and 13 games. But now we should expect 12 max? NYJ and Buffalo fans might think that they have made huge strides this offseason, but I just don't see it. If our OL is a "question mark", then your entire offense is a fucking mystery. 1. New offensive system 2.does Holmes care? 3. will Sanchez rebound? 4. Wayne fucking Hunter is still starting? 5. is Hill going to produce this year, next year, at all? 6. do the Jets have the right cast to run a ground-and-pound offense? The Bills might think that Mario Williams, and Mark Anderson of all people, are going to save them from obscurity, but both of those players are being massively overrated right now, and a 1-15 record against us the past 8 years doesn't exactly scare me. Winning two of those four games seems like a conservative prediction, 3/4 is equally reasonable. The optimism that Jets and Buffalo fans are using in thinking that have improved enough to beat us this year, is the same optimism that Pats fans are finding to suggest that we will improve by one game. Our defense played much better towards the end of last year. We also drafted a handful of guys worth getting excited over. And by all accounts so far, Lloyd looks like he is working splendidly as the outside threat that Ochocinco failed to become last year. We have reasons to be optimistic too.
