After all that, finally, a banner night in store for the Patriots
COMMENTARY
Tonight, finally, the National Football League returns with no apologies and we will all pay attention, an ultimate reminder that any offseason soap opera will never deter us from our collective passion for the product.
When the New England Patriots raise their fourth Super Bowl title banner at Gillette Stadium on Thursday night, prior to taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers, Deflategate will become an annoyance of the past. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s incompetence, allowed to continue on for yet another season. At least until the next blunder to come from the NFL’s Park Avenue offices.
But that will be a matter for the pregame shows on Thursday, Sunday, and Monday, nine months after the matter of deflated football embarrassingly led the national evening news. After that, let the appeal process do the work.
Instead, can we finally focus on the fact that the Patriots have a crown to defend?
It’s not necessarily surprising that based on the NFL’s insistent 24-hour, 365-day news cycle that it should have taken until the eve of the league’s opener for folks around these parts to understand that another season is around the corner, arguably the most exciting time on the sports calendar, but one that, albeit, has been reduced to merely the end game in a perpetual tug-of-war between Goodell and Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. And yet, it is a destination worth all that the region has endured.
There will be a banner raised in Foxborough on Thursday evening. #YesBradyYesBanner. Brady will play in the season-opener, a matter that, you might remember (right?), was of some question as of a week ago.
Rob Gronkowski is healthy.
Julian Edelman is has become a premier receiver.
Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler is…well…starting.
The truth is, it’s 2015 and we think that, maybe, finally, possibly, the AFC East has improved enough to give the Patriots a fight, if not exactly put a dent in their pre-possessed armor. The Dolphins went out and got Ndamukong Suh. The Bills hired Rex Ryan. The Jets went and stole Darrelle Revis back.
But none of them have Mr. Brady.
Thus, none of them have anything close.
Is there a reason to pick against the Patriots raising the Lombardi Trophy for a fifth time come February in Santa Clara, Calif., a Danny Amendola completion away from Brady’s hometown? The Seattle Seahawks are one, for sure, as are the whiny Indianapolis Colts and the tattletale Baltimore Ravens. The NFC still has the Green Bay Packers to deal with, not to mention possible upstarts in St. Louis, Arizona, and Philadelphia. In the AFC, the Steelers feel like a forgotten landscape, left to grow over until it makes its presence known, while the likes of the Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, and San Diego Chargers feel like they’re merely cardboard cutouts of contenders. You can see them, but they’re not real.
It’s not like the Patriots don’t have questions, chief among them their defensive secondary, where Devin McCourty has been forced to switch positions, and Butler has gone from afterthought to defending Super Bowl champion starting cornerback in the blink of a discerning eye. Brady is a year older, with a questionable starting line in front of him, hurt by the retirement of Dan Connolly, and a concussion to second-year starter Bryan Stork.
Shane Vereen’s dependability is in the Meadowlands. Brandon Browner’s toughness is in New Orleans. Vince Wilfork’s leadership is in Houston.
And yet, who’s better? Particularly after the offseason they’ve endured, primed to brandish their collective middle finger at the rest of the NFL and a doubting America?
Brady is gunning for five. The mission finally begins.
It’s going to be a banner night.
Super Bowl prediction roundup
Peter King, Sports Illustrated: Green Bay 31, Baltimore 27. “No repeat champions in the past 10 Super Bowls; I’m not big at all on picking repeat champs. Then there’s the weak secondary (minus Darrelle Revis and Super Bowl unsung hero Brandon Browner), and the Ravens-like lack of depth at receiver. And I think this could be a 10- or 11-win division title for the Patriots, because the Dolphins should be markedly better, and the Bills better too. But make no mistake: Tom Brady will be supremely motivated to be his best, and a 14-2 season wouldn’t shock me.’’
Pete Prisco, CBS Sports.com: Packers beat the Patriots (New England beats the Ravens and Steelers to get to the Super Bowl).
Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News: Packers over the Patriots. “Getting to the Super Bowl means a happy homecoming for Rodgers, a Northern California kid. In Santa Clara, it won’t get better than another duel with that other elite No. 12, Tom Brady and the Super Bowl XLIX-winning Patriots. “
NFL.com staff: Nobody has the Patriots winning the Super Bowl. Gil Brandt has the Packers beating New England n Super Bowl 50. Brian Billick picks the Ravens.
ESPN Football Power Index: Patriots have an 11.7 percent chance to win the Super Bowl. Green Bay leads the way at 16.2 percent.
Chris Fedor, Cleveland.com: Packers over Patriots. “Aaron Rodgers vs. Tom Brady, two of the league’s premier signal callers, both from California, meeting in Santa Clara for the “Golden Super Bowl.
Harvard Sports Analysis Collective: Seahawks vs. Dolphins. (Yup.) “To very little surprise, the Seahawks have the best odds of making the playoffs after having made the Super Bowl the past two years. The Dolphins may finally dethrone the Patriots in the AFC East, boasting the third-highest probability of playing into January, fifteen percentage points above defending-champion New England.’’
Dallas Morning News staff: Nobody has the Pats winning the Super Bowl. Only one writer (Kevin Sherrington) has them wining the AFC.
USA Today staff: Everybody picks the Patriots to win the AFC East. Only two pick New England to win the AFC. Nobody picks them to win the Super Bowl.
Globe staff: Only Jim McBride picks the Patriots to raise theLombardi (over Philadelphia).
It says here: Patriots over Packers. The shoulda, coulda, woulda rematch from Super Bowl XXXI that almost was last January will come into form this time around in San Francisco, where Brady will surpass his boyhood idol in Super Bowl wins, kick-starting something else for everyone to cry about.
Gillette Stadium tailgating guide
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