Patriots’ 2015 vengeance tour is underway, but will truly begin in Indianapolis
COMMENTARY
You could argue that after only two games in 2007, the full scope of Spygate and its ramifications hadn’t quite jelled to the degree the New England Patriots would ultimately realize. But after a pair of 38-14 wins over the New York Jets and San Diego Chargers, Tom Brady, Randy Moss, and the Patriots were on their way to a record-setting season that would end one play short of the first perfect, 19-0 season in NFL history.
Eight seasons later, another cheating scandal shoved out off the way, and there’s little disputing that Brady and the Patriots are on a full-scale attack to clear an historic path to Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco.
Oh, the Patriots may not go 16-0. Rob Gronkowskl may or may not break Moss’ franchise record for touchdown receptions in a season (the tight end is on pace for 32 this season, which would be nine more than Moss had in ’07), just as Julian Edelman may or may not dwarf Marvin Harrison’s single-season record (143) for catches (Edelman is on pace to haul in 176 this season). Hell, New England may not even win the Lombardi Trophy for a second-consecutive year for the second time in franchise history.
But oh, you’ll hear them. You’ll hear them plenty in 2015.
Consider that the last time the Patriots were on a retribution tour through their regular season schedule, in 2007, when Brady went on to set personal bests in passing yards (4,806, a mark he would break in 2012) and touchdowns (50), Brady had thrown for only 576 yards, six touchdowns, and one interception in his first two games of the season. He had a 134.2 quarterback rating.
This time around, he’s thrown for 178 more yards, one more touchdown, and no interceptions. He’s on pace for a 56-touchdown season. His quarterback rating is 119.9.
Then how about this, courtesy of Cold, Hard Football Facts’ Kerry Byrne: Since halftime of the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts, a stretch played with properly-inflated footballs, of course, Brady has a 72.3 completion percentage, 1,213 yards passing, 13 touchdowns and two interceptions for a 117.5 rating. Projected over 16-game season, that’s a mere 5,542 yards, 60 touchdowns, and nine interceptions.
Mercy. Too early to preview Patriots-Colts in a mere four weeks?
The delicious story lines of comeuppance in that showdown are too many to simmer in a stew of patience, particularly when the Patriots merely have the Jacksonville Jaguars and a Tony Romo-less Dallas Cowboys team remaining in their path to Indianapolis on Oct. 18.
The Colts are now 0-2 on the season ater losing to the the New York Jets, 20-7, Monday night, so it’s interesting to note that the Baltimore Ravens, Colts, and Seattle Seahawks, the trio of teams the Patriots beat en route to winning Super Bowl XLIX last February, are now a combined 0-6 one season later. New England, meanwhile, is one of only four 2-0 teams in the AFC (Cincinnati, Denver, New York).
If Opening Night at Gillette Stadium was a celebration of past accomplishments, then Sunday against the Bills, this weekend against the Jaguars, and the game in Dallas, to some degree, amount to little more than dress rehearsals for when revenge is on the menu for back-to-back weeks against the Colts and the New York Jets, with whom the entire Mike Kensil-fueled saga of Deflategate may have begun in the first place. If Aaron Rodgers cools down in the slightest, they might as well hand Brady the MVP award prior to Week 7.
Clearly, the Patriots weren’t about to let up Sunday against the Bills, a team that was coming off a 27-14 upset win over the beloved Colts, a supposed offensive juggernaut that has managed to score only 21 points, and whom many prognosticators have picked to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. Brady threw the ball 59 times, the most he’d thrown in a game since 2012, and lit up the emerging Buffalo defense with a performance (466 yards, three touchdowns) for the ages. What Andrew Luck couldn’t do, Brady did infinitely better.
Next.
While the Jaguars are coming off a surprising win over the Miami Dolphins this past weekend, the only upset in their visit to Foxborough will be if the Patriots aren’t favored by two two touchdowns. Bill Belichick then gets a bye week to prepare for Brandon Weeden. Yikes.
The Patriots might as well spend their time winking at the camera during breaks in play and flashing promising messages of what’s coming to the Colts over the course of those two games. After all that was written and said in the 317 area code since the Colts were demoralized in the AFC title game, after all the accusations and non-stop suspicion, after the stupidest persecution of a player within the realm of the issues the NFL faces on a daily basis, the first four weeks are but a preview for what we might get that Sunday night in Indy in one month.
The Middle Finger Tour is underway. But it’s barely even begun.
Pictures from the Patriots’ win in Buffalo
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